Flat foot is common in both children and adults. An arch usually develops during the first 10 years of life. However, a certain percentage of people don’t develop arches in their feet.
The exact cause of flat feet is not clear, but there is evidence that shoes may be a contributing factor.
Early Shoe Wear and Flat Feet
Research published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery looked at the influence footwear had on the development of arches in children. The study found that kids who wore shoes were three times more likely to have flat feet than those who went shoe-less. The researchers noted:
Our cross-sectional study suggests that shoe-wearing in early childhood is detrimental to the development of a normal or a high medial longitudinal arch.
Influence of Footwear on Foot Shape and Function
In a similar study looking at how habitual shoe wear changes the shape and biomechanics of the foot, people who spent most of their lives barefoot had wider feet and distributed pressure on their feet more evenly than those who habitually wore shoes.
This suggests that frequent barefoot walking enables the foot to achieve its biologically normal shape and function.
The studies mentioned above provide some evidence that shoes alter the shape and function of feet.
Effects of Traditional Footwear
When trying to figure out how to strengthen my arches, I started paying attention to the types of shoes I was wearing.
The barefoot running movement, in particular, drew my attention to how my choice of footwear might be contributing to the issue.
The foot is a flexible structure. This flexibility allows the foot to conform to uneven surfaces when walking barefoot.
Shoes can act as a rigid, unchanging platform for the foot. This has the potential to weaken muscles on the underside of the foot and the stabilizing muscles in the lower leg.
Many shoes are designed with bullet-shaped toeboxes, or a tapering of the width of the shoe towards the toes. This shape can prevent the toes from spreading.
Built-in arch supports are designed to control the motion of the foot or hold the foot in a fixed position. This can potentially alter the activity of the foot’s own arch supporting muscles.
Most traditional shoes, including athletic and dress shoes, have a raised heel. This places the foot in a plantarflexed (pointed down) position.
Over time this can cause a loss of flexibility in the calf muscles. The collapse of the arch is one way the body can compensate for a lack of ankle flexibility.
Almost all shoes have a toe spring or a curving up of the front of the shoes. This is necessary, in part, because shoes with rigid soles cannot bend in the same way as the foot.
The toe spring allows for a rocking motion of the shoe to make up for this. The toe spring can hold the toes in an extended position.
Walking in a shoe with your toes held elevated off the ground is very different from how toes would function when walking barefoot.
Many shoes are reinforced at the back to control the motion of the heel inside the shoe. Again, holding a part of the foot in a fixed position is a change from the way the foot would function barefoot.
Like the palm of the hand, the bottom of the foot has many sensory nerve endings that function to provide information to the brain about the position of the body and pressure under the foot.
This sensory input allows the foot to adapt to the ground. The sole of a shoe, while offering cushioning and protection, can also decrease the need for this feedback loop and muscle activity.
Effect on Arch Strength
Because the research in this area is somewhat limited, the role shoes play in flat feet and overpronation is not entirely clear.
It’s evident that shoes can alter the functioning of the foot and arch. Still, many people have normal or high arches despite regularly wear shoes.
I also bought minimalist style running shoes with very thin, flexible soles, a wide toe box, and very little support.
The structure of the foot make it well adapted to walking without support on a variety of surfaces. Modern life tends to limit the amount of time most of us spend going barefoot.
Footwear serves a purpose in protecting our feet. But there are also potential benefits from spending time barefoot — allowing the foot to function the way it is adapted to work.
For situations when barefoot is not an option, I prefer shoes that are as minimal and “barefoot-like” as possible.
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