A guide to a Podiatry Center from 30 years ago speaks truths like fists

Everything this podiatry clinic says about flat feet and shoes is true and I have read it in a guide that is almost 30 years old.

Let me tell you.

These days Ángel (from ZaMi) is cleaning a flat to renovate it. And among old books, folders, used notebooks, broken lamps and a long etcetera of things that are kept and are never needed, he found a booklet type booklet.

As soon as he saw it, its name caught his attention: Know your feet

He skimmed through it and the next morning he said to me:

"I have something for you that will surprise you."

He just blurted it out like that, with so much mystery, that I thought... had he discovered the potion of eternal youth?

He took a little book out of his backpack and put it on the table.



It was a guidebook written in 1995 by a podiatry centre.

To put the passage of time in context, I usually remember important things from that year. In my case, I was starting my studies at the University of Cordoba. I was going to be a vet, but I didn't get the grades and I stayed in chemistry.

Well, 28 years have passed since that guide, but what it says applies yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Attentive:

"Developed for flexibility and resilience, civilisations have gradually subdued feet in the worst possible way, that is, by enclosing them in footwear. This is because footwear is generally purchased without taking into account that it is for the feet and not for the eyes.

Humans put on shoes less than 4000 years ago and did so to protect themselves from the cold. Nowadays we must also protect them from the pavement and, what is worse, from the footwear itself.

If we draw the perimeter of our feet on a piece of paper, it is easy to see, when we cut it out, that it does not fit into any of the shoes we usually wear.

The current fashion of using sports shoes as everyday footwear is a consequence of the search for comfort, as their thick soles and flexibility make the feet feel more protected, also their width is greater and, therefore, more suitable".

And that's not all. Look what he says about flat feet.

"It is not true that there are only flat feet, cavus feet (excessively high arches), club feet (completely deformed) or normal feet.

These archaic concepts must be discarded.

Flat feet are a consequence, not a cause.

The foot can become flat for different reasons and the diagnosis should be made on the basis of the cause.

Saying "you have flat feet" is equivalent to saying "you have a headache", yes, but why?

The answer to this question is the cause of the alteration.

So it must be said, there are such and such alterations that lead to a flattening of the foot.

What we can say is that feet are to people what foundations are to a house or wheels are to a car.

Any failure in the foundations means that everything on top of them suffers the consequences... remember the Tower of Pisa....".

Well, well, well... the relationship is direct:

• Current footwear -> foot problems

• Foot problems -> knee problems

• Knee problems -> hip problems

• Hip problems -> back problems

In short:

    Current footwear -> problems in any part of your body

    The solution -> simple: Change your shoes


Groundies, to start the 'house' from your feet.


Your health starts with your feet.

Antonio Caballo.