Strong Feet, Smart Shoes: Answering Your Functional Footwear Questions

Introduction to Footwear Questions 0:00

You are taking away some of the natural ankle mobility if you are chronically using shoes with a heel-toe drop. I am going to get fatigued, but I'm still running and I still experiencing impact. You cannot simply wear the minimal shoe as the way to strengthen the foot. Hello and welcome to another episode of Root to Rise. My name is Dr. Emily Spickle, your host. And today we are going down to our roots, to feet. And we are going to answer one of the most common questions that I get as a podiatrist, and that is all about shoes.

Which are the best type of shoes for different activities, maybe for your foot type? Should everybody be wearing minimal shoes or what's up with these rocker based shoes and super shoes? I am here to all of those questions and share with you a little bit on how I guide my patience through this common question. So now when we think about shoes, I want you to be thinking about their role is not to change the innate natural function of the human foot. That is absolutely why I love barefoot training.

Taking off the shoes is to really tap into the natural innate strength of a human Footwear is an additive to that to either enhance that existing natural strength that you know how to tap into, or if not, definitely check out my videos on how optimize your foot strength. It's also for certain athletic performance, certain sports require specific footwear, Or it could be to minimize stress based off of certain activities that I will share with you as well. So we are continuously bombarded with ads, experts, influencers, everyone is talking about different types of footwear and trying to get you to wear their shoes.

It can be extremely, extremely confusing And a lot of people don't know which shoes to wear. They will look at someone that they trust, see what shoes they're wearing, and essentially think that that is best for them. So as we go into this, there are three questions I want you to ask yourself when you are considering footwear is, first, What is your foot type? Do you have high arch, flat arch neutral foot? What Is your Foot Type? I will go into those basic foot types and what each foot Type means.

Foot Type, Injury History, and Activity Demands 2:51

This will be high level just for the sake of simplicity. Second question I want you to ask yourself is what is Your Injury History? Do you have a history of plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendon issues, ankle sprains? Do have neuromas, bunions, hammer toes? So just what is that injury history? And then the third question, which is very, very important, is going to be, what are the demands that you are going place your foot under? The shoes that I recommend to someone running a 5k is very different than the shoes that I would recommend to a nurse standing on their feet for 10 hours on a hospital floor.

Very different answers for these. So again, those three questions are What is your foot type? What does your injury history? And then what are the demands at which you are going to place your food under and your shoes can change for all of those different activities. So here we go. Let's start to tap into question number one, which is your foot type. This will always be your first question, your foundation. Of course, you're foot-type, foot posture is laying the foundation to your functional movement, how you are going to relate to the ground, to ground reaction forces, and it will talk to rest of the body higher up as far as posture alignment, core stabilization, glute engagement.

So when it comes to foot types we're going to break it down into three main foot type and this is going be a scale because everything is gonna fall in between these extremes. On one end you are going have your flat foot which flatfoot actually doesn't tell you anything and it's a word that I typically don't like using. but on this flat foot side we're actually going to call it overpronation. It's that collapsing foot and then we are going proceed a little bit towards this neutral, balanced arch foot.

And then, we gonna continue along that scale and we going end up in that higher arched over supinated foot. So we go from overpronation, unlocked, unstable over here, through that neutral all the way to the oversuppinated, higher arch, more rigid foot Let's go back to the overpronation in the flat foot. So what does that mean? That means that that foot is unlocked, unlocked. That is a word that I use as a functional podiatrist a lot. It is unstable. it is, a little bit slower to stabilize. Slower foot.

Slow foot, unlocked, hypermobile. It's in a state of deceleration and it's also in the state how we actually absorb energy. That foot type, when we're thinking about footwear, is going to get fatigued or tired a little bit easier. So if a foot by structure or by posture is in a state that it is gonna get tired easier, and you're thinking about shoes, maybe we need something that provides a bit of support. know, makes sense, right? And again, there's a spectrum of what support means. There's different ways of how you could introduce this.

But that's what I want you to start to think about with that flatter foot, dropped arch over pronated foot. We continue along that spectrum to that neutral foot the neutral, foot middle of the road. It could go either way. This is where if you have a neutral for it, going to the next two questions is going We cannot decide footwear simply off the basis of foot type. Remember we got two more questions. Okay, we're continuing along that spectrum over to the overly supinated, higher arched, rigid foot.

