From a standing or static stance position, it’s really very simple.  Let’s establish a “baseline posture” and start with standing in one spot—without movement.  We can look at an anatomical model of the foot and clearly see how and where the foot wants us to distribute weight.  By bone design, the larger surface areas along bottom of foot resemble that of a tripod.  The most obvious area to place weight is on the heel bone called the calcaneus (1).  Another bone region with extra density and larger surface area is behind the big toe—the first metatarsal joint (2).  The last leg of the tripod is along the lateral border near the outside balls of the feet—in particular the “Base of Fifth Ray” (3) area has some unique weight distribution capabilities that get completely altered when we wear heel-lift shoes because this important area gets “lifted” up and away from ground contact thus compromising our structural “tripod” of support. The Base of the Fifth Ray is fascinating! Most people have never heard of this important part of the human foot! *See my Foot Products section for more information.

The notion of “trim ankles” for attractiveness translates—weak ankles!  Ankles that have been immobilized from high heels limit the amount of muscular work and range of motion causing the ankles to appear “trim” or thin.  While some might find that attractive, it’s not a good system for supporting a tall vertical column and transferring large amounts of force for humans.  How do you get strong ankles?  Use them.  Wear shoes that allow for full range of motion in the ankle and Achilles due to minimal or NO heel lift.  Wear shoes that don’t artificially support the ankle, but rather, challenge the ankle to stabilize i.e. WORK to maintain vertical column integrity.  *For more information, see my Foot Products section.

Wearing sport shoes with air bags under the heels are one of the worst things you can do for your feet and function!  The more you put between your feet and ground—the more you decrease the quality of sensory information coming off the ground into your feet.  This lack of quality information creates a “clarity” issue for your brain and nervous system much like trying to navigate with a fuzzy map—it does not work well.  In addition to limiting sensory input off ground, tall air cushion heels alter the neutral foot/ankle position which challenges vertical column integrity.  Interestingly, studies show increased “heel cushion” increases the force the body puts into the ground in order to get ground feedback through the air sole—in reality even MORE force comes up through the body instead of less like the shoe companies want you to believe.  Please note–the optimal shock absorption is in your feet—NOT the shoes!  *For more information, see my Foot Products.

ANY heel lift is unnatural for the foot—ANY.  Heel lifts are for fashion and status—not function.  Heels make people taller.  Height is typically viewed as a status symbol.  Historically, wealthy people wanted to literally “look down upon” the poor that were outlawed from wearing elevated shoes—it’s that simple. Interestingly, at some points in history, shoes with heel lifts were literally banned for peasants thus relegating them to an inferior height position so the wealthy “could look down their noses” at them.

Any and all heel lifts will immediately alter vertical column integrity and fall line unless you start compensating.  The less heel lift you have in your shoes, the safer and more efficiently you can walk and run.  Heel lifts also reduce the effectiveness of the Achilles Tendon for propulsion.  The Achilles is designed to stretch out and snap the heel back up to assist in forward locomotion, but when it is chronically shortened by heel lifts, the Achilles cannot fully do its job which creates compensations in glutes, front thighs, and other muscles of the body.  Bottom Line?  It’s not as efficient to have a heel lift.  Our foot does not need a heel lift—if it did, the heel lift would be built into our foot at birth!

For a fun experiment, take your shoes completely off. Stand on flat level ground. Carefully raise heels off the ground about 1/2″ by ONLY bending at the balls of your feet (metatarsal joints). DO NOT change anything else in your hips, spine, upper body, etc.–only bend at the balls of your feet. Get ready to pitch forward and catch yourself before you fall! You will quickly see how delicate our balance is as humans as we are the ONLY mammals that stand completely upright on such a narrow base of support with only two feet. Many other animals have four feet plus a much lower center of gravity. For humans, our vertical column integrity is critical. *See my future posts on “Column Integrity” and “Falling Line” for more information.