I have functionally flat feet. My arches are either naturally low or they got that way through repeated compression (I wasn’t aware of them at all during childhood, so I don’t know which is correct).
The mainstream treatment for flat feet is orthotics, that is, artificial arch supports inserted into footwear. I never trusted this idea. The quickest treatment is often the least beneficial in the long run. Like glasses, orthotics prevent the feet from gaining new information about their situation.
Granted, if you are in dire pain and orthotics are the only thing that help, by all means use them. But if you’re like me, and prefer not to depend on external supports for the rest of your life, then you might be interested in my more holistic approach.
My Philosophy
The body wants to return to its natural, healthy state, which includes normal, healthy arches, and will do so once any restrictions are removed. The task is essentially to discover and remove these bodily restrictions. There are three parts of this: Structure, muscle strength, and use. Structure is the densest and most difficult to change, while use — I won’t say it’s the easiest to change, but it’s what we have the most immediate control over. These are not hard and fast categories; altering your use will alter muscle strength, which will in turn change your structure. But to some extent it’s useful to treat them separately.
1. Structure
To alter structure you might have to go to a Rolfer or chiropractor (although in some states chiropractors aren’t allowed to do anything other than backs). If you just have congenitally flat feet, I’m not sure I have much advice for you; however, note that all babies are born with flat feet and their feet develop arches through use. Also, I’ve read of at least one runner who had structurally flat feet but they didn’t bother him.
2. Muscle Strength
The “power” approach is one that I found early on in my search for alternatives to orthotics. When I first started researching on how to heal my flat feet a few years ago, the only thing I found on the Internet that was specific to this topic was an article titled “The Foot Report.” (This is in essence the same information that is presented, for a price, in the Foot Arch e-book. Save your money.) While it did give me hope that the arch could be restored naturally, it basically advises the constant contraction of the muscle that maintains the foot arch, i.e. the peroneus longus, on the lateral side of the lower leg. The reasoning is that your arches have collapsed is because you haven’t been using this muscle, so the solution is to tighten that muscle.
The problem with this simple, direct approach is that tightening one muscle independently from the whole network of muscles in the body merely causes more tension. A healthy body ought to be one that optimizes energy. This method, instead, made me very tired. It took a lot of energy to keep those muscles contracted all of the time, and it caused a lot more tension in other areas of my body. All in all, not very advisable. The foot arch muscles atrophy due to incorrect use; therefore the use of the entire body is essential to reestablishing the arches.
That said, it’s important that, as you focus on use and functioning of the body, the muscles of the arch are challenged (gently), possibly through going barefoot (described below).
3. Use
I prefer an approach that is easy and requires zero muscular effort to maintain. Since “form follows function,” in order to restore my arches, it’s best to use the body in a way that naturally uses the foot arch.
One method is going barefoot.
There’s an out-of-print book titled Take Off Your Shoes and Walk which advocates going barefoot all the time, because shoes essentially imprison and deform the feet. Some modern barefoot runners concur, suggesting that if you start walking barefoot, your foot problems will resolve themselves.
This has not worked out for me. Once again, it’s an energy issue. It takes a lot of energy to get your feet to the point where you can walk outside barefoot, and even then it’s more advisable to wear shoes for other reasons — namely, broken glass and toxic chemicals all over the place. (Some people put chemicals that can cause brain damage right on their front lawns. Kind of spooky.) Conditioning yourself to walk barefoot, while the healthiest and most natural way to walk, is really only feasible in our modern age either in a truly wild area or in a controlled environment. In either case, it doesn’t address the general issue of addressing flat feet in everyday situations in a socially acceptable way. I would advocate going barefoot as a general lifestyle, but it shouldn’t be a prerequisite for good foot health.
However, recently someone suggested that the barefoot method be further considered using footwear that is designed to give a barefoot feel, such as Vivo Barefoot, which has a Kevlar sole. It’s a bit pricey, but it sounds interesting; if it can impart the sensitivity of bare feet without subjecting the feet to the injury of broken glass, thorns, etc, this in my mind would be the ideal solution for those who are trying to retrain their feet. It addresses both use and muscular strength.
In addition to this, though, our minds and bodies are so conditioned that simply walking around barefoot may not be that helpful without something else to guide our attention. Thus it’s helpful to delve into body mechanics in a more intimate way.
The first task is to open the awareness of the body.
Somatic disciplines such as the Feldenkrais method or the Alexander Technique teach this, as well as stationary techniques like the standing meditation addressed in The Way of Energy. But don’t be fooled into thinking that these methods have the answer. Really they are guided methods of self-experimentation and self-awareness, something that can be done just as readily — if with a bit more trial and error — on one’s own.
The first thing I learned was what it felt like to use the arch muscle. Try picking up a coin with just the palm of your hand, no finger involvement. That will give you an idea of what to do with your foot. When you arch your foot that way, you should feel a muscle on the lateral (outer) side of your lower leg working — that’s the peroneus longus contracting.
