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When I first came across barefoot shoes, I kept seeing the term “zero drop shoes” and I didn’t understand the concept.
I looked a little further in and realized it was alluding to the fact that there was no height difference concerning the ball of the foot and the heel in the sole of a shoe. I learned that most footwear we wear has a significant raise in the heel whether we notice it or not.
People usually think of just women’s high heels but no, this includes men’s shoes as well and covers all kinds like running, casual, dress, training, etc.
To be clear: this means all barefoot shoes SHOULD be zero drop shoes as well, because that phrase is just alluding to the sole height.
The Difference I Felt in Zero Drop Shoes
At first, this didn’t mean much to me because in my head, I translated that definition to:
“Its a thin, flat sole. Big deal.”
As I’ve talked about already, I eventually tried zero drop shoes, Xero Shoes to be exact, and was blown away by how I felt. I didn’t get how I felt such a difference in the shoe.
There are multiple features in the shoe that are big difference makers compared to traditional footwear, but undeniably one of the biggest was the sole of zero drop shoes, creating a lower-than-usual heel for me.
Upon feeling instant relief from my plantar fasciitis and suddenly being able to walk normal distances again, I was even more intrigued.
How was a thin and level sole the answer to my problem?
The bottom of my foot had been hurting for so long and I basically just had less protection covering it now, or so I thought.
The real reason is that a lot is happening with the foot when you make the transition to zero drop shoes.
Zero Drop Shoes vs Traditional Footwear
First, it’s important to understand what’s going on with traditional footwear. With those regular shoes, you almost certainly have an elevated heel. The sole of the shoe has a higher heel than ball of the foot. That’s just the way they’re made no matter how you stand in them.
Picture yourself standing on just your toes and the ball of your foot all day long. That would not only be exhausting, but would quickly create muscular imbalances.
When you spend years of your life in shoes like this, your achilles tendon and subsequently the rest of your lower leg muscles, like the calf muscles, shorten (aka tighten). This includes large and crucially important muscles like the gastrocnemius and soleus, which you may remember from one of my older articles.
Also in the lower leg, we find that the posterior tibialis, hallucis longus, and digitorum longus muscles are all affected. If some of these names sound familiar, it’s because I’ve mentioned them on multiple occasions. These are all muscles that we should look to treat when we find ourselves struggling with the dreaded plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis, turf toe, hallux limitus, or sesamoiditis.
All of these affected muscles will start pulling on the heel and flattening out the arch muscles in the bottom of the foot. When the arch flattens, this leads to excessive pronation of the feet. Pronation is an otherwise natural process, however, not when there is no mechanism to regulate it.
Not only these, but your plantar muscles (bottom of the foot) get over-stretched because your heel (and toes from the shoe’s toe spring) are artificially elevated with the sole of the shoe.
Going back to the achilles tendon, the fact that it has been shortened means the ankle can’t bend the way it should so its mobility is hampered. It becomes a problem for the foot when the ankle can no longer dorsiflex like it’s supposed to. This is the ankle’s ability to allow the foot to bend back with the toes coming towards you. Dorsiflexion is a very important movement for the ankle to perform as its the primary form of mobility that it relies on.
When it can’t dorsiflex properly anymore, it resorts to other forms of compensatory movement. This manifests itself in the form of more pronation. Pronation is a natural process, however, when the ankle is not mobile enough to dorsiflex well anymore, this quickly becomes overpronation.
The body will always problem-solve when its missing range of motion. It will always find a way to compensate because it’s trying to survive.
While this is an impressive feature of the body, there are consequences to it. We now have multiple mechanisms forcing our feet to respond with excessive pronation. Overpronation is actually one of the things that leads to plantar fasciitis / heel pain.
You’ll notice that many of these things cause a chain reaction of other consequences. This is why I am so adamant in my own life about making certain choices and doing certain things.
Zero Drop Shoes: The Long Term Solution
If you are someone struggling with any of the aforementioned conditions, you need to take a long, hard look at your shoes. The way I see it is that people should transition to zero drop shoes as early as possible because traditional footwear has been hurting us and it only gets worse with age. I got tired of it. That’s why I switched over and I’m not switching back.
That first pair of zero drop shoes I bought, the Hanas from Xero Shoes, changed my life. They not only helped me get out of pain rather quickly, but they woke me up to an ugly reality about our foot-deforming footwear. But on the bright side, they showed me that there is so much more to be had when it comes to health and functionality.
So by lowering the heel back down to a normal height, we potentially fix a whole chain reaction of events that took place because of those elevated heels. The ball of the foot and heel are meant to be level because that’s how a bare foot is.
Humans don’t do well long term in high-heeled shoes, narrow-toed shoes, or soles shaped like half pipes.
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