How modern shoes are ruining your health and what to do about it

When we think of ways to improve our health, most of us are probably thinking about diet, exercise routine, sleep or something else.

Not a lot of people would consider that shoes could play a role in their overall health.

Because why would they? They are literally just shoes.

But today I wanna go over how shoes are actually ruining your health and what you can do about it.

(spoiler alert: it’s pretty easy to fix)

So to understand all this, we have to go back to the beginning of humans and look at what kind of shoes we have been wearing for our entire existence.

We have been on this earth for millions of years (although modern humans only appeared about 400,000 years ago) and for 99% of that time we haven't worn shoes.

It is only really about 10,000 years ago that some of us started wearing shoes.

Some of us probably did this to keep warm in the colder climates (aka when we migrated to northern europe and asia) and some probably started wearing them to protect their feet from sharp objects.

But the shoes we wore back then were VERY different from the shoes we wear nowadays. They were very minimal. Thin piece of leather wrapped around our feet or some minimal sandal looking shoe.

Our feet are an engineering masterpiece, crafted by evolution over millions of years. I think it’s crazy to believe that $10 rubber shoes made in china will be better for your feet than your actual feet. Our feet are extremely complex. 28 bones, 33 joints, 112 ligaments and a lot of muscles.

Basically what I am trynna say here is that no shoes can compete with your feet by themselves. Your feet are the best shoes ever created.

So what are some of the negative consequences of wearing modern footwear?

1. Weak feet

Modern shoes give your feet a ton of support. Most modern shoes have thick soles, arch support, ankle support and more.

This causes the shoe to do all the work instead of the muscles in your feet, and this causes the muscles in your feet to atrophy (become weaker) making them weak and fragile.

“If you don’t use it you lose it”. That is the number one rule of nature. Why would your body keep your feet muscles strong if you don’t even use them?

This then causes a spiral of health problems for a lot of people. Because their feet are weak and fragile, they inevitable get some kind of injury (ankle injury is most common).

Then they feel like they need even more support from their shoes in order to not get another injury, when in reality it’s the other way around.

It’s like putting a cast on a weak arm. You don’t do that. You get out there and work it out so it gets stronger and more resilient, and it’s the same with feet. Most people just don’t realize that, because they are so deep down the big shoe scam of needing “aNkLe SupPoRt” and all this other bullshit.

2. Worsens posture

Here is a visual representation of what modern footwear is doing to your posture.

In short, elevated heels cause you to tilt your pelvis forward (anterior pelvic tilt), which puts extra strain on your lower back causing pain and other problems. Anterior pelvic tilt also deactivates your glute and core muscles making your overall posture weaker.

Furthermore, it keeps your calves in a shortened position which makes your ankle mobility worse.

Basically, elevated heels in shoes affect your health negatively in a lot of different ways.

3. Deformed feet

Most modern shoes are also really narrow. To the point where there isn’t enough room for your toes to naturally spread out like they would if you didn’t wear shoes.

Above you can see a visual representation of how your feet are supposed to look like and what they normally look like after wearing modern shoes.

Deformed feet are obviously not great. They make your feet less stable and more injury prone (e.g. bunions, hammer toes etc), which can cause major problems long term.

4. Joint health

Most modern shoes also have really soft soles. Shoes like Yeezys, running shoes etc. This is really bad for your foot health for multiple reasons.

First of all, it weakens your foot muscles and arch by absorbing the impact of walking externally instead of letting the foot muscles, tendons and ligaments do their natural job of supporting and stabilizing your feet.

Secondly, soft, thick soles also reduce sensory feedback from the ground, making it harder for your body to adjust properly to whatever surface you are walking/running on.

Without this proper sensory feedback and muscle activation, more of the impact gets absorbed by the joints (knees, hips, lower back etc.)

This can contribute to long term joint pain and problems, which you obviously don’t want.

These modern shoes also promote terrible running form. Most people are heel strikers when they run because thick, soft soles allow it.

But heel striking is not natural for the body and can come with some serious problems long term. Just try running about 10 meters barefoot and try to land on your heel. You will instantly feel how unnatural and painful it is.

Instead you should land on your forefoot every strike. This is the optimal and most natural running form. It puts minimal stress on the joints and strengthens the muscles nicely. The reason why so many runners get injuries isn’t because running is inherently bad, it’s just that their running form is really bad.

Landing on your forefoot is also way more efficient. It transfers the energy more efficiently into forward momentum compared to landing on your heel. Landing on your heel basically slows you down every step.

So now you know some of the negative effects of modern footwear, but what can you actually do to regain your natural foot shape and strength?

The best thing and probably the most obvious one is to just be barefoot as much as possible.

Most people literally wear some kind of shoe almost 24/7, and I say that because I was one of them.

When I was indoors I would always be wearing those shitty slipper type shoe, and the second I went outside I was wearing some kind of modern shoe like Nike’s or Adidas.

Basically, I was pretty much never barefoot using my feet like they were made to.

So throw out your shitty indoor slippers and start being more barefoot indoors as a first step.

Next thing you can is to get a pair of barefoot shoes.

These shoes mimic what it’s like being barefoot with a wide toe box to allow your toes to spread out, a zero drop sole (no heel elevation), and a thin and flexible design allowing your foot muscles to do the work when you’re walking.

Some brands I really like are Vivobarefoot and Rhizal. The Rhizals also have a copper plug at the bottom, which allow you to ground while wearing them (nice bonus).

I’m currently looking at brands like Wyde Footwear and Joa Barefoot but I haven’t tried them yet so obviously I can’t fully recommend them.

Another thing that’s important is to actually challenge the muscles in your feet. It’s great to switch to barefoot shoes but if you’re just walking on flat concrete all day you aren’t really challenging your feet.

You need to walk more on uneven surfaces. Grass, dirt, sand, whatever. Go for trail runs or walks and challenge yourself by going over uneven surfaces. This is what’s really gonna build strength and resilience in your feet and ankles.

The last thing I wanna go over is toe spacers. These bad boys:

Years of wearing modern, narrow shoes will probably have deformed your feet to some degree.

Toe spacers can help reverse some of that damage. They keep your toes in a more natural position and can help you more quickly regain your natural foot shape, strength and balance.

They are really cheap (get them on amazon for about $10) and easy to use. Wear them for a couple hours per day and you’re good.

That was basically all I had for this newsletter, so here is a quick tl:dr to just sum up:

Modern shoes = bad.

Start being barefoot as much as possible, and when that isn’t an option at least wear barefoot shoes.

Challenge your foot muscles by going on walks and runs on more natural, uneven surfaces.

Bonus: wear toe spacers to regain your natural foot shape.

As always, thanks for reading and godspeed.

— Kasper Veritas