This foot does not unlock well. It's locked. Its rigid. it doesn't absorb energy well in order to absorb the energy we have to be able to unlock our foot or essentially mobilize that foot to absorbed energy. If we're too stiff and rigid over here, we don't have enough time to unlock or mobilize to absorb impact. So that foot type may not do well with high impact activities. They oftentimes have a lot of mid-foot rigidity. A lot them have limited ankle mobility. That's allowing us to start to think about, from a footwear perspective, Maybe we want a little bit of cushion in there.

Maybe, we wanna little of a heel-toe drop because of the limited ankle mobility in that foot type. This is where we start to answer and frame our mind around potential footwear. But as I said earlier, you cannot answer just that first question and know which shoes to go with, because we have to to the second question, which is going to be around injury history. So now with injury, history already mentioned this. Do you have a history of plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis? Maybe plantarfasciosis.

chronic state that's actually very very different. History of ankle sprains, maybe we have neuromas, bunions, hammer toes, etc. We are needing to navigate and guide our footwear recommendations based off of that. Now, if I'm working with a patient who has long-standing plantar fasciitis, maybe it's in a flared up state, I will oftentimes deviate towards more support. And the reason is that I am trying to navigating that tissue injury.

What Makes a Minimal Shoe 9:01

Now one thing that I do want to pause and add here as the footwear that we are thinking of or recommending or considering based off of these questions we're answering isn't this solid be all end all. It could be temporary. Temporarily I am going to wear supportive shoes, even though I don't want to be in them. But based off of my injury history, I'm going temporarily shift towards a more supportive shoe to allow my tissue to heal itself, to give a little bit of a time out to that tissue. So that's an important consideration here.

Okay? Now if we have bunions and hammer toes, this is looking at footwear that's going to have a little bit wider toe box. Maybe it has a taller toebox so it can accommodate the hammertoes. That would be something to consider as well. Now, if you have Achilles tendon injuries, maybe limited ankle mobility, ankle sprains, then that is where you could be thinking of a shoe with a bit of drop, so you are avoiding that toe total zero zero drop based off of your injury history of Achilles tendon strain.

And again it could be temporary. You temporarily are going to be wearing a shoe with a drop so that you can offload that Achille's tendon. So that is going be your second question that we are answering here and then the third, very very important as well, is what are the demands in which you are placing your foot under? Are you running a 5k? That recommendation is very different than are you running a marathon. Oftentimes, I will recommend a more minimal shoe if I can for a patient in those shorter runs, but not everybody based off of their foot type and their injury history is able to run a full marathon in a truly barefoot shoe.

And that's okay. So maybe for those longer runs, we go more into a transitional shoes, something like an ultra, and that is what we do. And it is okay, right? Or I mentioned that we have maybe a nurse or someone who stands on their feet, standing employees. on concrete hard surfaces 10 hours a day, and you will need something to offset that unnatural stress to the body. So do I recommend super shoes or like a hookah to those individuals? I often do. And again, it's okay because outside of those work hours, maybe you are in that more minimal environment.

So again, answering these three questions to start to guide you in the most appropriate footwear. So now as we continue here, I do want to spend some time focusing on the minimal shoe. And the reason is, is this is obviously a growing space within the footwear industry at Noboso and as a functional podiatrist. I work with most of the minimum shoe companies. There is incredible event every year. It is called the Barefoot Shoe Expo. They've had two events. So coming in 2026 will be their third annual.

Highly, highly recommend you check them out. Barefoot shoe expo is going to be in Chicago. I believe in May they have it every year. Definitely check that out. So when we think about a minimal shoe, a barefoot shoes, totally flat, This is where you might be starting to think of some of those brands. We got Zero Shoes, we have Wildling, We have Vivo Barefoot, have Grounds, Lems, the Minimus. There's many brands that fall within this space and all of them share a few specific features. They will not have a counter.

