Simple Steps to Foot Pain Relief: The New Science of Healthy Feet

by Katy Bowman

Don’t just treat your foot pain—strengthen your feet to prevent it.

Back with an expanded edition of her popular book Every Woman’s Guide to Foot Pain Relief, biomechanist Katy Bowman has created a new version for both men and women in all walks of life.

With updated material and new visuals that illustrate exactly how to strengthen and mobilize your feet, Simple Steps to Foot Pain Relief will show you how to change the way you move your body to prevent pain, heal your feet, and halt damage to the rest of your body. Bowman’s simple, accessible, innovative program will help you naturally address lower-leg and foot issues such as:

- Hammertoes
- Bunions
- Plantar fasciitis
- Poor posture and alignment

Bowman walks you gently through exercises to strengthen your feet, what shoes you should (and should not) be wearing, and how these choices affect your overall foot—and whole-body!—health.

Simple Steps to Foot Pain Relief will teach you how healthy feet work optimally and help you put your best foot forward on the path toward moving with greater ease.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Self Help, Science, Medical, Reference, Fitness

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2011

About the author

Bestselling author, speaker, and a leader of the Movement movement, biomechanist Katy Bowman, M.S. is changing the way we move and think about our need for movement. Her ten books, including the groundbreaking Move Your DNA, have been translated into more than 16 languages worldwide.
Bowman is the creator and host of the "Move Your DNA" podcast, teaches movement globally, and speaks about sedentarism and movement ecology to academic and scientific audiences such as the Ancestral Health Summit and the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. Her work has been featured in such diverse media as the Today Show, CBC Radio One, the Seattle Times, NPR, the Joe Rogan Experience, and Good Housekeeping.
One of Maria Shriver’s “Architects of Change” and an America Walks “Woman of the Walking Movement,” Bowman consults on educational and living space design to encourage movement-rich habitats. She has worked with companies like Patagonia, Nike, and Google as well as a wide range of non-profits and other communities to create greater access to her “move more, move more body parts, move more for what you need” message.
Her movement education company, Nutritious Movement, is based in Washington State, where she lives with her family.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start by saying I *heart* Katy. I love her blog posts, follow her on Facebook, and think she's wicked smart. If I had read this book *before* finding her blog, I might have been more blown away by the information found within... as it is, it was more of a recap of a collection of the information I've read previously on her blog.

I do think the book is incredibly informative, and it's written in layman's terms with Katy's usual style, which includes a healthy dose of humor along with the common sense. The exercises are easy, and the illustrations help make sense of any instructions that might be a little confusing. I would recommend this book to anyone who wears positive-heeled shoes, has back pain, any kind of pelvic disorder, etc...

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good place to start on basic foot health, strengthening, and joint mobility. The recommended exercises and the self-assessments are good and useful to someone just starting out. I would have liked a bit more about the arch and the heel of the foot, but Bowman may cover more in her other books, which I plan to get soon - especially her new Foot Care book coming out in September 2016.

[Chelsea Nash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although in places this book felt like an advertisement for "Earth Negative Heel Shoes", overall I thought the case against most footwear was well-constructed. I appreciated that a few tips on foot and body alignment (don't turn out, and put your weight over your heels where it belongs*) were easy to take away. I also look forward to trying the exercises in this book.

The author doesn't just criticize high heeled shoes, but also many other kinds of footwear including flip flops and clogs, shoes that many (including me) might turn to for relief from foot pain. Recommended footwear has four characteristics: a flexible sole, a roomy toe box, secure and non-constricting upper, and a neutral or negative heel height. The biomechanical basis for these recommendations is well-covered in the book as is the argument in favor of strengthening the feet and increasing their flexibility.

I have suffered from foot pain for several years, alleviated only when I am doing yoga regularly and not helped consistently by any particular orthopedic shoe or insole, so I find the author convincing.

Well recommended for inspiration.

