| You want special running shoes for flat feet because | | | | One of the best milers in U.S. history, Alan Webb, |
| that is what you have been told you need. Careful. | | | | started out as a flat foot. But by doing foot |
| Shoes that are meant to help flat feet almost always | | | | strengthening drills and walking barefoot he went |
| do so by providing additional arch support. The | | | | from a size 12 to a size 10. Why? The stronger his |
| thinking behind that is our feet need an arch to | | | | feet got, the higher his arches got. |
| operate properly. Flat-footed people, lacking that | | | | Even the folks that orbit the earth in the space |
| arch, will therefore need even more than average | | | | shuttle experience muscle atrophy and deterioration. |
| arch support. | | | | They are not in a cast, just the opposite, but there |
| Instead of padding your arch, you may want to | | | | is no effort required in the weightlessness of space. |
| consider the benefits of strengthening the muscles in | | | | Without any work, our muscle development goes |
| your feet. By propping up our feet in shoes, tendons | | | | backward. |
| tighten up and muscles atrophy. Without a work out | | | | No question what we put on our feet has an impact. |
| our feet flatten and lengthen. When worked, arches | | | | Perhaps more than we realize. In the case of arch |
| will develop of their own accord. | | | | support in your shoes, however, less may be more. |
| In "Born To Run" by Christopher McDougall, Dr. | | | | We want our feet to work. |
| Gerard Hartmann explains, "Putting your feet in shoes | | | | When starting a running program take it slow and |
| is similar to putting them in a plaster cast. If I put | | | | easy to start. Literally, start each run slowly and |
| your leg in plaster, we'll find forty to sixty percent | | | | easily. Once you have warmed up, pick up the pace |
| atrophy of the musculature within six weeks. | | | | and the effort. Take time to slow down and take it |
| Something similar happens to your feet when they're | | | | easy as you wrap up your run. Do not be in a hurry |
| encased in shoes." | | | | to pile on the miles. Listen to your body. If your feet |
| Did you know that typical foot ailments such as | | | | hurt when you run, take a look at your running |
| corns, hammertoes, fallen arches and flat feet are all | | | | technique and how far you are running. |
| but nonexistent in countries where people go | | | | Do look at what you are wearing on your feet. But |
| barefoot? According to Dr. Paul Brand at Louisiana | | | | running is so much more than your running shoes. |
| State University Medical School, the solution to flat | | | | When you finish your first marathon, you will not be |
| feet is to lose our shoes. McDougall's book is full of | | | | telling everyone you know that your shoes ran |
| such fascinating people and running facts. | | | | twenty-six miles. You did. |