Watch for your son to start heel-striking too, if he isn't already.
I think you're right about the large-scale brainwashing! But I think another essential part of the solution is going to be re-evaluating our society's relationship with sitting. I don't think it's a coincidence that the "tipping point" for a lot of children, where their movement patterns degrade, is when they start sitting primarily in chairs, rather than on the floor.
Think heel striking happens because of the large heels we have have in shoes. I wear zero drop shoes and focus landing on mid/front foot is much easier. Didn’t realize how different my walk is compared to others until my coworker recognized me in a different building because of the way I walk.
Was also told to heel strike by my mom, makes less flopping noise doing so. She has a way of doing what blends in, doesn’t want her kids to be different, the whole largest nail gets hammered.
> Think heel striking happens because of the large heels we have have in shoes.
I think you are right. I had to wear "normal" shoes after wearing zero-drop shoes for about a year. Within a few minutes of walking, I was back to heel striking.
You can find cheaper, but I've replaced the insoles in almost all of my shoes with Superfeet Carbons. They're a hair thinner than most insoles so they open up the toe box a little bit too, and having enough space in the toe box totally changes how I walk.
(Ecco shoes tend to be low-rise already, but for some reason their insoles always squeak for me. I replace them for my sanity, not because the replacements are lower. But other brand have a taller heel).
I still heel strike when I walk, but only barely. The knife edge of my foot lands just after my heel, instead of what most people do which is lift their toes a half inch to an inch. Ouch.
You might like Altra shoes; they're zero drop and have a very open toe box. I'm about 9 months into wearing them, and I love them. They felt weird for the first couple of weeks because of the open toe box, but after that anything else feels wrong.
definite NO on the converse, and didn't like styles on vans. I have wide feet, so classic looks are out as converse only has them in normal width, same issue with my PF Flyers.
Same, almost all of my shoes are near zero drops, including my hiking(mountain) shoes. I've always walked around the house on the balls of my feet as well. I hated hearing people stomping around on floors, and I just naturally adapted not to.
One of the things I noticed when I was living outside of the US is that you can tell who grew up with furniture and who didn't; those who didn't can sit on their heels with their knees on their chest in perfect comfort for hours. I can barely get into that position even while hanging onto something for support.
The most trying thing about traveling to Korea and visiting my wife's family, for me, is the extent to which you're expected to sit on the floor and eat, sleep on the floor, etc.
I think you're right about the large-scale brainwashing! But I think another essential part of the solution is going to be re-evaluating our society's relationship with sitting. I don't think it's a coincidence that the "tipping point" for a lot of children, where their movement patterns degrade, is when they start sitting primarily in chairs, rather than on the floor.