Walking, Health, and Choosing the Best Shoes
When you are younger, you rarely worry about your health, but as we grow older, we do start to get more concerned about it, don’t we? When we were younger, we didn’t worry about getting fat. No, we just burned it off again and kept right on going, our pants fit, and we felt fit as a fiddle. So what happens?
Well, as we age, our metabolism slows down; okay, there’s not much you can do to stop that, right? I think a big reason is what I call the “self reward” system. We condition ourselves (and the media and advertisers help out a lot, too!) to reward ourselves for our accomplishments. For example, it would be good if you went for a 20 minute walk after work, or at lunch time. However, what do we tell ourselves? “I’m too tired, I worked all day. I deserve a rest.” Come on, we’ve all said this, right?!
Or how about this: Instead of choosing a healthy meal at the restaurant, we get fried foods, or cheese-stuffed crust pizza, and say, “It’s okay, I worked hard and I deserve it!” or “The kids drove me nuts—I need some comfort food!”
I see it in myself, too. The problem is, we use food as a reward for ourselves. It’s a huge mistake, and it takes discipline to brainwash yourself back to looking at food for what it is: nourishment.
I hate those dumb ads that say in a deep, sexy voice, “You are gonna love our cheese-stuffed crust pizza,” and show a close-up of steaming cheese oozing out of the crust. Give me a break! No one has an emotional relationship with their pizza. You can’t “love” a pizza. The media pushes us to do things that are not good for you. Years of time and millions of dollars were spent to get the flavor and mouth feel of Doritos to perfection. That perfection is addicting and you should avoid processed food like that, as they are extremely addictive. They even brag about it: “Betcha can’t eat just one!” claims Lays Potato Chips. Yikes!
So what else makes us fat? Well, people begin to have difficulty walking. It could be due to back or hip pain, or maybe it’s your knees. Maybe it’s foot or ankle pain. In any case, studies show that if pain limits your walking, this often leads to obesity.
That’s where we can help. We do a biomechanical evaluation that is different from anything else in the area. It can reveal the source of your problem, which we can then eliminate. We don’t just treat the symptoms, we get to the root of the problem!
Lastly, people around here know that it’s tough to find the right shoes. There is a limited selection, and besides, how do you know what shoe is right for you? Well, feet come in 3 types: high arch, normal arch, and flat feet. High arches are rock hard feet; normal arches are, well, normal; and flat feet are soft and make walking unstable, like walking on marshmallows.
So, for high-arches feet, you need soft shoes, i.e. cushioned shoes. For normal feet, you need neutral shoes. For flat feet, you need a stiffer, more supportive shoe, a shoe with structural support. If you look at the illustration, there is a simple guide to picking the right shoes—check it out!
So, if you want to walk and get healthy but are being held back by pain, numbness, or weakness in the legs, give us a call today at (301) 759-4263. Call us and let us help you handle your problem. Who knows—you might just start walking, lose a little weight, and feel great again! Give therapy a try at TriState! Call today! We’ll see you soon!
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