Your Child's Shoes Influence Their Physiological Development

Make Sure the Shoe Fits!

by Dr. James P. Blumenthal, DC, CCN, DACBN

Research shows that our large human brain is directly related to our upright posture. Our children's brain development has everything to do with the phases of movement they go through, from scooting to crawling to standing to walking.

From the cradle to the grave, the one constant we face is gravity. We can walk upright because special structures in our feet, ankles, knees, and pelvis, including the muscles which hold us up and move us about, let us overcome gravity. Feet are as complicated as hands and have to support our entire weight. When we wrap our children's feet in shoes to protect them, we are not always doing them a big favor.

Walking on two legs requires "proprioception". Information from each joint and muscle goes to part of the brain called the "cerebellum" that monitors where our limbs are and what they're dong, how we're moving, what the ground feels like underfoot, and which muscles to relax or contract to walk and keep our balance. That's a lot of moving parts!

All the muscles and bones of the foot and ankle need to move together properly. Shoes can either make this work better or can sabotage the whole process. If shoes fit well, they support both arches of the foot, maintain the body's relationship with the ground, protect the muscles, tendons and ligaments, and keep the foot and ankle joints moving normally. This promotes a healthy connection with gravity and a healthy nervous system.

If shoes fit poorly, they can undermine all of this. Shoes that are too tight prevent muscles from flexing and relaxing and squeeze joints into unhealthy positions, including what chiropractors call "subluxations". They reduce blood flow to muscles and irritate nerves which should be telling muscles to relax or contract, resulting in weak and easily fatigued foot muscles sending confused messages to the cerebellum, causing unbalanced and uneven brain activity. If shoes fit too loosely, your child can't feel the ground under them properly. Balance and proprioception are disrupted. If shoes don't support feet properly, muscles can fail resulting in "fallen arches" and ankle problems that reduce proprioception, balance, and brain function.

For healthy feet, make sure your child's chiropractor regularly adjusts their feet and ankles and checks their shoes and orthotics for fit and wear. Buy their shoes from stores that will make sure they fit properly. Remember that healthy feet help brains grow strong and healthy, too.