Now a counter is on the back of the shoe. So if you have a shoe and you're at where your heel sits, oftentimes supportive controlling shoes will have stiff counter that hugs the heel bone and that is providing stability. A minimal shoe or a barefoot shoe will not ever have, a stiff, counter, very flexible to allow that heel and subtailer joint to move in the way that it was designed to. Another feature is that it will not have a stiff midsole. So I'm sure you've seen the ads, maybe you remember some of the Nike Free ads where they would roll the shoe and they could show that that shoe could be rolled kind of like a cinnamon roll is what it was rolled like, right?

So you can roll a shoe, you could twist it, fold it, you can flip it the other way, that is essentially demonstrating that there is no stiff midsole in that shoe. That is going to allow the human foot to twist and turn and spiral in the way that it was designed, unlocking that natural power of the Human Foot. Another feature is that high twister torsion. Just essentially reference this, but when you get a shoe, this is what I love to do when I show people footwear. is take a shoe, even a show that you think is quote unquote minimal, and can you twist the shoe like a rag, like you're trying to twist out the water of a rag.

The more that, you can twist, the more it is going to allow the natural spiraling of the human foot. And here's the thing, when it comes to human performance, energy transfer, baseline functional movement like walking, running, is there is a spiral movement throughout the body. And that spiral does also exist in the foot. So as we push off, the back of your foot, your rear foot is spiraling in. I love to see that in a shoe. The more you can twist a high twist, It's essentially unlocking the spiral of the human body.

Another aspect is it'll have a minimal to zero heel-toe drop. Now, a heel toe drop is, as the name describes, the distance from the heel going down to where the toes are, that heel, toe, drop, A traditional shoe has about 12 to 14 millimeters. So 14 mm is what you're sitting at as far as that drop. Wide drops were initially put in shoes. This is during the running boom in the 1970s and they were seeing a lot of impact related injuries, Achilles injuries plantar fasciitis, things like that, is that they figure that if they add a little drop, they will take tension off of that plant or fascial Achille structure or apparatus, therefore minimizing injuries.

Also, when you put the foot in a bit of a drop you invert that heel and make the foot a little bit more stable. So that was another way to minimize injuries through a heel toe drop. Now the flip side of that is as you add a Heel Toe Drop to a shoe, What if you don't need a heel toe drop? You are actually feeding a tightness into that posterior chain. You're taking away some of the natural ankle mobility if your are chronically using shoes with a Heel Toe Drop. Think of it like a little high heel, right?

So that's where a big part of minimal shoe boom was focused around. Get rid of heel-toe drop, get into a natural plant a great position of the foot to optimize full ankle mobility, we are supporting that natural function of human foot. So that's another feature. Okay, now minimal cushion, right? So we're taking away the cushion. Think of any of your favorite brands and minimal shoes. I think one of the easiest to connect to would be like a Vivo Barefoot. It is rubber ground. There is no cushion there.

Absolutely no question in that shoe. So, to understand the benefit, or potentially the downside of taking away cushion, we want to why was cushion put in shoes in the first place? Well, similar to the heel-toe drop, is that the footwear industries, especially the athletic footware industries and the running footwork industry, were seeing a lot of impact-related injuries. Well, if we put cushion in the shoe and we absorb some of that impact, then we will take it away from the foot and the soft tissue of the feet, which means the shoes is doing some other work for you.

We will minimize your impact related injuries That's at face value why cushion was put in shoes. Now, the downside of that is that as you put cushion in shows, yes, it absorbs the impact forces, but the Impact Forces was your body's energy. It's how your body knows how hard you're striking the ground, and it's what triggers the stabilization response up the chain to your core and into your hips. So, by adding cushion to shoes, you are actually sensorily disconnecting the nervous system in the foot from the floor and your movement.

So that's where you would say, do I really want cushion in my shoes? Or do i train the foot to naturally absorb impact forces by contracting the 26 muscles in the bottom of the feet? That is of course the direction that I like to go with my patients, but understanding and knowing the why behind cushion is very important because i'm going to give you a little devil's advocate here is let's say you are running an ultra marathon which this is where a lot of our super shoes came from and our maximal shoes So now you are doing an activity, running, lots of impact forces.

