“Putting your feet in shoes is similar to putting them in a plaster cast,” Hartmann said. “If I put your leg in plaster, we’ll find forty to sixty percent atrophy of the musculature within six weeks. Something similar happens to your feet when they’re encased in shoes.” When shoes are doing the work, tendons stiffen and muscles shrivel. Feet live for a fight and thrive under pressure; let them laze around, as Alan Webb discovered, and they’ll collapse. Work them out, and they’ll arc up like a rainbow.
