Hokas 👎

​Hokas or New Balance or Brooks…it doesn’t matter which brand, but if you are wearing them regularly, know the dangers!

Haha, that might be a little dramatic, but you should know what you are getting into.

These shoes, and perhaps not every style, but the styles that promote cushioning soles, can be very damaging because of the elevated heel.

You may not see the elevation, or even feel like you are wearing a heel, but they have 4-8  and even 10 mm heel rise can lead to biomechanical dysfunction over time.

Here’s why:

• Leads to shortening of the calf muscles (gastrocnemius, soleus and their common tendon, Achilles)
• Decreases ankle range of motion. Poor ankle ROM causes limitations or dysfunction with walking, running, squatting, lunging.
  • decreased ankle ROM also causes the arch to collapse and causes excessive pronation of the foot which can place stress on the plantar fascia
    • this works itself up the kinetic chain potentially causing knee, hip, back pain and/or neck pain
• Alters Normal Posture
  • You’ve likely heard that high heels can change your posture, theses sneakers are like high heels, only lower;)
    • They alter your center of gravity and increase pelvic tilt​
    • This changes the alignment of your joints and causes excess wear and tear on the joints and can even impact blood flow to muscles and joints
• Destabilizes your foot muscles = weak feet​
• Your foot doesn’t feel the ground. You might think that’s a good thing, but our bodies respond through interacting with our environment. With all the cushioning, the small muscles of the feet don’t respond and this means weak foot muscles. See above.

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Check out zero drop shoes as an alternate and start strengthening your feet. Walking barefoot can be a good start.

If you already have foot pain or other aches and pains in your body that might be related to chronic shortening of the muscles or improper foot mechanics because of heel elevation, take it slow. You don’t have to switch overnight to wearing zero drop shoes 100% of the time.

Here’s an example of a foot strengthening exercise from Gait Happens: https://youtu.be/3wsSqERezKc?si=vi5qQDn3BEadOHKv​

They are a great resource and you can check out their other videos on exercises to strengthen your feet  (look for 12 Days of Xmas videos)