I made a thread about this, almost got fired because they wanted me to torture my feet with Chinese foot bindings (aka work boots). Let me share a little bit of foot science with you.
Each foot is made up of 26 bones, 30 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments, all of which work together to provide support, balance and mobility. Very intricate organ. In what world does it sound like a good idea to bind them up in a standard boot which lets them sit limp in a cast all day? It's no coincidence that modern humans are unagile and accident-prone, we've been raised sitting in school desks with our feet in bindings all day. Most people don't give it a thought, they go to the shoe store and buy some comfy shoes with "support". Support = not allowing your feet and ankles to do what they're supposed to do. What if your mother supported you by taking you everywhere in a wheelchair so you don't fall? Your legs would wither away like a paraplegic and you couldn't walk at all. The idea that our feet need support to do what they were naturally designed to do is absurdity.
Maybe perceptions would change if people gained a better understanding of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, like the Native Americans. They were EXCEPTIONALLY agile. Just look up Puebloan cave dwellings, they seemed to have no issues scaling treacherous landscapes on a daily basis. Clearly a UPS route would be child's play in comparison. All they wore were moccasins. Humans realized they need to protect their feet from sharps objects, but beyond that I'm not convinced that shoes serve much of an advantage whatsoever. Look at pictures of African feet vs. a typical American's feet on Google, it's almost shocking how deformed our feet have become especially when it comes to toe splay. The toes are designed to spread out for stability, and for the full activation of the foot's muscles. Just as a personal trainer would tell you not to work out your hamstrings without also working your glutes, it's not advisable at all to wear modern footwear leaving a vulnerable weak spot in your anatomy. The best shoes would be barefoot style minimalist footwear which allows you to feel and respond to the ground. Instead UPS demands that you stomp around in clunky foot casts with thick bottoms, creating a more dangerous pivot point at your ankles, unnatural gait, reduced agility, etc.
Note that people who try barefoot style shoes for the first time are at risk of hurting themselves, this is simply because of the fact that most people have handicapped their feet with improper footwear their entire life. This is not a flaw in barefoot shoes but a physical weakness that was not accounted for. So it's best to tread lightly in fixing this physical deformity. Anyway rant over, I didn't end up getting fired, told them I didn't feel comfortable taking their medical advice and that my foot safety is between me and my doctor. Been good since then.
Each foot is made up of 26 bones, 30 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments, all of which work together to provide support, balance and mobility. Very intricate organ. In what world does it sound like a good idea to bind them up in a standard boot which lets them sit limp in a cast all day? It's no coincidence that modern humans are unagile and accident-prone, we've been raised sitting in school desks with our feet in bindings all day. Most people don't give it a thought, they go to the shoe store and buy some comfy shoes with "support". Support = not allowing your feet and ankles to do what they're supposed to do. What if your mother supported you by taking you everywhere in a wheelchair so you don't fall? Your legs would wither away like a paraplegic and you couldn't walk at all. The idea that our feet need support to do what they were naturally designed to do is absurdity.
Maybe perceptions would change if people gained a better understanding of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, like the Native Americans. They were EXCEPTIONALLY agile. Just look up Puebloan cave dwellings, they seemed to have no issues scaling treacherous landscapes on a daily basis. Clearly a UPS route would be child's play in comparison. All they wore were moccasins. Humans realized they need to protect their feet from sharps objects, but beyond that I'm not convinced that shoes serve much of an advantage whatsoever. Look at pictures of African feet vs. a typical American's feet on Google, it's almost shocking how deformed our feet have become especially when it comes to toe splay. The toes are designed to spread out for stability, and for the full activation of the foot's muscles. Just as a personal trainer would tell you not to work out your hamstrings without also working your glutes, it's not advisable at all to wear modern footwear leaving a vulnerable weak spot in your anatomy. The best shoes would be barefoot style minimalist footwear which allows you to feel and respond to the ground. Instead UPS demands that you stomp around in clunky foot casts with thick bottoms, creating a more dangerous pivot point at your ankles, unnatural gait, reduced agility, etc.
Note that people who try barefoot style shoes for the first time are at risk of hurting themselves, this is simply because of the fact that most people have handicapped their feet with improper footwear their entire life. This is not a flaw in barefoot shoes but a physical weakness that was not accounted for. So it's best to tread lightly in fixing this physical deformity. Anyway rant over, I didn't end up getting fired, told them I didn't feel comfortable taking their medical advice and that my foot safety is between me and my doctor. Been good since then.
