With the warmer days well and truly here, everyone celebrates by getting their thongs out. Some may remember I wrote an article 3 years ago ‘Why thongs are bad for your feet.’ I delved into why they are bad for your feet but I didn’t elaborate on the impact they can have on the rest of the body.

Remember that song,
“Heel bone connected to the ankle bone,
Ankle bone connected to the shin bone,
Shin bone connected to the knee bone”

Well that rings true especially when it comes to poor footwear choices. The affects of the alignment of our foot and ankle can have a number of consequences for the rest of the body.

As you can see from the image above, if someone pronates (foot rolls in) or their arch collapses as they walk, this causes the leg to turn. Consequently the knee moves inwards. This puts uneven weight distribution through the knee, which can cause injury to the internal structures of the knee. Further up the body the pelvis can tilt forward. In order for the body to compensate for this new pelvic position the lower back will need to bend back slightly to keep the person upright. This can cause compression through the facet joints of the lower back and potentially cause pain and discomfort.

But don’t just discount all thongs. While I mentioned in my last article I was a bit of a dag wearing supportive ugly thongs 3 years ago, the industry has finally caught up. So does that make me a dag or a trendsetter now?!?! There are better options now available to us. So while I may encourage you to throw away the flat unsupportive thongs that you own, check out some of these new thongs on the market. Archline Australia produces a great product and we are lucky that our friends at Peninsula Orthotics stock them.

While most thongs are quite unsupportive many of the shoes we all wear may be causing us damage. The issue with shoes is that we don’t want to sacrifice fashion for function, but as thong design has improved also have the options around fashionable and functional shoes. Another great company we suggest to our patients is Bared Footwear. They make shoes that along with being functional look good as well. They make wide and narrow fits and can accommodate your orthotics. Feel free to ask us about them next time we see you and we can write a referral so you can get $20 off at Bared Footwear.

This article is for information only, for a diagnosis and treatment of a musculoskeletal condition consult your Osteopath or primary healthcare professional.