I understand that we can strengthen the foot to absorb impact force, but what happens if I am running beyond the natural physiological distance that I should be running? Ultimately, I am going to get fatigued, but I'm still running and I still experiencing impact. And that's where they started to add maximal shoes and cushion. It's saying, listen, you are defying physiology. I need to give you something artificial to help you continue to defy physiology, and that is where a lot of these shoes came out.

Or another great example of where I recommend cushion is, again, that nurse standing on the concrete floors for 10 hours a day. Honestly, it's unnatural to stand on a floor, a concrete floor for ten to 12 hours and not start to stress your plantar fascia or your Achilles tendon or you lower back, right? But in our minimal shoes, when we're thinking about these features of tapping into natural foot strength, you got to take out the cushion. Another one is that you will see a wide toe box. That wide toe box is allowing two things to happen.

It's allowing what is called toe splay. So that's the spreading of your toes nice and wide. that is how we maintain balance. Our toes play a very important role in how balance, how transfer energy, and how push off. And when you engage your toes into the ground, you actually activate your deep core, your glutes. It goes all the way to your tongue. That is your fascia line. We've spoken about that before. But natural optimal foot function is associated with long, straight, wide spread out toes. Now, the second feature that it allows to be unlocked or tapped into is called Metatarsal Splay.

This is different than Toe Splaying. Toes splay, as the name says, is literally the toes spreading. Meta tarsals splaying is actually in the foot. And this is one of my favorite things to talk about. is that your long bones in your foot are called metatarsals. And then their heads come to the front of the foot, that's called the ball of your feet. There is this natural widening or spreading of metatasals relative to each other. What happens here, it's very, very cool in how we stabilize, is connecting every metatarsal to its neighbor is a ligament.

It's called the deep transverse metatasal ligaments. it is actually part of your plantar fascia and that plantarfascia which comes from your heel goes towards your toes and as it reaches the metatal heads it's going to create this ligamens connecting each met head to it neighbor. So as we roll forward to take a step, your metatarsals are going to pull away from each other. They're going pull on that ligament, which is part of your plantar fascia. It's going trigger a stabilization response within your system, bone, core, hip, glutes, everything is activated and stable.

That is actually referred to as a tie bar mechanism.

When to Use Minimal Shoes 22:40

So think of it going across and then back towards your heel like a T. It's creating a tie bar. Super stable, powerful foot when you can tap into metatarsal splay. And a minimal shoe with a wide toe box is going to allow that. most traditional footwear is a little bit more narrow. It's going to restrict and compress those metatarsals, it's not going allow the metatasals to widen, and when they cannot widen you essentially take away that entire stabilization tie bar mechanism which is a neurosensory fascial response really really powerful on that that's also how you get neuromas so a neuroma is based off of a compression of your metatarsal heads from shoes that are essentially restricting that metatarsal splay.

So really, really powerful. I do want to share one last quick fun fact in relation to this is that when we think about walking, human movement, the gait cycle, The point of the gate cycle where your foot actually is its widest, right? So when is your feet widening to become its whitest? That is happening as you roll forward and you are in a push-off position or a lever. Now if everyone as you're listening just kind of think of this imagine a foot or if you could do it and do a do little calf raise just lift your heels and if look down at your foot that high heel position your is in right now that is called a rigid lever That position of the human foot rigid lever is when your foot is actually its widest.

That is, when we need metatarsal splay happening to create stability. Now, as your foots widens, your feet widen an average of 5 millimeters. So when you look at your shoes, if your foot is flat and you're not walking around, you need to have a buffer of five millimeters in that forefoot. Or guess what? As soon as you start moving, You're going to compress that foot. You are not going get that natural widening. So that's a fun fact as far as your looking at the fit of your shoe. Now, one last aspect of a minimal shoe that you'll often see in them is they're super flexible materials, right?

They're breathable, they are stretchy, and they try to accommodate for the uniqueness of the shape of human foot. That wide, maybe there's a bunion, that's okay, if they want to accomodate it. Maybe there is some contraction of digits. they want to accommodate that as well. So I'm going to give you a quick recap of that minimal shoe. Meet the minimal shoes. These are the features of what you can expect. We got no stiff counter, we have no Stiff midsole, high twist, minimal to zero heel toe drop, minimum to 0 cushion, We have a wide toe box and we've a flexible upper.