That should give you a general idea of what it will feel like when you are moving and holding yourself correctly. This is a starting point; however, in my opinion it is incorrect to tense this muscle independent of other action. Above all else the body must be relaxed and balanced, and the feet must be engaged naturally and without effort, or else the healing is of no long-term value.
Clearly, then, the rest of this healing process involves studying how other actions in the body cause this tensing of the peroneus longus without your deliberate intervention in the action of that muscle.
I found that because my feet were flat, I tended to stand with my weight centered over my heels, and my feet splayed wide like a duck’s. Adjusting myself so that my weight was borne by my whole foot placed more pressure on the balls of my feet, which forced the peroneus longus into play.
This in turn required a number of other adjustments in the rest of my body, including a softening of the knees (they were habitually locked), a relaxing of the lower back and general sinking of the weight into the normal body center of gravity which is around the navel, in the center that Chinese energy healing and martial arts call the dan tian.
Ultimately I think allowing the weight to sink to this natural center of gravity assists in the freeing of all other bodily tension, which reverberates down into the feet. Since the body’s weight naturally centers there, if you sense that your weight is really elsewhere, then it’s a matter of readjusting yourself by releasing habitually contracted muscles to achieve equilibrium in that center of gravity.
For instance, in walking, I used to keep my hips and shoulders tense and immobile, which deprived my body of the leverage it needed for free walking and in fact forced my feet, and also forced my center of gravity to be higher. (Try keeping your torso stationary while walking and you’ll see what I mean.) Sinking my weight to the navel also means allowing my hips and shoulders to swing freely in cross-coordination with each other, as if they were undulating around the central axis of my spine. This not only helped to keep my weight distributed evenly across my feet, but kept them from splaying outward — without any specific effort to do so!
Since I started taking Alexander Technique lessons, I’ve also learned to release my neck and let my head “float” up, thus releasing the usual unconscious compression I place on my spine. This is a gradual way of learning to consciously undo the compaction of my entire body that culminates in the squashing of the feet into a flat position …
This is an ongoing process for me; I won’t say that my arches are completely restored. But the pain and discomfort I used to experience while standing and walking have diminished considerably thanks to this approach.
There’s a whole lot more out there. I found the Feldenkrais book Running with the Whole Body helpful. I haven’t researched this but I have heard good things about ChiRunning. Both of these are about running, but in my opinion, most of what is said about running can be applied to walking. Fruit for further investigation.
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As you seem to be into the oriental healing techniques …
I know of a Daoist body manipulation technique you may be interested in (part of tuina, but not many so-called tuina people seem to know of it) …
There are 5 bands around the leg:
These bands can have a twist to them. If the twist through the leg is off, the physical alignment of the leg is off.
Unfortunately, the only way I can really demonstrate is in person, but if you get your partner/friend to gently torque these areas one way then the other while you stand (ideally centre-weighted, feet hip-width/shoulder width apart, chest sunk into belly as in chigung/taichi) you should be able to feel the way the body changes. Eventually you will find that a certain pattern of twistings will give you an arch of the correct size and allow the correct foot alignment. Usually there are several bands in each leg that are out of position, and they are generally different for each leg.
(Note: if you have enough internal control you can vary the size and shape of your arch at will - this is part of the process of ‘rooting’ in the internal martial arts - you need to constantly vary the foot as you move to retain the root. This is why most people can only root in a stationary position, if at all.)
Once you have found your own pattern you need to gently train it into your body. Do this by finding the band that has the biggest effect and only putting your intent into twisting this. Once this becomes second nature, add the second, etc.
Always remain relaxed — Do not try to apply the twist to your own body, rather allow it to occur. Do not add tension to your central nervous system!
Alternatively: find a master and get him to work on you for a week or so! (difficult in the modern world).
Thanks for your message … It sounds interesting but involved. It’s the first I’ve heard about using any Eastern internal techniques to adjust the tissue.
It’s actually not that involved once you develop the sensitivity to what you are doing, but it does take time to get used to the process - discovering for yourself the location and actions of the bands and learning to feel inside your body. This is obviously accelerated if you can find a teacher.
The techniques are really just another form of chigung (neigung) - a hidden subtle skill - and learning any decent chi gung should in time allow you to find this all for yourself once you know it exists. People often seem to miss stuff like this because they are concentrating on a more “correct practice” than on the broader picture.
You mentioned going barefoot and then you mentioned a couple of myths about it. I go barefoot frequently. I have been able to eliminate my back pain. I had significant back pain which everyone just attributed to the fact that I hunch over a microscope at work, but when I started going barefoot, the pain went away, even though I still hunch over the scope.
I notice that you believe that going barefoot is dangerous in civilized areas. It is not. I am the biggest wimp ever, and my feet started toughening up within a matter of days. It really doesn’t take long. So, in a short time, your feet will be tough enough to walk on sidewalks, gravel, etc. As for broken glass, it is a non-issue. Do you step on broken glass when you have shoes on? No, because of the fear that the glass will go through your shoe and cut your foot. So, if you avoid glass in shoes, why couldn’t you avoid glass in barefeet? People can watch where they’re walking without having to look down and scan the ground obsessively. You just avoid anything that looks dangerous. Also, when your soles get really tough, you can actually walk on OLD glass that’s been tromped on. It won’t penetrate the tough sole.