(*Do read this book to find out how easy it is to improperly follow this advice.)

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't really say I learned a whole lot from this book but what it did do is confirm some of my suspicions. I have been teaching yoga for about a year and have developed a firm belief that our feet are very important. I have noticed that most of the poses we do either strengthen or stretch the feet. Through yoga I have recovered from plantar fascia, shin splints, knee pain, back pain, etc. But I've been suspecting that a lot of this is coming from stronger more flexible, therefore more stable feet. I have also learned through running that it is very important to wear shoes that allow your feet to stretch while you run. I wear a running shoe that is a size and a half bigger than my normal shoe size. It has become very unappealing to me to wear tight shoes.

So although I already knew most of the ideas she presented in her book it was also intriguing to find that I was correct in my assumptions and practices. So that was kind of cool.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so glad I bought this book. There's a lot of great information, as well as exercises and stretches. From becoming more aware of body alignment and changes in habits and patterns to learning new and different ways of doing particular stretches; this book is a gift! It's amazing how small adjustments affect the health of the foot. I look forward to fully implementing the techniques shared in this book.

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Katy Bowman for at least six years and have worn a mix of minimal and "regular" shoes for even longer. Eventually I made the full transition to all minimal shoes. Despite that transition, I've been having heel pain for a few months and in a moment of desperation I got a pair of Crocs, a steroid shot, and bought this book. I'm not sure if the shot worked or if it's the stretches I've started doing more frequently, but the pain has lessened. I'm hoping with more foot work, it will completely go away. If I had read this book just a little bit earlier, I maybe I could have skipped the steroid shot altogether. So my advice is: read this book at the slightest hint of foot pain, not once it's become unbearable.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book and found it informative and I learned some exercises that are helping my plantar fasciitis too.

[Janis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good advice with exercises. I would have appreciated naming some brands/styles although they are provided on Ms. Bowman’s website.

[Elise Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative

[Jessica Willoughby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all of Katy’s books and this was no exception. It is informative and approachable.

[Lotzastitches · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paperback
Hoping to improve my foot health.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learned a great deal about feet and simple steps for foot health!

[Daniel Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic book on foot health. I have to admit that I'm a little biased since I've already been wearing barefoot shoes for 5 it so years, but I appreciated having a kinesiologist back up my own opinions.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy to read book about the relationship between foot health and health in general. The book starts with a very informative section on foot anatomy and mechanics, and discusses the causes for common foot problems - most of which are traceable to the practice of wearing stiff, confining shoes. Although shoes are a necessity given that man is no longer living in a pristine natural environment, and mankind does wish to avoid puncture wounds from inadvertently stepping on debris, footwear should try to emulate as much as possible barefoot walking. Thus, much of our footwear is wrong - the soles of our feet are not picking up information from the ground, although in our present built-up environment there isn't much to pick up. There are as many sensory nerves in the foot as there are nerves associated with muscles - making the foot potentially highly sensitive in picking up information from the ground. All of this was of course lost since the time mankind began attaching hides to the soles of their feet in an effort to avoid injury, exposure to the elements and so forth.

There are numerous small muscles in the feet - exactly like in the hands - and feet can be as "dextrous" as hands. The reason they are not is because we no longer use our feet for tasks more complex than propelling us forward while walking or running. We no longer have a use for dexterity in our feet - but the potential is there. Some of the foot exercises in the foot are designed to strengthen the muscles of the toes - to un-crimp them, and have them spread out, as they should - increase circulation and foster the creation of healthy tissue. The look of square shoes is however considered unsophisticated - and so, for the sake of appearing elegant, women practice a subtle form of foot-binding: Cramming their feet into too-narrow toe boxes, and also using high heels, which result in a complete catastrophe of the body's (that is, knee, ankle, hip and spine) geometry. The author feels that one day high heels will be perceived as harmful - just as cigarettes were once looked on as "cool" or sophisticated, are now seen as harmful.

