Healthy Summer Footwear
ORTHOTICS
Rob Watkins
DC
After a long, bone-chilling winter over most of the country and abroad, most people look forward to the warm breezes and soft sand beaches of summer. Take it from someone born and raised in Florida, it’s great to kick off the work shoes and slip into something more comfortable for relaxation and recreation. Florida attracts about 126 million visitors every year who enjoy walking for days through Disney, playing golf, or strolling the over 663 miles of beaches.
Whether you are heading out with your friends to conquer 18 holes on lush green fairways or tearing up the asphalt of the local tennis and pickleball courts, you will need to make a healthy choice of footwear.
Any athletic enthusiast or hard-core hobbyist will tell you that the right footwear is a must when performance in the game is a priority. Whether you’re considering traction on the driving range or tennis court, shock absorption, or good support, the correct shoe is important to achieve your best efforts and optimal comfort. Golfers need the anchoring effect of spikes or aggressive tread to firmly plant their feet for the torque and intensity of their swing. For racquet sports players, a softer tread with firm adhesion to the court is optimal. For the runner, the shoe needs to be as light as possible with maximum shock absorption. But for many athletes, there is a sacrifice.
The Sacrifice...
The sacrifice is good support. This is an intentional sacrifice, in my opinion, built into the creation of most footwear by the manufacturer. To further expand on this opinion, proper support for most people is not something they are used to and is certainly not something they have experienced in any shoe at any price. Okay, well, you can get a little closer to proper support with a more expensive brand offering more supportive features, which is how people justify spending more than the average price for these shoes. What if shoe manufacturers put the optimal support in their shoes, though? The average consumer would love the fit until their feet started to adjust to never-before-experienced support. They wouldn’t understand that their feet needed time to break in proper support, and discomfort, thereafter, would motivate a return of the footwear to the store. So why would a shoe manufacturer take that risk? They wouldn’t! They want to sell shoes that you won’t return, so they continue to design shoes that give little to no proper support needed for the average foot. Consumers don’t even realize that they are missing something very important to their comfort, performance, balance, proper shock absorption, and, ultimately, their health.
Something Very Important...
So what is the big deal about support if the shoe feels comfortable? The majority of the population has an inadequate arch height that leads to pronation of the foot. As we know, the foot is the foundation on which our entire skeleton is built, and similar to the foundation of a building, it must be level for all that is located above the foundation to work correctly. The cascade of biomechanical shortcomings reminds me of a children’s song many have learned. “The foot bone’s connected to the ankle bone...” on up to the knee, hip, spine, and shoulders. If you have pronation of the foot, the ankle becomes torqued, which leads to torsion on the knees, and that, in turn, causes an imbalance of the hips, spine, and shoulders. Arch failure can turn you into a crooked man or woman the moment you get up from reading this article and become weight-bearing.
My Florida Discovery...
So what is the right choice for your sport or recreational activity? Do you choose your footwear based on how it looks, how it is designed to perform, or how comfortable it feels on your feet? What if I told you that you could choose what looks good, and you could fit it with an accessory that would make the perfect fit for your comfort and support? About two decades ago, I discovered a supportive three-arch custom orthotic, prescription-made for my foot, that has given me optimal fit, performance, and support for the racquetball court, jogging on the streets, at the gym, and for everyday wear at my chiropractic practice. Yes, it took a few days initially for my foot to adjust to the reality of optimal support, but now I will not wear a shoe without my orthotics for any purpose—even yard work. Many of my patients are surprised to learn that there are three arches in each foot. Failure of any of these arches leads to incremental imbalances in the biomechanical function of their feet or affects every joint supported through their spine and shoulders. Foot Levelers custom orthotics are the only ones that address all three arches and create a high-quality product directly from a laser-scan of the patient’s foot, so it is prescription-made to the specifications of the individual.
The best for me was yet to come a few years later when I discovered the same lab that had made my orthotics over the years also made custom support flip-flops. Flip-flops are my go-to footwear around the house and on the weekends. What a difference this has made for me! The company also works with high-quality shoe vendors of men’s and women’s casual shoes, athletic shoes, sandals, and slippers to match the individual patient’s needs for footwear.
Take the advice of this Florida native and get yourself a few pairs of custom, prescription orthotics to place in your athletic and work shoes. And don’t forget the flip-flops for kicking around the house or that casual walk on a beautiful beach with your loved one.
Dr. Rob Watkins is a native of the Fort Myers area. He graduated from Fort Myers High School in 1986, and went on to attend Edison Community College and Florida State University for his Pre-Medical Studies. He attended Life University - School of Chiropractic for his Chiropractic doctorate degree and graduated in 1992. Dr. Watkins Graduated from Life University Chiropractic College in 1992. Also attended: Florida State University, Edison College. Additional degrees: National College -Physiotherapy, Erhardt Radiological Science, Florida Workman's Compensation Certified, AMA Disability and Impairment Rating Certified.
