My Left Foot

Find Touch welcomes a new blogger - Sue Peterson, LMT, NCTMB. Sue has been a licensed, board-certified massage therapist since 1995. Her specialty is therapeutic massage. Sue practices massage in the the Los Angeles area.

It was a beautiful, bright California Sunday afternoon – so we headed straight to the mall. The sports clothing store my spouse thought was at the north end of the mall was actually at the south end, so we hoofed it. I had given a lot of massages the day before, so a quick walk would be good for me. Was I wrong!

On the way back to the car I felt as though a spike was coming up through the bottom of my left foot. I shifted more weight to the right foot to avoid the pain. I wondered if I had twisted my ankle somehow. I wouldn't be able to take the dog for a long walk. No bike ride. Bummer.

At home, I soaked my feet in Epsom salts and my saintly spouse tried to rub my aching left metatarsal. I wondered how it came to be so painful to place weight on my left foot. I hadn't twisted or turned or half-fallen or stepped on a stone. Why was my foot so painful?

Then I suspected that I had done something I often warn clients about. I went to the closet, pulled out my slip-on, ergonomic shoes with orthotics. The shoes that I enjoyed so much I'd been wearing them every day. For two years.

The lateral sides of the soles were worn smooth, while the area around the big toe and inside heel showed plenty of tread. I had beaten my shoes to death and hadn't even realized it. When we quick-walked the hard stone floors of the mall, my favorite ergonomic shoes and orthotics were too worn out to support a rolling arch. Yup, I did it to myself.

In 14 years of massage practice, I knew worn shoes were a common factor in hip, back, and foot pain for many massage clients. Sometimes removing trigger points and stretching the Quadratus lumborum solved the problem. For many clients, however, the problem would return because of lack of support for the arch, particularly when walking barefoot on travertine/marble/cement floors so common in houses and stores.

Clients, of course, dislike the idea of wearing sensible shoes. Sensible shoes conjure images of boxy, downright ugly gunboats. They may have had a pair of the old-style hard orthotics made years ago and never wore because they hurt. Lots of women simply accept the idea of foot and back pain as a price for being attractive.

New, softer orthotic materials and better shoe design and stores that specialize in fitting shoes have all made “good” shoes much more comfortable. After trying to convince clients that shoe technology has changed, I often would drive home the point saying they could make me rich or they could wear better shoes.

I took my slice of humble pie and took my own advice. Back at the mall Monday night, I found a nice pair of ergonomic shoes at one of the stores that specialize in fitting people like me with funny feet. When I walked back to my car, I realized the pain in my left foot had disappeared.