Can you tolerate that minimum shoe? That's essentially the question, right? And does it match your foot type? Does it matter injury history? and does that match the activity or the demands in which you're going to put your feet under? that's really part of our question, right? So now, when we're thinking about those minimal shoes, where I recommend these to my patients? Now, high level, if I could get every patient into a minimal shoe, that would be my goal. I do want people to know that as a functional podiatrist, I truly believe in the purpose and the role that minimal issues have when it comes to functional movement, activities, optimizing the foot.

But again, having that caveat to that, of course, because I see also all the injuries that happen, is that I say that understanding that certain foot types, certain injury histories, and certain demands or activities just are not designed to tolerate that minimal shoe. However, we're going to talk about that minimal shoe, and where can you start to think about this? Where could you starts to implement the minimal shoes into your routine? Well, if you're at the gym, that's actually where I tell most of my patients to start their transition.

You want to go from a supportive shoe to a minimal. We are going work that transition when you are at a gym because it's a controlled environment. When you're doing your lifts, your squats, you bicep curls, whatever it is that you are doing, maybe you doing a bike or you walking on the treadmill. Something that is a controlled environment. That is where I want you to start to incorporate those minimal shoes. Maybe we're thinking about hiking. I love minimal shoe for hiking because you getting a lot of sensory stimulation.

Actually, if you can feel the subtleties of the irregularity of surface that you're walking on, you will actually experience faster ankle stabilization. So I'm very much a fan of minimal shoes and hiking. Running, when we're doing the shorter distances, right, of course you have to work yourself up to it. Do not go from a super supportive running shoe to a barefoot shoe, and then you are switching your strike pattern. More of that in another podcast, so definitely Definitely do not do that. Possibly some athleisure.

So let's say you're just running some errands and you have minimal shoes that you want to do and wear day to day. You can absolutely do. And then one of my favorite ones is for the little kiddos for your children. I love minimal Shoes for Children. Remember, the peak window of neuroplasticity for a child is from zero to four.

Super Shoes and Rocker-Based Footwear 28:38

Some actually say it even pushes closer towards seven. And then a kid does not develop their adult arch until the age of seven, so just think of that window, and we are trying to bring maximal sensory stimulation to that child It is really, really important. So that's where you can start to think about these different features. Now, where do you want to be cautious with those minimal shoes? What are the little hazard signs when it comes to barefoot or minimal First one, and I even say this to the health and fitness professionals that I work with is standing long hours.

This includes on the gym floor. I worked with many personal trainers, fitness, professionals, physical therapists, And they believe so fully into the ethos of minimal shoes. They want to look like that natural foot strength persona. But standing long hours is unnatural to the human body. And we have to understand that. So if you are training clients on the gym floor for 10 hours a day, I would very much suggest not wearing minimal shoes. Wear those minimal shows when you're working out on a gym And then as you train those clients, switch to something that's maybe a little bit more transitional.

So maybe that is where you go into the ultra. And you know what I would even argue with that, is I'd row an insole into a shoe. If you don't want the arch support, at least use a Noboso Sensory Insole to keep that foot active. At Nobo, we have a form which has an arch-support built into it. but just slide a little bit of support in there so that you can maintain the longevity of that connective tissue, knowing that standing is uniquely defined physiology. So that would be a big one. Now, another kind of hazard, be little a bit cautious, is going to be in the very flexible foot, the over-pronated hypermobile flat foot where they're collapsing inward, Right?

That one I would be just a little bit cautious on that, especially based off of the activity you're going to use it for. Maybe you are standing and lifting at the gym. Okay, maybe we tease that. But if you going run and you have a hypermobile flat foot, I just, give a bit of a caution sign on it. Listen to the body. You could use the minimal shoes and throw an arch support in there and that's totally fine. That's okay. You can still wear a zero shoe or a Vivo Barefoot and put an Arch support into it.

Totally fine! I do it all the time for patients. Another one where we want to be a little bit cautious is you have active plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis post-tib tendonitis, any itis pain in the foot. Be cautious of wearing those minimal shoes. We need to give the body that little time out so the tissue can heal. we're trying to get control of the situation and then once that resolves and quiets you can go back to your minimal And then the last one would be running or doing some activity without the proper neuromuscular stabilization control.