The author doesn't advocate totally giving up on fashion but does give guidelines on the best choices for footwear. She recommends either flat or negative heel shoes - any positive heel shoe will throw off the body's geometry/biomechanics, and will lead to various joint problems down the line.

As for flip-flops, they are fine for the beach/pool, but the author does not recommend them for continual wear - since the foot must constantly grip to keep them on, leading to the curling under of the toes. The same goes for mules, slippers, clogs, any shoe sole that is not adequately attached to the foot.

She recommends thin soled shoes with flexible soles that are adequately attached to the uppers. The foot exercises she recommends are supposed to counter-balance the deleterious effects of one's shoes; they can be done in a few minutes and many can be done even at work. There are even barefoot parks, and cobblestone walking mats to stimulate circulation - exercise the foot muscles.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far I'm loving this. This book is easy to access and gives a lot of great information about biomechanics and how to improve your feet, gait, and posture. If you're someone suffering from foot pain (like me), this book will give you reason to feel positive about the future of your feet!

Since I've finished the book, I've been doing the foot exercizes regularly and am feeling pretty positive that things are getting better and will continue to get better. Now I have to tackle the difficult task of buying a couple of pairs of new shoes (an all-purpose pair of walking shoes and a pair of flats). I think the book has given some good guidelines for shoe selection, but I still feel like I need to talk to either a pedorthist or a podiatrist to get my final questions answered (but at least now I know what those questions are!).

I thought the book was useful enough that I bought my own copy.

[Maxine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting & somewhat informative. The exercises are good & helpful for everyday aches. A bit too much detail on "preparing a space" for exercise. Surely we know about vacuuming, visual inspection and one more thing she said do. After all that she then recommends putting down a yoga mat! TMI about an unrelated subject.

My main beef was about how she addresses foot conditions that relate to me. There is a brief description of bunions but plantar fasciitis is all but ignored. Certainly the pain associated with this very common condition wasn't considered when recommending going barefoot. My own research turned up a recommendation that in certain cases (several of which I fall into) going barefoot or barefoot like shoes for PF isn't recommended. That info would have been helpful.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this book convinced me to change my shoes to mostly flats and minimalist footwear. I already have minimalist running shoes I love! I will also incorporate the exercises and I have noticed shorted calves due to high heel wearing. Good information!

[Sian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like Katy Bowman, shes definitely a body mechanics geek, very simple book, get out of heels, move more and do the stretches in the book for reduced back, hip and foot pain. Great starter book to introduce you to the world of barefoot. She has great videos on youtube as well.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m very happy to start my foot health journey. Thanks for the step in the right direction. 😉

[MrsJoseph *grouchy* · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://bookslifewine.com/r-every-woma...

I first learned of Katy Bowman in a very roundabout fashion: my stylist and I were discussing women's health issues - specifically diastasis recti - and how there appears to be a dearth of easy to locate information. So I decided to research diastasis recti workouts and books.

And I discovered that my stylist was 100% correct: there is very little information to be found the more specific you get. I found a couple of "pay before you look" sites, one free workout, a couple of information pages, a smattering of books...and Katy Bowman.

Katy Bowman has an entire book dedicated to diastasis recti. IIRC, her book is one of five completely dedicated to this common condition. So I decided to check her out a little - and I discovered a wealth of materials dedicated to whole body health. I decided to start with Every Woman's Guide to Foot Pain Relief because I suffer from pretty bad shin splints, I have tight hip flexors and I have "snapping hip syndrome."

Every Woman's Guide to Foot Pain Relief is a really easy read! But it was also a little depressing: chapter two has four painful to learn anatomy lessons that...made me realize I had a lot of work to do:

#1: Your toes are separate structures from your feet for a reason.
#2: Your toes should move separately from your feet.
#3: Your toes should move separately from each other.
#4: The front half of your foot should move separately from the back half.

