Are those Shoes on Your Feet, or Are You Just Fixin' To Dance?

OK, here we go with another "what the heck IS that, anyway" post. Most people think of shoes as something they buy at a store, or on-line, and to make themselves acceptable in mixed company - or not, depends, I suppose, on one's particular proclivities. For some, its all about the sexy, while for others its all about the function. That's one of the things that makes shoes somewhat problematic - we want them to "do" things they can only do in our imaginations. But the bottom line (an obvious pun when we speak about shoes) is the issue of utility and function. We'll leave the sexual aspects for another post (and then, only if you ask real nice.)

Until about midway through the Roman Empire, shoes were essentially not much more than flat sandals, of moccasins, or mukluks - somewhat climate-defined coverings to protect the foot from the harsh touch of the earth, and the often harder touches of cold and wet conditions. But sometime in the middle of the Roman Empire, some wise fella had a brainstorm - if he added extra material under the heel portion of the sandal, thereby elevating the heel a small amount higher than the rest of the foot, those hearty and bloodthirsty Centurions could out-march pretty much every barbarian horde in the known world, and be less fatigued by the time they needed to raise their swords and lop off some body parts. This was the first known shoe modifications with a clear, and quite effective, functional outcome.

Now, history shows that shoes began to really go to absurd lengths, er, heights in the Middle Ages, with some shoes recorded as high as 20 inches - the original platform shoes. And even today, the high heel remains one of the mainstays of fashion, and as fraught as ever with sexual subtext. But the raised heel has also become something even more utilitarian, and depending on design and basic shape, can provide significant advantages for people with a wide array of foot problems. They can also, as we will see, create foot problems, and we will explore this, as well, in future posts.

The heel, being named for the part of the foot where it is most closely aligned, serves not merely to elevate the rear part of the foot over the level of the sole, but also serves to either increase or decrease the shock wave of the heel when it strikes the ground. It can do this based on shape and on the materials from which it is made. The primary problem is, it can do one or the other really well, or it can do both, but less well. But it can seldom do both really well. This is because there is a trade-off, between the need to cushion against the impact, and the need to remain stable side-to-side so that the foot is not unbalanced as it transfers the load of the body from the heel, to the midfoot, to the forefoot, and then allows the heel to leave the ground in preparation for swinging through to the next phase of gait. Too soft a material will cause poor stability; too hard will transfer more shock. Therefore, a trade-off is the primary determinant for the design of the heel.

Next time, we will look at materials, used to make the heel and sole of shoes, and how various materials impact functional outcomes. And remember - if you have any questions, just post them in the Comments section. Till then, don't forget to dance!