83% of American’s Suffer from Chronic Foot Pain — Here’s How I Healed Mine
Every time I walked, it caused me pain. Standing still was even worse.
I was spending hundreds of dollars on trial and error footwear. No matter how many specialists I visited, no one had a real solution.
It was hard remaining positive when I was having visions of my future in a wheelchair.
That’s when I knew I had to do something, because it was obvious no one else would.
It All Starts at the Feet
Our feet are the foundation of our existence. They act as a way to ground ourselves to the Earth, and they’re pretty imperative to our mobility.
And yet, we abuse them regularly.
They are the body part we consider the least, cramming them into ill fitting shoes, walking quicker than they can carry us to get to the next important destination in our day.
For some, they are forgiving and they will withstand a great deal of abuse. But for all humans, without a consideration for foot health, your feet will eventually start to give you problems.
No my friends, foot health does not end at your feet.
Yes, you can experience bunions, plantar fasciitis, bursitis and morton’s neuroma (to name a few).
But you better believe that a problem in your foundation will eventually affect the house.
Back, ankle, knee and hip pain all stem from poor foot health.
For me, the pain started directly in my feet and moved up. I went from spending whole days walking my dog to dreading a mere walk across the street for groceries.
It took me a long time, but my feet are no longer standing between me and living the life I want to live.
Here’s how.
Foot Splay
Children’s feet are the picture of perfection — they are what feet were intended to look like. They are a V shape, and the toes are all spaced apart. This is called foot splay.
When I looked at my feet, I saw bunions forming on both the big and little toes and looked more like a diamond shape. Certainly not perfection. Which begs the question — if our feet were meant to look a certain way, why don’t they?
Modern Day Footwear
Let’s talk about modern day footwear for a second.
This is where you will find the most apprehension amongst people with foot pain. Myself included.
If you have foot pain, you get lumped into the dreaded “comfort” category which is the equivalent of social suicide.
I tried every kind of modern footwear — nike, cole haan, sketchers — I literally spent thousands in my attempt to be “fashionable” but nothing worked.
The footwear my so-called “foot specialists” were recommending to me were HEINOUS. And not to mention, straight up bizarre.
My physiotherapist recommended Altra’s — “my father-in-law wears them and really likes them” … great, just what I needed. Another elderly shoe recommendation.
He made the reco because they had a wide toe box suitable for my condition. I checked them out… they weren’t TERRIBLE, so with literally no other options, I bit the bullet.
They arrived — I scrunched up my face and reluctantly put them on. I will never forget walking in them for the first time. It was pure magic.
But my feet still hurt — especially when I was barefoot, the one thing I knew I needed to do frequently if I wanted to strengthen my weak feet.
While my Altra shoes were allowing my toes the room to spread, they weren’t splaying correctly on their own. And how could I expect them to when they were accustomed to being crammed inside pointy shaped shoes?
CorrectToes
No, these little rubber babies are not made for pedicures.
They are one of the best purchases you will make if you are a sufferer of chronic foot pain.
Along with my natural shape footwear, these toe spacers changed my life. Remember when I said walking in the Altra’s was pure magic? Well walking with the toe spacers was nothing short of wizardry.
It wasn’t that it felt good — no — it actually felt the opposite. Muscles lit up in my calves that clearly had never been used before and it was uncomfortable having my toes spaced apart so dramatically.
But with persistence, new wonderful sensations began and I was able to start walking again!
It’s difficult to explain the concept of “earthing” without having truly experienced it, but each step I took felt stronger and more connected than I had experienced in all of my years of life. While the source of pain was still present, the strength that was building in my feet was acting as protection allowing me to walk distances I once feared were a thing of my past.
I knew I had a long way to go, but I finally felt like I was at least heading in the right direction after years of being told to wait.
There I am in my Altra’s with my (not visible) CorrectToes, starting a new sport, leaving behind me this dark cloud of uncertainty.
I wasn’t lost anymore. The science — nature — was there to support the exact steps I needed to take to pull myself out and get my life back.
Something’s Gotta Give
The fashion industry doesn’t care about function — so manufacturers don’t care about function either.
Podiatrists care about lifetime customers for inserts designed to keep a weak foot weak. Physiotherapists certainly care about returning customers, not self-sufficient clients who can take 15 minutes a day to start working towards their own recovery.
This is the unfortunate world we live in. We are all just consumers, not people. Money above all else and if you think that simply because an “expert” told you otherwise, you are sorely mistaken.
If your feet are keeping you from living the life you want to live, learn from my experience. Don’t wait around for someone to give you a solution — you have the power to change your feet for life, not just while they are in your shoes.
Do you have chronic foot pain holding you back? Share your story with me in the comments or email me at hi@selfhealwithme.com.