Think New Shoes Will Help Your Pain? Not So Fast …
The Link Between Your Feet and Whole-Body Movement
Your Feet Play a Bigger Role Than You Think
Yes, your feet have a LOT to do with how you move — far beyond just what shoes you wear.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve shared two real-life stories about how foot injuries and surgeries affected pain, balance, and movement.
The solution to pain or challenge with standing, walking, dancing, etc. includes so much more than just new shoes.
The Shoe Myth: Why Footwear Alone Won’t Fix Movement Issues
If fixing foot or leg pain were as simple as buying the perfect shoes, you could just visit a specialty store, get a gait analysis, and walk away pain-free.
🔹 Yes, they’ll give you a detailed printout of how you walk.
🔹 Yes, they’ll suggest shoes and inserts to correct your gait.
But here’s the problem: Shoes don’t fix an underlying movement dysfunction.
Before investing in a new pair of shoes, it’s crucial to understand why your feet aren’t moving properly in the first place.
The Three Causes of Foot Dysfunction
(That Have Nothing to Do with Shoes)
Your feet hurt, your ankle is stiff, your knees creak, or your hip is cranky. Maybe new shoes will help. But will they address the underlying issue of what’s not working in your body? No.
Here are the most common reasons we find for why your feet might be keeping your lower body from functioning well:
- Injury: Common injuries include sprains, stress fractures, objects being dropped onto foot, being stepped on, or jamming toes by sliding into or kicking something. Jammed bones keep muscles from working.
- Immobilization: Often used after a injury or surgery, a boot or cast to immobilize the bone ends up shutting down muscles. The 100 muscles of the foot and ankle are tiny, so they can atrophy quickly. Removing the cast won’t restore the muscle coordination.
- Early Development: Although you may be 50, your feet may be stuck at 5 months development. They work, but not in all the ways your need them to. More details on this below.
For two great examples of how foot injury and immobilization impacted movement, see the links to videos for Katie and Mara’s stories below.
More about Healthy Foot Function Development
When a client has a foot issue which hasn’t resolved with traditional interventions, we start to wonder, “Was the foot ever functioning correctly in the first place?”
A foot’s muscle structure forms in early childhood through movement. Here are some key points:
✅ Bones strengthen through movement. The foot’s structure isn’t fully formed at birth—it develops based on use.
✅ Tummy time activates foot muscles. Babies start engaging their feet early when pushing against the ground.
✅ Back time matters, too. Kicking and pushing against surfaces build foot, ankle and leg coordination.
✅ Arches develop between age 3 and 6. Toddling and walking barefoot as a tyke strengthen the muscles that form the foot’s natural shape.
If something disrupts this process, dysfunctional movement patterns persist for life. As an adult, you may not realize your movement is suboptimal until an injury happens and you don’t bounce back the way you’d expect.
These are three common factors that disrupt early foot development:
🚨 NICU stays – The foot is often used for blood sampling and monitoring which traumatizes the foot and ankle. This trauma often causes long-term movement disruptions at the ankle.
🚨 Limited movement in infancy – Babies need time on their backs and stomachs to develop foot and ankle control. Being propped in seats too often limits this.
🚨 Rigid footwear too early – Soft, flexible shoes allow foot muscles to strengthen naturally. Hard-soled, stiff shoes restrict movement and hinder development.
With so many ways for foot structure and movement transitions to be off-track, let’s take a look at how movement from the foot should connect to the leg and core. You’re in luck, feet can still change with a little help, at any age!
What Does Proper Movement Flow from the Foot Look Like?
Watch this video to see how movement flows from the foot up through the body as your foot hits the ground. (It’s short!)
The big toe side of your arch flattens out – This absorbs shock like a spring, and is called pronation.
The tibia (shin bone) moves like a crank shaft transferring movement from the ankle to the larger muscles of the upper leg.
The femur and hip rotate – This rotation links to the powerful glutes to generate power and speed.
The pelvis rotates – This final step engages your core, creating full-body efficiency from the rotational wind-up design of the muscles.
If there are glitches anywhere in this chain, the entire system gets thrown off. Pain, poor balance, and movement issues follow.
Before assuming you need better shoes, think to yourself:
✅ Did I have any injuries to my foot, ankle or leg which might throw off the way it all works together?
✅ Did I have surgery which may have disrupted function of the same foot/leg chain?
✅ Are there stories or photos of me with a cast or wearing corrective shoes as a little one? Maybe my feet weren’t quite right from the beginning.