So if you have osteoarthritis in your knees, you would be well advised to go barefoot or in minimal shoes... keep away from supportive, stable shoes with stiff soles.
Shoes: A treatment for osteoarthritis in the knees?
Shoes: A treatment for osteoarthritis in the knees?
"Traditionally, footwear has been engineered to provide maximum support and comfort for the foot, with little attention paid to the biomechanical effects on the rest of the leg," said Dr. Najia Shakoor, a rheumatologist at Rush and the primary author of the study. "But the shoes we wear have a substantial impact on the load on the knee joints, particularly when we walk."barefoot is best again.....
"Our study demonstrated that flat, flexible footwear significantly reduces the load on the knee joints compared with supportive, stable shoes with less flexible soles."
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and a significant source of disability and impaired quality of life. A higher-than-normal load on the knees during walking is a hallmark of the disease, associated with both the severity of osteoarthritis and its progression.
The loads on the knee joints differed significantly depending on the footwear. For the clogs and stability shoes, the loads on the knee joints were up to 15 percent greater than with the flat walking shoes, flip-flops or barefoot walking. Knee loading was roughly the same whether the subject wore flips-flops or walked barefoot.
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As an aside, the restrictiveness of shoes and their harm on the body is obvious. Put your feet into restrictive, immobilizing shoes and your health will suffer - especially biomechanically. I'm positive that you would find similar results from other restrictive articles of clothing - perhaps like in men and women who must wear suits to work. I'm sure that has an effect on mobility, and poor mobility eventually leads to injury or worse.