- (1:44) We are David going against Goliath, Goliath being the corporate medical system. Where they treat symptoms NOT problems just to mask the problem instead of fixing the issue
- (3:10) We want to talk about feet today
- (3:50) This going to be controversial but supportive shoes or orthotics are bad for 99.9% of the population
- (5:12) Stella’s shoe fetish
- (6:00) Let’s go back to the 1800’s. Women used to wear corsets because it was a device that pulled your gut way in, giving you a skinnier look
- (7:00) With the corsets on, they had no back pain but when they took them off, they had back pain immediately
- (8:05) When they took them off, they have no more external support and all the muscles turned off which led to excruciating back pain
- (8:09) Reason why that is relevant to feet is because shoes are modern day corsets
- (8:26) When you put your foot in a shoe that fits well with the right soles, your feet muscles do NOT have to work anymore
- (8:50) Over 100 muscles and tendons in your feet alone. In fact, there are over 100 muscles and tendons in each foot alone
- (9:03) 32 muscles in the arch of your feet, 16 in each foot. There’s 4 layers of 4 muscles in the arch of your foot. The role of these muscles is to support your feet, they are there to give you arch support.. When you wear a supportive shoe or an orthotic, those 16 muscles don’t have to work anymore. And if you don’t us a muscle it gets WEAKER
- (10:15) People with feet pain, notice right away in the morning when they get out of bed. This is more due to plantar fasciitis
- (10:35) A lot of people think that they have to wear supportive shoes that are on their feet all day long (health care workers, line chefs and things like that where you are on your feet all day long.) They usually start off good but by the 9th or 10th hour their feet start to hurt them.
- (12:19) Do orthotics cause a problem down the line?
- (12:45) If you want to get out of supportive shoes it requires work. It requires work to wake those muscles back up in the arch of your feet
- (13:13) What some people do (the lazy crowd) is as long as they wear their supportive shoes and orthotics in, they don’t bother them and they don’t care if their feet bother them for a few minutes at the end of the day
- (13:33) What happens later down the road? That’s when things start to become tricky because this starts to become a snowball effect.
- (13:52) As you get older, that’s when people start to notice the bunion. You look down at your toes and they are facing in opposite directions and eventually that becomes painful
- (14:15) Bunions are not genetic contrary to popular belief
- (15:15) Eventually they become so painful that you have to go to the Podiatrist and they tell you that you need bunion surgery, which Jake explains. Let’s just say it is not pleasant at all
- (15:40) How shoes can lead us to bunions. The number one cause of bunions is a weak glute medius weakness (one of the smaller glute muscles), it’s the one that gives you hip stability when you are standing on one leg
- (16:26) Your butt (glutes) can cause problems in your feet and vice versa
- (16:57) A lot of knee pain issues can be stemmed back to poor arch support in your feet
- (17:07) Can these orthotics cause tightness in the muscles of your feet causing the muscles to not work efficiently?
- (17:47) Real life example from one of our clients. He couldn’t walk from his bed to the bathroom without $500 specialty sandals
- (18:19) He originally came here for back pain and he had mentioned the foot issues a couple times but we were treading lightly because the Podiatrist told him he needed surgery, so it is a bit difficult to go, “Well, maybe not.”
- (18:56) Jake continues with his real life example. The man actually wanted to get back to jogging but your feet are going to be your limiting factor and he agreed
- (19:39) Fast forward 6 months, he has ZERO pain is his feet
- (20:32) We really specialize in the feet and elbow because those are two pain areas that most just treat the symptoms rather than the problem
- (21:14) PLEASE do NOT get your big toe fused
- (21:50) People with flat feet
- (23:10) When Jake was in Jamaica, he saw that no one was wearing shoes and many had different feet types. He asked them if they have dealt with foot pain and everyone said “no!”
- (25:20) When Jake and Jenni first started dating, she had very long, narrow feet
- (26:25) The Arches in Jenni’s feet feel a lot better now that she isn’t using the supportive shoes. Isn’t it crazy that her feet hurt LESS after switching to a LESS supportive shoe
- (27:00) Jake does not like orthotics or shoes. Jake is always barefoot
- (27:34) Jenni shares a funny story about Jake
- (29:09) Take home message: minimize the time your feet are in a shoe
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Berman Physical Therapy is a physical therapy clinic in Naples, FL. Founded by Dr. Jake Berman, PT, DPT, Berman Physical Therapy’s mission is to help people aged 50+ keep ACTIVE and FREE of pain medications…even when their doctors and kids are telling them to “just take it easy!” Our specialists use rare Functional Manual Therapy techniques to find natural solutions to pain—without prescribing addictive painkillers or recommending dangerous surgeries. Maintain the active lifestyle you deserve.
Dr. Jake Berman
After graduating from the University of Florida, Dr. Jake Berman, PT, DPT sought out mentorship first from Bob Seton in Destin, FL and then from Aaron Robles in Jacksonville, FL. Both of these mentors have 20+ years of experience helping people keep active and mobile so they can enjoy high quality active lifestyles. What Jake found was that back pain was by far the most debilitating pain and the highest factor leading to decreased physical activity later in life.
These experiences are what inspired Jake to specialize in helping people aged 50+ keep active, mobile and pain free despite the aging process. There is nothing more rewarding than being able to alleviate somebody’s back pain so that they can get back to living their best life- especially in Naples! Over the years of helping 100’s of people aged 65-75 become stronger and pain free, one thing for sure has become apparent: “he who rests rots”.
Jake is a firm believer that we become stiff then old, not old then stiff. Seriously, think about it...
Latest posts by Dr. Jake Berman (see all)
- Episode 142: How Your Gut Affects Your Heart Health - April 22, 2024
- Can Posture Cause Shoulder Pain? 4 Ways It Does - April 19, 2024
- Episode 141: The Easiest Way to Maintain a High Quality of Life - April 15, 2024