Wow. So. Clearly, I've stalled in chapter two, lol. But seriously, my husband and I both tried some of the moves Ms. Bowman says we should be able to do - and we could not. As a former dancer, I [still] have the ability to move my toes separately from my feet but I cannot move my toes separately from each other.

In chapter four I learned "Walking with an excessive turn out loads the big toe joint in an incorrect place resulting in injury commonly called a bunion(p55)." Before reading this book, I thought things like bunions were hereditary. Ms. Bowman states they are caused by poor posture, excessive turn out, and other fixable bad habits.

As I read each chapter (and studied the photos), I was left with the feeling that I have been doing it all wrong from the very beginning. O_O I've been working on trying the different stretches recommended in the book. In addition to stretches, Every Woman's Guide to Foot Pain Relief has shoe recommendations as well. I ended up discussing these recommendations with my podiatrist - and I would recommend [you] do the same. Each person's feet are different and that needs to be taken into account.

All in all, I found Every Woman's Guide to Foot Pain Relief to be very informative! I planned to purchase a copy but I bought the updated edition instead: Simple Steps to Foot Pain Relief .

[Colette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book after having read Bowman's Move Your DNA and Diastasis Recti, and in doing so found this a little disappointing as to the depth of information. I will certainly read Whole Body Barefoot for more of the technical discussion. As it is, this book was a great introduction for someone who wants to improve the health of their feet, but does not want to know all the physiological details. Many of the indications and contraindications are things most people know, but Bowman does explain a little bit about how they affect our bodies from the feet up. Obviously, people know high heels and squished toes are not conducive to getting rid of foot pain; however, I did like learning more about how they contribute to common foot problems over time, and learning about how I might better prevent them. I have known many older men and women who suffer from many of these problems, and avoiding those problems is my goal. I like that Bowman explained how having foot pain can also lead to gaining weight and decreased mobility -- that it affects so much of our quality of life as we age. Podiatrists' main clientele are seniors. A lifetime of poor alignment takes its toll. I will be using the information in this book to teach my children good habits. The exercises are also very helpful, though I didn't have foot pain to begin with.

[moonglow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm writing this review over a year after having read the book, so I can't recall the details of its structure or style. What I can tell you is that this book is a must-read for anyone with feet.

It took my 37 years of walking around on Earth to start appreciating, thinking about, and properly taking care of my feet, thanks to this book. I realized that by wearing conventional shoes with heels, pointed toes, and arch or ankle support, I was essentially wearing casts on my feet that were weakening my feet, ankles, knees, and hips. Using the tips that Katy shares in her podcasts and this and her other books, I changed all of my footwear to what are called "minimalist" or "barefoot" shoes. After almost two years of wearing these shoes, I can tell you that I feel much stronger, more grounded, and balanced in my body. When doing yoga, balance poses that used to challenge me are simple now, which proved to me that my feet and ankles have gotten stronger. I feel more confident that by respecting the natural form and function of my feet, I will reduce my chances of falling when I enter my golden years.

[Snickerdoodle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of us know what it's like to have aching feet... or a variety of foot problems. We may think it's our shoes and it might be ... but it's also about the muscles and joints of our feet, the tightness of calves and hamstrings ... and toes.

Bowman speaks like a regular person here. Nothing goes over your head ... but she seems to know her stuff. There are exercises here ... simple exercises that one just has to do. There's advice too about shoes, posture, stretching... which we should take and incorporate along with the exercises.

Most of us want to be lean without eating or exercising differently. Sometimes we don't follow through on exercises because we don't really believe it will make a difference.

Katy makes a point ... "Feeling like a victim to our current physical pain or ailments is also an easy path. When taking a closer look at the link between our habits, our personal choices, and the constant struggle between what we know is the best thing to do health-wise, and what we tend to do, choosing poorly is an age-old habit."

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reviewed this book for NetGalley.