Now what I do want to share on that one is that there was a research study done by the University of Liverpool on minimal shoes. They actually looked at Vivo Barefoot and the subjects wore VIVO BareFoot for, I believe it was six weeks, and six to eight weeks. And after that period, they noticed a hypertrophy of the intrinsics and an increase in toe flexor strength. So that's essentially saying wearing minimal shoes was an effective method to strengthen the foot. Boom. Check it, love it. Take that research and use that, right?

However, what I would add to that which is very important is even though there's research showing that wearing minimum shoes strengthens the I do not rely just on wearing minimal shoes as the way to strengthen the foot. This is very important when you are transitioning from a supportive structure and you aren't new to the minimal shoe space. To transition from supportive shoes to minimal shoes, you cannot simply wear the minimal shoe as the way to strengthen the foot. We have to understand the role of strengthening the through exercises, short foot, gripping the ground, forward lean, we need to be releasing our foot we to connect our feet to our core to diaphragm.

So there's things that we need to do in there. Please, please do not rely just on the shoe to the strengthening of your foot. We have to think about all the other things as well. And that honestly is why for any of those that remember the barefoot running boom that was 2008, 9, 10 around those years with the five fingers just came out Nike free. There are a lot of injuries that were happening. that was you cannot blame the shoe on that it was that there was an improper transition from supportive shoes to minimal shoes so we have to do that in an intelligent progressive way and we cannot just rely on the shoot a strength in the foot okay off that soap box What I do want to share next is about the super shoe.

It gave some attention to the minimal shoe, of course. I absolutely love that one. That is going to tap into that natural foot strength. But because I want you to fully understand all of these options that exist in the footwear space is we have to talk about the super shoe. This is where you're going to look at the Nike Vaporfly. this is, where, you are going, to see the Hoka and in these maximal shoes that have a carbon fiber interlay in them. So, let's take Hoke because it's the most most well-known and probably most commonly worn one.

So in the Hoka, they are, most models, have a stiff four-foot rocker. So there's a carbon fiber interlay with a four foot rockers that when you wear that shoe, you will roll through the shoe not through your MPJs. That could be good. I actually recommend that for my patients who have a helix limitus, who had plantar plate injuries, Who have neuromas is using a four foot rocker like that, that can be found in a hoca is actually oftentimes best for those individuals. So something to think about for the listeners, if you have those presentations.

So in it, there's that carbon fiber interlay, and then you got a lot of cushion underneath. Now, that cushion in a lotta these super shoes, especially the Vaporfly as an example, but there is a very sophisticated cushion, if we can call it that, But there IS innovation in that CUSHION. And to optimize the cushion and to utilize how these super shoes talk about the energy return you get from the Cushion and from The shoe, they must have the carbon fiber interlay. So it is that stiffness of the Carbon fiber as it's communicating with that intelligent cushion, which allows that energy Return and allows That essentially super athleticism around these shoes.

So I just want you to understand that, okay? Now, as that cushion starts to wear down, you will not see that same energy return, so it's kind of this powerful dance between the carbon fiber and the optimization of that Cushion, which allows for that peak energy they're very expensive, so like a Vaporfly and other super shoes, very,very expensive. They also wear down quickly, and as you start to wear-down that cushion, you will not get that same energy return. So, something to understand as far as those super-shoes.

Now, we do know that the Vaporfly, the vaperfly is known to improve running economy by 4%, so it's actually called, I believe the vaporfly 4% and Again, what is allowing you to increase your running performance and that energy is carbon fiber with that intelligent cushion working together.

Recovery Shoes and Orthopedic Options 37:18

If there wasn't the carbon fibre, you would not be able to optimize that cushion. And then that's not guaranteed for everyone, right? It has to do with your weight, your foot length, that relates to running performance and running economy, calf strength, Achilles tendon length strike pattern, shoe geometry. So things that are optimizing your performance like a shoe is not guarantee. It's very complex and multifactorial. That's essentially what I'm trying to share with that. Okay, now of those super shoes, again, that Hoka style that has the carbon fiber forefoot rocker, I will recommend to patients.

