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Shoe Me, Shoe You
Jun. 25th, 2004 02:50 pmIt took seeing myself barefoot in the floor-to-ceiling mirrored wall at work to finally figure out what’s been causing the constant pain in my hip and ankle joints, and it isn’t pretty. Here’s the story of what will happen to you if you don’t wear proper arch and ankle supports.
Ever since the snow cleared up, I’ve been walking many miles each week, usually to and from work. I’ve never liked sneakers and I’ve been doing my walking in whatever shoes I was wearing that day; sandals, clogs, Doc Martens, etc. For a month now my hip joints and ankle joints have been plagued with a burning, grinding pain, but I attributed it to overdoing leg-presses at the gym and cut out all leg machines. The hips only got worse.
I also began noticing how slew-footed I was getting (opposite of pigeon-toed). My feet have been turning further and further out lately, which makes me self-conscious.
Today I wore a dress to work for the first time in months. Ordinarily I wear bell-bottom slacks that skim the floor, and I can’t see my feet. Walking towards the mirrored wall at the end of the corridor, I could see my exposed feet and ankles in motion, and I was horrified. My ankles were bowing so far inward that they looked like dog ankles. I been mentioning lately that I feel like I’m walking dog-leggedy, but now I’ve seen what they actually look like. The bowed ankles truly don’t look human, and they’re what’s pushing my feet outward for balance.
I kicked off my flat sandals right there in front of everyone passing and had to just look at my ankles and their bizarre, canine angle. So that's why my hip joints have been screaming.
At least I don’t need to find a sports doctor anymore. It’s the sports shoe department for me. I don’t quite understand why it’s happening now, being as I spent as much of my childhood and teens barefoot as I could possibly get away with while suffering no damage. I imagine I can reverse it eventually with proper walking shoes or shoe inserts. But damn. I’m embarrassed to walk home knowing what I look like walking.
Support your arches, ladies and gents. They’re the only thing supporting you.
Ever since the snow cleared up, I’ve been walking many miles each week, usually to and from work. I’ve never liked sneakers and I’ve been doing my walking in whatever shoes I was wearing that day; sandals, clogs, Doc Martens, etc. For a month now my hip joints and ankle joints have been plagued with a burning, grinding pain, but I attributed it to overdoing leg-presses at the gym and cut out all leg machines. The hips only got worse.
I also began noticing how slew-footed I was getting (opposite of pigeon-toed). My feet have been turning further and further out lately, which makes me self-conscious.
Today I wore a dress to work for the first time in months. Ordinarily I wear bell-bottom slacks that skim the floor, and I can’t see my feet. Walking towards the mirrored wall at the end of the corridor, I could see my exposed feet and ankles in motion, and I was horrified. My ankles were bowing so far inward that they looked like dog ankles. I been mentioning lately that I feel like I’m walking dog-leggedy, but now I’ve seen what they actually look like. The bowed ankles truly don’t look human, and they’re what’s pushing my feet outward for balance.
I kicked off my flat sandals right there in front of everyone passing and had to just look at my ankles and their bizarre, canine angle. So that's why my hip joints have been screaming.
At least I don’t need to find a sports doctor anymore. It’s the sports shoe department for me. I don’t quite understand why it’s happening now, being as I spent as much of my childhood and teens barefoot as I could possibly get away with while suffering no damage. I imagine I can reverse it eventually with proper walking shoes or shoe inserts. But damn. I’m embarrassed to walk home knowing what I look like walking.
Support your arches, ladies and gents. They’re the only thing supporting you.