The other day while checking myself in the mirror for stray hairs before going into the cleanroom, I noticed that I was standing only on the outer edges of my feet. I was curious as to whether this was a momentary thing or a typical thing for me. It seemed weird, anyway, so I wanted to observe it in detail.
When I got home, I looked at all my shoes, and they are all worn more on the outside edge than anywhere else. When I went for a run yesterday, I noticed that my big toe was curling up over my next toe, consistent with the stance I observed prior. Curious as to whether this is a good, bad, or indifferent thing, I did what any good person would do and looked it up on the internet!
Apparently this is called supination. The opposite movement (putting too much weight on the inside of the foot) is called pronation. Apparently it is much more common for hyperpronantion to occur than for hypersupination (hyper just meaning over or too much). Both supination and pronation are natural parts of the gait cycle, apparently: http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/sport-injuries/foot-heel-pain/supination
Hypersupination is quite rare, apparently. However, it causes a susceptibility to some of the things I am susceptible to, including ankle sprains and plantar fascitis. Apparently, the best thing to do if you have this as part of your life is to buy shoes that support your arches and attempt to even out your gait to "neutral," neither hypersupination nor hyperpronation.
I've always known I need good arch support or else my feet and ankles hurt.... and you probably knew this already if you've got a similar gait. So this post is just... well.... a look at a topic most of us rarely think about unless they are in pain: our feet.
On a side note, I bought a pair of heels recently that are uber comfy most of the time, but if I wear them for more than a day at a time, my left ankle decides it just doesn't want to be on planet Earth anymore and lets me know loudly (both by the noises it makes, which other people can hear, and by the pain it inflicts). The heels have no arch support and are all-together terrible shoes apart from being quite cute. It makes me wonder why our society has deemed heels an appropriate method for women to demonstrate their status....
Further digression: I recently saw a painting of a French aristocrat, may have even been royalty, I wasn't paying much attention, where the man in question had on heels and pantyhose and was showing off his shapely legs from beneath his stately fur robe. The other palate in the house and I wondered at how times have changed and why norms of beauty have trans-morphed across centuries and miles of oceans.... and I really think its because we used to pride our royalty on being practically useless (why should a King be capable of chopping wood?) and our women on being practically useless (you let your females wear clothing?!). Okay, that last reference was Farengi from Star Trek, but you get the point. It used to be a mark of honor that we had so much wealth that we could support some people (royalty first, then women when we got rich enough) that those people had nothing physically demanding enough to do that they could actually wear hose and heels, and we've somehow inherited that ideal of wealth-demonstration for our females in an age when women are so much more than pretty things we display as markers of our wealth. I say, if Bobak can sport a mohawk, then women can wear flats if they darn well please. I stand behind that by wearing flats most days.
Feet are important, keep them healthy and happy and you will also be healthy and happy!
Good eating my friends, and keep wondering!
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