The fluffy footwear might not be good for your body
Don’t worry, we won’t tell you that you should never wear your slippers again. Especially not with the current temperatures. When you get home after a long day of activities, nothing feels better than putting on your slippers and giving your feet a break. But you might not want to wear your slippers all the time. A posture alignment therapist explains why.
Posture
According to posture alignment therapist Eleanor Burt, it is sometimes better to leave the slippers and walk around barefoot. Because is you wear slippers every time you enter the house, it could have a negative effect on your posture. She told Metro UK: ‘While slippers will certainly cause you fewer problems than the restrictive, supportive and heeled shoes most people wear most of the time (the majority of ‘normal’ high street shoes and trainers are all three of these things), slippers still serve a role in switching off the muscles and proprioceptors of the feet. This contributes to lazier and less balanced feet.” What this means, is that your body’s foundation is basically turned off and that influences the movement of the rest of your body. And that could negatively impact your posture and body.
Support
Burt says that we are focusing too much on support. She explains: ‘We are all very indoctrinated into the rhetoric that our feet ‘need support’ and ‘need protection’, but actually by supporting and protecting our feet, we create extremely weak, stiff feet that don’t move as they are designed to…This really has a significant impact that shouldn’t be scoffed at.” That is why the posture alignment therapist recommends that we spend more time walking around barefoot. Especially when you’re at home by yourself and no one will judge you for it. “Being barefoot allows your feet to actually have to work … to sense the ground beneath them, read temperature and importantly, MOVE,” Burt said.
Burt does acknowledge that going barefoot might not be the only thing you need to solve your posture issues. If you just walk around barefoot without properly exercising, it won’t really do much for your body. So get up, walk around for a minute or five. And if you’re inside the house; take off those slippers and get your feet moving!
Also read: This is how to reduce the harmful effects of sitting all day
Source: Metro UK | Image: Pexels, Karolina Grabowska