I do also like that one for nurses, for people who have to stand on their feet. There is another brand if you want to check out. It is called G-Defy. Uh, i've worked with them briefly, so that is one that you could work with. Um, Orthofeet also has some rockery based shoes. So those are some brands that maybe you have not heard of. Now, regardless of the super shoe that you're using, the Hoka, Orthofeet, G to 5, Vaporfly, whatever it is, I always recommend incorporating the Noboso Sensory Insole so you can still feel your feet despite all of that cushion.

So that is definitely something that we want to talk about. So next topic within this footwear as we are approaching the end of this episode is recovery shoes. And for this one, you can thank your friends at UFOs. So UFO is really the footware brand that created this category and this recovery foot wear. If you've never heard of recovery, foot we're definitely do a quick Google. You will see that categorically. it is now something very prominent within the footwear industry. Go to any running shoe store and just ask them, where are your recovery sandals?

UFOs, Hoka has one. All these different brands are tapping into what is a recovery, sandal recovery shoe. These are ones that oftentimes I will recommend to patients as a House shoe. So where would I recommend an UFOs or a house shoe is if you have active plantar fasciitis, active Achilles tendonitis. You're on your feet and you just, you need a timeout. Now, despite that, I will always recommend to incorporate some time in your home, end of the day, completely barefoot or with the Nobossa recovery socks on.

you want to be able to get out of the stack, the cushion, arch support. You want be to able spread and splay and feel and connect and mobilize that foot as much as you can. So again, everything is within balance. If you're going to wear those recovery shoes, still please, please incorporate some barefoot, no shoe time. And then of course, Add in those Noboso recovery socks to get some of that neurosensory stimulation and circulation benefit and you're checking all those boxes. So when we think of a structured shoe with a Structured shoe because we spoke about minimal shoes.

We spoke About super shoes, we talked about recovery shoes the last area that we want to talk about is What if you are 70 years old and you got a lot of mid-foot arthritis, you've got bunion that is painful, You have hammer toes that are just so sensitive. What are your footwear choices? So this is where we are looking at what used to be referred to, or still referred, to is orthopedic shoes. Now orthopaedic shoe does not sound that attractive, but these are shoes that essentially accommodating a features of the aging foot and providing them with the support and again the accommodation for their unique foot shape, sizes, changes, widths and various arthritities.

So for here there's a brand that I work with called OrthoFeet. Orthofeed is a wonderful brand, that is in this supportive We'll call it orthopedic footwear space. And for here, if you have arthritis, it can be very painful to find foot wear that provides sufficient support. If you, of course, have any of your plantar fasciitis, if you have neuropathies, very important here, a lot of these shoes can accommodate braces like an AFO or an ASO or a CMO. If have these, you know exactly what those stand for, but it could be accommodating for orthotics, for an ankle brace, let's say you a foot drop and you what's called an AFO, an Ankle Foot Orthosis, is that it will accommodate for that.

A lot of these footwear is going to allow where there's different kind of locking mechanisms on it. Doing laces, especially if you have arthritis in the hands, can be very, very painful and difficult. So they have different straps that come on, and then OrthoFeed actually has this patented slip-on technology where they slide their foot into the shoe. Super easy, especially if someone cannot reach down, which is a reality, right? We have to think about footwear recommendations based off of the different age categories that we are in or our family and our loved ones are.

So definitely check out OrthoFeet, their website is orthofeet.com. They're really, really great as far as their footwear and there's a lot of innovation and technology behind that brand, so highly, highly recommend. Now, as we are looking at this, just a few last features of what we could think about when it comes to shoes is what's on the inside, right? What's the insole technology? This is where, of course, Noboso, and our sensory insoles, those could be added in. What about carbon fiber insols?

Those are an option that you could add in as well. You have your outsole-technology. This where you'll see some shoes that are very specific to CrossFit. right? So Reebok has a lot of CrossFit shoes and they have where they'll accommodate for the rope. I know Zero Shoes has crossfit type shoe that has special outsole accommodating for any rope climbing. Maybe there's some that have good traction, certain treads based off of the activities that we're looking at, or again that out sole technology is going to be built into our super shoes, and some of that patented cushion that a lot of these shoes have.

