Reduce Lower Back Pain And Trim Your Lower Half – Wear The Right Shoes
Swiss engineer, Karl Muller, was walking barefoot through a Korean rice field when he noticed that his back pain – something he suffered with – was quite a bit better. Intrigued, he carried out a little research and discovered that Africa’s Masai tribesmen are well known for their good posture and do not suffer from back pain.
Muller came to the conclusion that walking barefoot on soft ground was better for your back and joints than walking on a hard surface. He decided to design a shoe which would mimic the effect of walking on a soft yielding surface such as grass or sand.
The end result was the Masai Barefoot Technology (MBT) shoe. According to the company website, it is so different to conventional footwear that it merits the name of “anti-shoe”.
MBT shoes incorporate a specially developed curved sole without a heel, which produces a rolling action when your foot makes contact with the ground. It’s just like walking on sand in your bare feet in fact. The use of materials of different densities also contributes to the effect by further lowering jarring and impact shock.
The fact that this is better for your back and joints has now been verified by independent scientific studies. In addition to improved posture, there are evn more benefits. For example, whilst walking normally wearing MBT shoes, the user’s muscles are in use for a longer period of time (when compared to normal walking in conventional shoes). The muscles are active for around about 16% longer. Users also tend to take fractionally shorter strides – both of these effects increase the amount of work being done.
The result of this is that each step you take wearing MBT shoes will provide you with additional exercise. It’s like a lower body workout when you walk around. So, as well as improving posture and lowering back pain, MBT shoes can help to firm up your buttocks and tone your legs.
You would imagine that would be sufficient wouldn’t you? Despite all these benefits some people find MBT shoes a little chunky and not very aesthetically pleasing. MBTs are a little more expensive than conventional shoes (but the benefits may make them great value for money). Fortunately there are now alternative offerings available which utilise the same basic design and are more cosmetically attractive. Both Skechers Shape Ups and Fitflops have similar curved soles which are specially engineered to increase the muscle activity duration and tone your legs and buttocks whilst engaged in normal, everyday walking activity.
Whichever brand of footwear you go for, the opportunity to reduce back pain and trim your lower body at the same time – all whilst doing nothing more energetic than walking normally – seems to be very attractive.
Check out MBT shoes or cast your eye over the Fitflops range.
