Do Tennis Shoes Actually Harm Your Back?

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We all seek to look attractive.  Guys work to become beefed up with muscles bulging out of their shirts while girls accentuate their bodies with paints and uncomfortable clothing.  Neither sex is immune to body deformation nor are our feet.  And unfortunately our entire body suffers as a result.  What I’m going to show you may startle you as it’s one of the easiest ways to fix back pain with virtually no effort…

High Heel Shoes are Great for Instep Pain & Pleasantly Sore Heels

High heels contort the foot into a unnatural position causing extreme foot pain.  Yet many individuals feel it’s worth the pain for the instantaneous jolt of sexiness they feel wearing heels.

Raised heels in shoes are one of the top reasons for lower back pain.  Yet few people think to question their shoes when their back is sore.

Athletic Shoes are Just as Good for a Sore Back as High Heels

High heels are not the only culprit.  Any heel, including athletic shoes, which raises the rear foot above the ball of the foot pushes the hips forward and back out of alignment.

If the back is left in this position for an extended period it leads to painful and ugly condition known as Lordosis / swayback.  The best shoes for back pain and loss of lordosis are shoes that respect the foot’s natural orientation.

Fix Back Pain with a Zero Drop Flat Sole Shoe

I’ve found one of the easiest ways to reduce chronic back pain is to go with flat soled shoes.  However, it’s not quite as simple as that.

Most of us have walked around all our lives wearing some sort of raised heel.  This effectively shortened the Achilles tendon.  Now our Achilles tendon, struggles to stretch long enough for a flat sole!

Only mystical natives who run thousands of miles barefoot can tolerate flat soled shoes.  For us the Achilles tendon is constantly overstretched and eventually wears out leading to tendinitis, fractures, and other uncomfortable injuries.

Your Feet Need Time to Adjust

Really fixing all your foot ill’s is not as simple as ditching modern shoes for a set of zero drop minimalist shoes.  It’s more complicated than that.  It takes a careful balance of increasing flexibility and relearned coordination.

When moving to a flat soled aka minimalist / barefoot shoe you should have a set of transition footwear.  Wear the flattest shoe tolerable for a short period each day or until it becomes slightly uncomfortable.

Increase the amount of time you wear that shoe each day.  Wear the transition footwear the rest of the time.  Transitioning to healthier flatter shoes, will take time this way but it’s better than experiencing extreme pain and injury.

Click here to learn more about our foot training program and how to get healthier feet without PAIN…

4 thoughts on “Do Tennis Shoes Actually Harm Your Back?

  1. Great question! Those cheapo flip flops are probably the best shoes you can get for your feet 🙂 The funky ones that are expensive with the shape formed, cushioned soles though are not 🙂

  2. Yup 🙂 Those simple $10 flip flips you can buy at Target / Walmart are some of the healthiest shoes you can get. The form fit / arch support etc Birkenstocks and other fancy sandals are terrible for you. They don’t allow your foot as well as body to maintain it’s natural alignment. They actually restrict it.

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