What about a puncture wound? Well, as long as you keep your tetanus shot updated, then you’re fine. As for other types of infections, there have been studies that show that people who wear shoes have higher risks of infections from puncture wounds, because the inner sole of a sneaker is teeming with pseudomonas. It’s a moisture-loving environmental pathogen, and when you get a puncture wound wearing a shoe, the object penetrates the inner sole, forcing all that pseudomonas deep into your foot. In the study, a lot of the shod kids had pseudomonas infections, whereas the barefoot kids just had local inflammation from the puncture.
I’d be happy to answer any questions/shatter any myths you may have about barefooting. There’s a nice website at http://www.barefooters.org which has lots of info on it. Going barefoot is safe and healthy and it’s the way humans were meant to walk. Think of shoes the same way you think of gloves. If it’s cold or you need protection, you wear gloves. Same with shoes. But you wouldn’t wear gloves all the time. They reduce the sensory information you take in. Same with shoes. And you don’t need to wear shoes for protection as often as you would think. The world isn’t that dangerous a place. Anything that you think shouldn’t come in contact with your feet comes in contact with your shoes. Do you wash your shoes everyday? Anything “nasty” that’s on the ground or floor will be spread around by shoes, anyway. Your feet are tough enough to come in contact with the same stuff your shoes come in contact with. Plus, you wash your feet regularly.
Hi Marcy,
You raise some very good points. I’m going to conveniently sidestep some of them by saying that I geared this article not for the naturalist, but for the general public, for people who want to improve the functioning of their feet without stepping too much outside their comfort zone.
That said, I have tried going barefoot, and unfortunately my feet do not seem to respond as quickly as yours do. Maybe some people’s skin tissue regrows faster than others’, I don’t know. I might wildly speculate that you have a stronger physical constitution than I do, or a stronger “defensive qi,” which in Chinese medicine governs the exterior of the body, including the skin.
Further, I do walk on broken glass with shoes on, quite comfortably. One of the first things I do when I shatter glass in my house is to put on shoes, because then I know I won’t get hurt. So I would argue that that’s still a reason why I won’t go barefoot.
One other major reason I would not recommend going barefoot in civilization is chemical toxicity. My wife is my canary in the coal mine; one of the first hints we had that she was chemically sensitive was when we went playing in a playground, including rolling down a grassy hill, and she started breaking out in a rash. Since then I’ve heard many a horror story about someone being severely injured by neurotoxins used in lawn pesticides. I don’t know what’s in some of the crap I step in all the time — cleaning agents, construction chemicals, etc. And what I don’t know can hurt me. So I prefer the protection of footwear.
This is also the reason why we follow the traditional Asian custom of removing our shoes when we enter the house. (Also because I’m Asian.
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In addition, when I said that going barefoot takes extra energy, I meant not only physical but emotional and social. You just can’t go into a lot of businesses without shoes, and there are bound to be questions and pressure from various people. Some people are just not willing to put up with that kind of pressure.
Now, having said all this, I want to emphasize that these are the reasons why I don’t go barefoot and why I don’t recommend it. However, it’s clear that it’s worked for you, and if it worked for you, then it will work for other people.
Well, barefooting isn’t for everyone. But shoes are terrible, and wearing orthotics just keeps the muscles weaker. I’ve heard of people getting back their normal arches by going barefoot.
As for chemical sensitivity on lawns, a good way to avoid it is to not walk barefoot on lawns that look too nice. I usually walk on the sidewalk, anyway.
Going in businesses is tricky. I’ve discovered through experience and talking with other barefooters that women usually have an easier time of it. I’ve gone in numerous places barefoot and haven’t had any problems…bank, hairdresser, library, on the bus, yarn shop, big chain grocery store, big chain mart, etc. And a couple of those places even had No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service signs posted. But confrontations are real and do happen, so a person who doesn’t like attention or confrontations might not appreciate it.
I don’t think it’s dangerous. I’ve cut my foot a couple times…once serious enough to get stitches, and once not so bad. Both times I was IN MY HOUSE! The time I got stitches, I had come down on a glass that was on the floor, it broke under my weight and went into my foot pretty deep. I have never gotten injured walking outside other than burning the soles of my feet on hot pavement.
But, as you said, it’s not for everyone, but I’d hate to people not to do it because they thought it was dangerous.
Yeah, all good points. Being able to go barefoot is still on my list of things to achieve in my life. It’s just kind of far down.
First I’d like to be able to go without eyeglasses …
Actually, now that I think about it, there are training methods in qigong for developing internal force that, among other things, strengthens the organism. Kung fu people focus more on hands but I bet something could be done to adapt those methods to strengthening the feet. Hmm …