An interesting point few discuss, but to understand gait, you must understand what shoes have done to gait. There are precious few “natural” shoes available. The only true natural shoe design is going to be something like a moccasin! Interestingly, at one point in history, shoes were not “right or left” sides but one shoe could fit both feet. There was no “shoe last design” that forced feet into shape—and thus the authentic moccasin allows the foot to function naturally without getting in the way. The end result is that the only true “natural” gait patterns are going to be found in shoeless populations. We might view a person as having a “normal” gait in Western culture, but in reality, normal is NOT natural because our feet have been deformed by the shoes we wear which results in altered gait patterns. This is a very important point that is rarely ever mentioned in current foot and shoe discussions. For more information, see my Products Section.
