Monday, August 04, 2008
I was alarmed to find out recently that wearing flip-flops is now contraindicated for foot health. They apparently do not have the proper cushioning and support that is required when the human foot makes contact with the ground.
Which makes me very glad I was born when I was. Because before the 1980's when the Nike Air was invented, shoes had very little cushioning and support, and people must've been constantly getting injured. And before the 1920's, when the first real sneakers (keds and chuck taylors) came about, walking and running must've been next to impossible.
It's quite a wonder our species survived at all. Because for 250,000 years, from the time modern humans emerged, until 1979 when Nike invented the modern athletic shoe, we would've had no choice but to just sit there and let lions eat us, because we were apparently unequipped to run until recently.
Some of you might be thinking that this can't possibly be true, that the need for shoes with cushioning and microchips, must be something we've been conditioned to believe because of the thousands of hours of shoe commercials we've all seen.
But the historical record bears this out. The one person who ran before modern times, Pheidippides, died immediately after running from Marathon to Athens, undoubtedly from massive foot trauma.
And how glad am I that I'm not a podiatrist? With all these advances in the past 30 years, they must be right around the corner from curing foot pain forever and putting all of those guys out of business. Well, in America at least.
Which makes me very glad I was born when I was. Because before the 1980's when the Nike Air was invented, shoes had very little cushioning and support, and people must've been constantly getting injured. And before the 1920's, when the first real sneakers (keds and chuck taylors) came about, walking and running must've been next to impossible.
It's quite a wonder our species survived at all. Because for 250,000 years, from the time modern humans emerged, until 1979 when Nike invented the modern athletic shoe, we would've had no choice but to just sit there and let lions eat us, because we were apparently unequipped to run until recently.
Some of you might be thinking that this can't possibly be true, that the need for shoes with cushioning and microchips, must be something we've been conditioned to believe because of the thousands of hours of shoe commercials we've all seen.
But the historical record bears this out. The one person who ran before modern times, Pheidippides, died immediately after running from Marathon to Athens, undoubtedly from massive foot trauma.
And how glad am I that I'm not a podiatrist? With all these advances in the past 30 years, they must be right around the corner from curing foot pain forever and putting all of those guys out of business. Well, in America at least.
