A few days ago I took a nasty tumble in the hallway. I felt my foot get "stuck" on the carpeting and tumbled along till I finally went down. While I stumbled forward, trying to stop my momentum before my face met the floor, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Fortunately, I ended up with nothing worse than a couple rug burns on one hand and a thorough shaking up. (Like one of 007's drinks) It could have been a lot worse. I'm definitely NOT looking for sympathy, but over the next few days it did get me to wondering.
Footwear.
We don't give much thought to what we put on our feet until we need a new pair of shoes or something for a special occasion. When we're young, we give first consideration to style. We want to make an impression. As we get a little older style is still a consideration but not so much. There's a lot more going on in our world and we give more consideration to comfort for chasing after or keeping up with our own kids. If we didn't, how would we survive all those other daily responsibilities we've taken on?
That still doesn't account for the shoe industry giving us what they THINK we want, Long ago, our Grand Creator gave us 26 bones in each foot so we could have a fairly wide range of motion. Why would we want to limit it? The sole of a shoe is in one flat solid piece from back to front with no flexibility to bend. The natural human gait is to let the foot "roll", heel to toe in a smooth motion. The sides of the shoe, around the ankle, are often just high enough to interfere in the ankle's ability to rotate. The toes are meant to bend with every step to help maintain balance.. Since the shoe's sole can't bend, neither can the box of most shoes. The toes can't do their job properly.
.
Modest dress shoes, usually flats, are given leather soles. (Not such a great idea unless you plan to go "ice skating" sans ice). They're dangerous on any surface until their worn enough to grip whatever you walk on. We've been advised to wear slippers with a half-inch heel to help prevent falling backward. Try finding them. They're almost as hard to find as hen's teeth. I know. I've been looking.
The shoe industry will continue to make what they want us to wear, and, for the most part, they will ignore what is practical, safe and comfortable. That's the way it's been and will always be. Now that I've had my say, I should take another short walk to ease the still slight trembling I feel when I get to that particular spot in the hallway. That's my glass slipper to find.
