Nike Free does not think so; and neither should you. Read on to find out why this concerns every one of us, our health and a good deal of wasted money. This is not a story of Nike Free shoe; it’s about our freedom and growth.

By Winston Ng, Phenogy Health Advisors

It has been a really long time since a major shoemaker has stepped forward and acknowledged that human foot is perfect running, walking machine.

Hence, a good shoe should be simple and that allows this perfect machine to execute flawlessly, rather than attempt to take over Nature’s function.

This is core concept of Nike Free line of shoes. Shoes that both mimic and allow foot its freedom to get things done - in this case, walking, jogging and running.

Nonetheless, detractors argue that lack of structural support and cushioning undermines shoe’s ability to be a serious running shoe. The experts are spewing out terms like – Stress Fracture, Calf Injury, Knee Injuries, Plantar Fasciitis.

The Footwear Market & You

In footwear industry, structural support and cushioning are considered benchmarks of shoe superiority. The more features a shoe has; more acclaim it will receive and, coincidentally, more expensive it will cost.

Do we, as consumers, really need all that expensive support and cushioning?

Is it really better for us?

For centuries across civilizations, shoes were only worn as status symbols by aristocrats; while common folk went about barefooted.

The very people, who walked most and ran most, went about their daily lives barefooted!

Obviously, shoes did not come about as an invention because our feet failed; it came as an invention of luxury and ego.

In centuries that have gone by, our feet still maintain this same powerful ability. Today, we have barefoot marathon runners across world and complete communities of tribal people who live barefooted.

Our God given machine of motion still explodes power in this day and age!

Yet, weekend runners who barely run a tenth of a marathon are spending hundreds of dollars to buy advanced technology for their feet!

Why is man on street spending so much on high – tech shoes when marathon runners and hunters happily thrive without them?

The answer is advertising and product branding.

Shoemakers astutely noticed that city folks are mostly overpronators or underpronators. Hence, in an effort to capitalise on this underlying dysfunction, they design shoes that support and cushion shock. Consequently, detaching and depriving foot from its primary role as locomotion point guard.

Overpronation, Underpronation and Neutral Feet

More than 75% of city dwellers are either overpronators or underpronators. Essentially, it means that your feet lose their ability to accommodate ground unevenness and absorption of daily walking stress. Your foot has curved in one direction and cannot return to neutral state – think of it as a jammed window that cannot close.

In its functional state, our feet are made to pronate; curve to suit contours of ground. This is how we can run side ways on slopes and edges without tumbling over. Hence, feet with full range of pronation can walk, run, jog barefooted and not injure themselves (assuming you are not silly enough to go running on broken glass).

Since foot has lost its ability to fully pronate, shoemakers generally believe that a shoe has to be padded, cushioned, gelled and reinforced. The reason being that it will make up for feet’s loss of pronation range. Hence, natural progression towards spending millions on technology research and charging you hundreds of dollars more per pair.

On other hand, I look at all these structured shoes like crutches. Yes, we may need it for a while. But, when we consistently wear them and use them, we can never regain our natural ability to move way we were originally made to - Pain free, explosive and flexible.