Modern natural
April 25, 2008
I’m certainly not anti-technology. I am after all a web developer. But I think there are a lot of things that we’ve done to ourselves to correct perceived deficiencies in how our bodies operate, creating new problems in the process. I’ve written before about my attempt to regain a natural sleep pattern. Walking is apparently the next on my list.
Thanks to Cory Doctorow, I read this article on the damage we do to ourselves with shoes. Not just fancy shoes, but even sport shoes. And then I read this review and this review of the Vibram fivefinger shoe and that was pretty much all she wrote.
The theory behind the shoe is that you don’t need to cushion your feet nearly as much as people do. In fact, the cushioning and over-protecting of our feet might be what leads to other kinds of joint pain. So what we ought to do is make shoes that work with our feet, the way they were designed, rather than fight to correct apparent design defects.
It’s a way of thinking about technology that I find rather compelling: let’s start with the idea that the way our body works is effective, then try to find ways to augment that performance. These (and similar) shoes do that by allowing your foot to operate as it was designed but giving the foot considerably better protection from the elements.
I’ve yet to try them of course; I ordered them just this morning. But after I get them and try them I’ll come back and let you know what I think.
Posted in Fat Hiker
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April 25th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
“let’s start with the idea that the way our body works is effective…”
But that may be incorrect assumption to start with. My podiatrist has told me (and one of his peers told a friend of mine) that the human body is not designed efficiently. Our feet and legs have not fully caught up with our becoming bipedal. I don’t know enough about biology to give specifics, but these doctors told us that some common foot ailments such as bunions and neuromas are the result of “design flaws.” Not flaws in our shoes, but flaws in the way feet are constructed.
Similarly, woman often have knee and ankle problems because our joints cannot accomodate our widened pelvises. The angle of the leg doesn’t work correctly to support us.
April 25th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
It certainly doesn’t work correctly to support us with the shoes that we currently wear; I’m inclined to think it’s possible that we’ve been trying to correct problems caused by our shoes rather than problems caused by our bodies. Recent research seems to bear this out.
April 25th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I was looking at those shoes yesterday, myself. Let me know what you think of them.
April 26th, 2008 at 2:20 am
Just a follow up to what Missie wrote; I do remember in my physical anthropology courses being taught that our bipedalism is what causes such difficulty and pain in childbirth (compared with other mammals), and also leads to back problems and such.
April 26th, 2008 at 6:00 am
That’s been the common wisdom and operative theory for a very long time, but recent studies are starting to challenge that notion, or at least suggest that our current solutions — which seek to override and supplant the natural operation of our feet — exacerbate the problem.
From You Walk Wrong:
and
April 28th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I don’t have a degree in anthropology, but I had several courses in college and I agree with the comments by MTB and Chrissy. Those are the operative theories and have come from many, many years of research.
An article from NY Magazine that talks to two random studies does not mean those theories are incorrect, nor does it mean they are being (properly) challenged. We don’t know if any proper scientific method was used in those studies, nor do we know if the research was peer-reviewed. Many scientists publish their studies that challenge common notion, but it doesn’t mean we jump head-first into every new theory out there.
Good luck with the shoes…although, and no offense, they look pretty ridiculous.
April 28th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
BB, you’re right — two studies don’t necessarily denote a scientific consensus, and the shoes do look ridiculous. But I’m not going to let that stop me. I look pretty ridiculous to begin with.