So what I want to do as we wrap up, hopefully this is giving some good insight to everyone starting to answer your questions of what are the best shoes for you based off of your foot type. your injury history and the activities in which you are going to be using those shoes. And the way that you can answer this is going be very different based off of inactive injury or maybe it's a very specific activity and you wear the hokas at work and wear your minimal shoes at the gym. Totally fine, right? We can deviate into all these different categories.

So, to wrap up, I'm going share some of my favorite footwear. I work with many many brands so this is not limited to that but I do want to just know that these are all the various brands and if I happen to not mention a brand that you absolutely love then and it's working for you and its providing exactly what you need from those shoes and you keep wearing those and then also if you want to learn more about minimal shoes in all the different brands that are out there and which features are good for u and categorically is that a running shoe a workout shoe is it a sandal is at a boot is a hiking shoe please go to on yes reviews dot com on his reviews dock com she is jesus wonderful human who has reviewed almost every single minimal shoe and this is around the world and there are many many minimal shoes a lot of them come out of Europe.

She's reviewed, almost all of, them so that is a really great place for you to go to learn more. Here we go, real quick. So these are my favorite minimal shoes. This is based off of all of the features that we discussed. We got Vivo Barefoot, Zero Shoes, Velux Footwear, Field Grounds, love that brand, that's super comfortable, Origo. Orego is a Mexican company that they make it out of coral like reef, so it's organic is really what they're promoting. The shoes are really, really cute. Love them.

Paluva. So this is a five-toe shoe. It was founded by Mark Sisson, who is the founder of Primal Kitchen. This is similar to the Vibram Five Fingers, if you remember that from the Barefoot Running Boom, but Palluva, love those. Lissom, that is a British brand. Love those shoes. That's kind of a cute athleisure slide just for women. Wild Lean, this shoe I just described as ooey gooey. Don't know what that means, but when I put it on, I'm just like, ''I don't what to say except oo-ey-gooey.'' Love that.

It's almost like a second skin.

Daily Foot Recovery and Closing Advice 46:58

And then I just got a pair of Grounds, which Growns is a grounding shoe. It's a shoe that allows you to ground or earth, and I absolutely am a huge fan of grounding and earthing, so definitely check out that brand as well. Now, if I happen to not mention it, again, does not mean that it is not an awesome shoe, but if it works for you, you keep using it. Last recommendation here is going to be for my standing employees, because this is one that's very, very important for any of the standing employee.

Hoka, of course, right? Hoke is gonna be one of those Dansko's. Danskos is how I survived residency wearing those. Orthofeet, again, awesome brand, a lot of innovation behind it. Geedify, check that one out. And Atrex is another brand that I've worked for for years. All of those offer great offerings that are going to have the stack, the support, and the accommodation for different foot type. They'll be connected to the foot. they'll have a rocker, all of those are great for our standing employees.

So as we recap here what I want to share with you again those three questions that you are going to ask yourself as you consider footwear is going, to be what is your foot type, what does your injury history, and what are the demands or the activities in which you were going place your feet under. Footwear aside, you've got those shoes. You still need to focus on daily foot recovery and dailyfoot activation. The way that you're going to activate is get that Noboso Neural Ball, stimulate your feet with the texture, do our two two minute foot release or foot activation in the morning, roll through that foot, do a few forward leans, get into the 26 muscles in bottom of the foot.

Connect your toes to your pelvic floor all the way up to diaphragm and tongue. And then at the end of day, all of our feet deserve a little TLC. Maybe you're doing some earthing, walking around barefoot, release your feet on the neural ball again, or slide on your Noboso recovery socks. I hope that you found this interesting. I Hope you find it insightful. My goal here though is to really have it come across that as much as I love minimal shoes and I would love to get every single individual into minimal.

Sometimes it just doesn't work and maybe it doesn' work just for that specific activity. that's okay. We look at some of these other shoes, we understand that they're all done in a temporarily basis or a temporary basis and then it's about the moderation, finding balance and always tapping in to your natural foot strength. Thank you guys so much and I hope to see you on another episode of Ritualize.