Myth 1: High heeled shoes cause bunions
Virtually every woman will have been told at sometime in their life that wearing high-heeled shoes causes bunion to develop.
It is a fact that bunions are far more common in women than men, hence adding weight to this theory. But bunions develop just as easily in those who rarely or never wear high-heels, so shoes cannot be the main cause.
There is no doubt that high heeled shoes push the centre of gravity forward, force the pelvis to rotate forwards and hence push the entire body out of it's ideal alignment, so they are not going to help stop the development of bunions. But they are not solely responsible for their development either.
Truth:
Bunions are a classic symptom of abnormal foot function. They can develop at any age, nearly always to different degrees on each foot and will continue to develop and worsen throughout life unless the underlying abnormal foot function is appropriately controlled.
Surgery is often used to alleviate the pain from these bony distortions where they rub on shoes or make wearing shoes almost impossible. Unfortunately, unless the underlying functional cause is controlled, no amount of surgery, padding or adaptive footwear will halt their development.
If you have bunions, don't suffer in silence. Regardless of whether they are small, large, very painful or simply unslightly and annoying, don't wait around any longer. Stop them developing or worsening as early as you can with a pair of TOG custom orthoses.
Myth 2: Slumping on chairs causes poor posture
Slouching at desks, driving and remaining in a similar position for long hours are considered the most common causes of poor posture today.
It is a commonly reported fact that poor posture and related health problems such as back pain and arthritis are far more common in western industrialised countries than in other parts of the world. In these countries, we spend far longer sitting on chairs and sofas than our contemporaries in the rest of the world.
This may be true, but can sitting really be the sole cause for poor posture? If we sat up straight, walked tall and moved around a lot more, would we really improve our posture?
For those of you who have tried this, you'll know the answer is no. Yes, we might manage it for an hour or so, or sometimes even a few days, but it is almost impossible to permanently change and improve our posture this way.
Truth
There are several factors to consider:
1. The human body is designed for movement;
2. Most chairs and other seating facilities are poorly designed for prolonged periods of use by the human body;
3. Abnormal foot function generates structural adaptations and weaknesses throughout the body.
The design of the seating furniture we use plays a hugely important role in how easy it is for our bodies to maintain good posture. There is a continual debate on the most suitable type of chair, but there is no doubt that the traditional chair, with it's seat pad at 90 degrees or less to the back support does little to maintain the optimum musculoskeletal alignment of the human body.
Whilst we can easily adapt for short periods of time, prolonged sitting on furniture that strains our optimum alignment will cause changes in the posture of the individual.
For most, this is where the story ends. After years of campaigning to improve the seating furniture in workplaces, we are seeing an unprecedented growth in the market of ergonomics. By blaming seat shape, tradition, and market forces, we now have the option to buy new and different shaped furniture to protect our workers in the office.
This is all well and good, but we still need to make huge steps forward to ensure the same improvements to the standards of seating for our children in schools, our families at home and the seats provided in public places.
Desipe the work we have left to do in this area, this is not the whole story. Foot shape variations cause abnormalities in foot function, which in turn causes the structural alignment of the body to be compromised. With every step we take, the changes in in foot function caused by minor bony misalignments within the foot force the entire musculoskeletal structure to adapt and change in order to compensate.
The structural weaknesses that develop throughout the body as a result of abnormal foot function have a far greater influence in how a persons posture develops that the chairs we sit in. The effects of abnormal foot function are with us from the day we take our first steps, and impact our structure with every step we take.
Better designed chairs for work, school, home and public places can only be good for business and health in the long run, but without controlling the underlying cause at an individual level, your posture and health will still not reap the full benefit.
Myth 3: Poor posture causes feet to function abnormally
If we talking foot problems, it's common to think of flat feet, bunions, hammer toes, corns, callouses and heel pain. If you've got one or more of these problems, you will most likely have been told they won't do you any harm and if they become too painful or uncomfortable, there are medications, bottle-rolling techniques to strengthen the arches and in some cases surgery available to alleviate the problem.
As for causes: well, these could range from the way you were born, lax ligaments, poor posture, old injuries, unusual pattern of walking or in most cases a simple "not known".
Many of you will have had these or similar problems for years, yet I suspect despite whatever treatments you have tried, you have not seen any signficant long-term improvement in your condition, even after surgery. Why am I so confident? Because these problems are most commonly caused by a tiny misalignment of one or two bones in the feet which are present from birth.
You're probably wondering the following (in no particular order):
No one's ever told me this before;
Don't you think I'd notice if my bones were out of alignment?
How can you possibly know this, you've not even met me;
I know my problem is caused by x, y, or z.
Truth
These are all valid points, and so is this one: a bony misalignment that is present at birth exists in around 70% of the population. It disrupts foot function every time you place one foot in front of the other, and you are not aware of it because it's always been there, and your body has adapted to it as you've grown up. The most common type of misalignment causes hyperpronation, or lowering of the arches, which pulls the rest of the body forward and downward creating the classic "poor posture".
It's time for a shake up in the health world. This problem exists, it's big and it's causing untold amounts of unnecessary pain, suffering and postural disfigurements. We can't change the position of our bones, but we can change the effect they have on our foot function, posture and health.
Foot Structure; Foot shape development; Hyperpronation; What causes poor posture?
