The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-08-16
STRENGTHEN MUSCLES TO
PREVENT FALLEN ARCHES

1t is almost folly to preach against
the sort of shoe which fashion at the
moment prescribes. Fashion is the
only one who can shift woman's al
| legiance from one sort of shoe to an
| other, and she does that whenever she
| sees fit and no sooner. So the phySI-
! clan who condemns the French heels
on walking shoes finds no auditors.
When fashion prescribes broad heels
they will be popular. Already she has
suggested to her devotees that they
wear almost heelless dancing slippers,
and some of them have needed her.
Perhaps the next surprise she has in
store is common-sense walking boots.
At all events, however much ILL
fitting and wrongly constructed shoes
may have to do with fallen arches,
there is little use dwelling on that.
Perhaps the woman who constantly
wears broad-soled, flat-heeled shoes
is just as susceptible to this form OF
torture as the one who points her toes
or broadens them, tits her heels or
lowers them, as the fad of the day
afflict the rich and poor, the we'll
shod and the badly shod; and they
have come to be so usual that they
are real menace to comfort.
One doctor suggests that constant
ly changing from high heels to low.
and back again may have something
to do with broken arches. He insists
that women afflicted with this trou-
DleSOfne alIInenI wear neelS on their
bedroom slippers, as we'll as on their
evening shoes, and that all their heels
should be of practically the same
height. This sort of treatment per-
haps does little to cure the fault
much as it may do to make the af-
flicted foot more cOmforta bic.
TIE proper way to go about curing
broken arches is to avoid them. Not
very encouraging words, these, for
patient sufferers who must hobbIe
about as best they can! But, after
all, every one is building for the flu
ture, and if we can make our hard
learned lessons useful to the next gen.
Grafton we should be glad.
OF course, proper shoeing is the
best way to avoid flattened arches III
children. Teach them to wear shoes
with fairly straight inside line tina
keeps the foot in natural position.
Have the toes sufficiently wide so
that the foot is not cramped. Make
sure that the shoe fits softly about
the arch and instep. And never let
the heels run down. Rundown heels
are a contributing cause of broken
arches
Children's shoes should be of fIex-
ible leather. so that their feet must |
really be exercised when they walk |
Stiff. unbending soles weaken the foot |
muscles.
Allow children to run about the |
house-of course taking precautions |
that no needles, cold floors or splin- |
tiers make this dangerous-in their
bare feet Their feet are thus
strengthened and developed as they |
never can be in shoes.
The latest idea in foot health is |
that small children, even, should wear !
shoes with a slightly lifted heel One /
rule is that soon as the childs /
arch naturally rises so that if the f
foot is placed on a sheet of paper a |
penciled outline of the foot where it I
touches the paper is broken when the |
arch is reached, the child should wear |
a low heel. This idea would probably |
make the opponents of spring heels |
for little girls until they are almost |
in their teens shudder. But it is a |
rule that has been seriously laid down |
by those who are trying to shoe the |
coming generations sensibly.
What women of antiquity was it un-
der the arches of whose feet a stream
of water could flow without wetting |
them? One wonders whether these
naturally high-arched women suf-
fered from flattened arches or wheth-
er they fastened heels to their prim
tive sandals. Perhaps they were inn
mune to modern ills.
If you are not yet troubled with
this common ailment, make up your
mind that you will not let it get the
better of you and set to work to carry
out your resolve.
The cause of broken arches is re-
Taxed and flabby muscles The bory
arch of the foot is held in place by
muscles stretching from base to base
of the arch in the bottom of the foot.