Thank you, Katy Bowman, for clearly explaining the how, why and cure for painful feet. I read this book because I do have foot pain from time to time, and Ms. Bowman's book was very useful as well as educational.

Ms. Bowman's book is very approachable and well-pitched to the average layperson. The illustrations are so clear and descriptive, along with the science of foot pain and how it can be corrected.

This book is a very good guide to permanently eliminating foot pain From describing the anatomy of the foot and the vital importance of good foot health to overall wellness, to what kind of shoes to wear (and those to avoid), to specific exercises to improve foot strength and prevent future foot pain, Ms. Bowman's book delivers.

I used some of the information and exercises to help my foot pain. A very timely and useful read.

[Jennp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have legit bad plantar fasciitis and have done the foot doctor, the physio, the wraps, the frozen water bottle...
And now I've worked my way through this book.

***Spoilers below***

;) She talks about how we stand, bones, alignment, exercises, shoes, stretches, and walking. Sure, sometimes I thought I could maybe just look up the exercises; bottom line is that reading the whole book embedded the information in a way skimming a webpage won't.

She built her case with good information, and I'm now integrating her knowledge and suggestions into my daily life. I can now go through my day at home without shoes on AND without then being in pain at the end of the day.

I will recommend this book to two of my friends who I know also struggle with wicked bad foot pain.

[Shannon Curran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super informative and it’s all science! She explains the anatomy of our feet, and how our modern shoe is like strapping a straight jacket on. The exercises she offers are simple and require minimal equipment. I also loved listening to this book because the author narrated it and she did an outtakes section at the end which was really funny to listen to, she’s got a good sense of humor.
Summary: STOP wearing heels, period. And no not just high heels, but any shoe that has a positive heel, it’s bad for our health. Also flip flops and birks, I will always love you but we can only see each other for a short time now as you are making my toes do too much work. Our whole body mechanics basically stems from our feet.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Missing only a direct discussion on possibly beneficial features of structured shoes. That is, as I aim for shock absorbing, puncture protecting, zero or negative drop shoes with a spacious toe box, in what order should I phase out features of structured shoes?

By stretches for gripping muscles, I believe the author means the dual bend described in the flip-flop section as a hammer toe. Elsewhere, I encountered a kneeling stretch with two variations: either the top or the bottom of the toes may be placed on the ground. The combination of positions ought to help with the dual bend, although it is a fairly aggressive stretch.

[Kim Wyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book informative but limited in its scope to correcting foot pain stemming from poor posture or wearing flip flips pr high heels.

It of course can't help relieve pain from oh, let's say rheumatoid arthritis of the ankles and toes.

Nevertheless I found a couple helpful tips. 1, when standing stand (and walk ) with wieght over the heels and not leaning forward over the toes. 2. when feet at straight ahead they should line up with straight floor tiles along the outside of the foot, not the inside of the foot. while this may be correct foot posture too me it looks and feels like my feet are turned in.

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a slim book whose main messages could be summed up in a few bullet points (stop wearing heeled shoes, be barefoot more), and a readable crash course to the architecture of feet and simple problems like bunions, as well as a few foot stretching exercises. If you listen to Katy's podcast and read her blog, there's not much reason to buy this book. Its written in a rambling, casual style with loads of repetition, which I guess is good for getting her message across but made it pretty boring for me. Something you can skim in an hour or two, photocopy the 5 pages illustrating the stretches, and pass on to a friend.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every Woman's Guide to Foot Relief is a quick read, and I believe that this book was republished as Whole Body Barefoot as not to scare away the menfolk.

Basically shoes are screwing up our feet , which requires us to wear more cushioned and restrictive shoes to relieve foot pain. It is a vicious cycle!

The meat of this book is the foot exercise plan that Bowman provides -- one that I need. In spite of successfully transitioning to barefoot shoes, I need to work on my foot muscle dexderity. No doubt most of us need to!

Bowman is a biomechanist who has refocused her life to commit to moving more -- and more nutritiously.