What Are the Best Shoes for Gout?

​...I've been ruined.  Ever since I got these Xero shoes last year, I can't wear anything else!  When it comes to gout prevention, there are a lot of things to work with.  But I have never experienced so first hand what an impact having the right shoes had on my foot health.  

Last weekend we were out for about 4 hours, down to the bottom the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the Gunnison River.  These are not only the best shoes for gout, they're the best shoes for doing anything!

​...the best shoes for gout?  ...the shoes that make your feet STRONG!

The cool thing that Steven Sashen and his wife, Lena Phoenix, the creators of ​Xero shoes (a Colorao-based company!) have come up with, is all summed up in their tag line:

Your feet are meant to bend, to move, to flex, to Feel The World^®.

What else is there?!  ​For people like you and me that are engaged in the lifelong project of killing gout, that tag line takes on a whole new meaning!  

​Xero shoes are sort of combination the simplistic design of ages-old Huarache sandals of Mexico, and the newer technology of barefoot running shoes.  If our feet don't move and flex and and have a chance to stretch and work out all the super intricate and delicate little joints, they get weak and the blood and lymph fluid doesn't flow.  That is a recipe for gout in the making.  

We start our lives with 270 bones in our body, and end up with about 206 by the time we die...so says Wikipedia.  Of that, 26 of those bones are in our feet.  And there are a total of 30 joints in our feet alone.

​From the perspective of gout, I can't help but think that stuffing our feet into cheap shoes that don't allow our feet natural movement, we either compromise how our feet stay healthy in the first place, or, we are doing damage to them.

Many times we've had that conversation of how gout seems to find the weaker joints, or the ones that have seen a lot of over use and abuse.  Keep that in mind when you think about the job your feet do for you...we stand on them all day long sometimes!.

Then, compound that abuse with this dastardly metabolic disorder of gout.  For some weird reason, gout singles out and attacks our feet and ankles the most!  When that happens, it sucks to be you!  (or me!)  ​So...of course we're looking for the best shoes for gout!

​Organic Food...Organic Shoes...?

What I hadn't thought of until I listened to a podcast of Stephen Sashen's, was that the shoe industry has been hijacked just like the food industry has been.  When you get the drift of it, the shoe industry has just come up with one goofy idea after another, just to keep selling us new shoes.  They come up with all kinds of weird "scientific data" about why these strange soles or insoles or buildups at the heel or in the toe, or cushioning and padding, and springs, and who knows what else...to make us think they've got a better way for us.  We've been duped...it's all just marketing.  And, a lot of it has been bad for our posture, our knees, our feet, and our health in general.  

When it comes right down to it, our feet work they way the are supposed to work WITHOUT shoes.  For tens of thousands of years, our ancestors didn't wear shoes, or if they did, it was pretty minimal.  Their feet, like the rest of their bodies, were strong!

All too often, it's vanity that has caused us to wear shoes "that look good" over what is really healthy for our feet and our skeletal structure.  We stuff our feet into shoes that don't follow the natural lines and curves of our feet...like Xero shoes do!  

​The Best Shoes for...The Gout Killer?!

Check out the picture above.  This is my Xero shoe collection so far.  And, The Gout Wife has a few of them too.  We are real Xero Freaks!  haha!  

Please do look closely at al these shoes.  See the shape of the toe box?  It is not shaped the way you are used to seeing shoes built - all pointy and cramped.  With Xero shoes, they make the shoes more like the shape of your feet.  

In fact - I've never done this, but I've heard of others that have done it - you can go to old places in Mexico, and they will build you a pair of Huaraches.  They trace the shape of your foot and make the sole of flat, strong leather.  From there, they build up the sandal around your foot.  That is sort of how Xero started.  In fact, go to the "do it yourself" part of the website and you can do exactly that!

​...the best shoes for gout...for you?  

The reason I wanted to write a post about this is because I think Stephen and Phoenix are really on to something with these Xero Shoes of theirs...gout or no gout.  

But my experience of wearing these shoes, then trying to go back to wearing my other pairs of shoes, has been really enlightening.  It took a little time to get used to the "barefoot" style of wearing this type of shoe - my feet had to adjust and grow stronger.  

In doing that, I have felt the muscles in my feet grow stronger and my knees feel more relaxed.  Between all my qigong work and rotating through all my pairs of Xero shoes, my challenge with sciatica is all but disappeared.  

From a gout perspective, using my feet the way they are designed to be used is strong prevention for gout.  All those delicate joints held together by connective tissues of ligaments and tendons - the places and spaces that uric acid can crystallize - keeps the synovial fluid and cartilage healthy and less susceptible to gout.

Just like all the other parts of our bodies, we need to really take care of our feet.  One of the best exercises is just plain old walking.  As I've gotten to this ripe old age that I have, I've found that I have to practice walking.   My proprioception is not what it used to be.  After all the crashes I've taken on my skis and my mountain bike, it's a wonder I can walk at all! Along with all the other poor choices I've made in my lifetime, it's NO wonder that I have to be diligent about killing gout!  

Having the best shoes for gout is one more tool in the tool box.