Your foot is deformed by footwear

Stiff, narrow, with bunions and crowded toes.

'If I had met you before, my feet would not be as they are now.'

That's how emphatic Ana was. A 69-year-old woman with Parkinson's who visited us last week.

She was accompanied by her friend Carmen. They met years ago, on a hiking route, and since then they have been going everywhere together.

As you get older you take more care of yourself, you walk every day and then you realise the problems you have with your feet.

Ana has suffered from Parkinson's disease for 15 years, has an electrode implanted in her brain and takes daily medication. And despite this, she has a tremendous desire to do things. She is a woman of character, with a lot of strength.

But Ana's feet are a poem.

Stiff, narrow, with bunions and crowded toes.

When I saw them, I thought it was because of Parkinson's. But I was wrong.

She comes recommended by her physiotherapist. The one who treats her every week. Ana saw that she was wearing different shoes and asked her.

Both Ana and Carmen thought that her feet deformed by themselves over the years.

'They are such remote parts of the body that they are not given the importance they deserve and then, of course, come the pain and the problems'. - they say

Carmen also comments that her daughter always wears heels and that she has many problems, including a lack of calcium.

It is similar to what happens to cyclists. The foot doesn't move, doesn't suffer impacts and is locked in narrow shoes...the result: circulation problems and the feet lose calcium.

While trying on a pair of Lems Primal Pursuit, Ana pulls out a bag with a pair of insoles.

'And what do you have them for,' I ask her.

'I don't know, they haven't done me any good' - she replies.

The insole is the same shape as Ana's foot.

Narrow and stiff.

I finish chatting with Ana and turn my attention to Carmen. She is very curious about everything we talk about. She jots things down, takes photos, but can't make up her mind.

She says that she has always had a lot of foot problems and that she suffers from recurring sprains. She was told she had flat feet and that's why she wears insoles.

When she showed me her feet, I was surprised.

Carmen and Ana are two different women, but they have the same feet.

They look identical. A calcomony.

The same bunions, the same narrowing and the same deformed toes.

When I show them, they themselves are surprised. Carmen doesn't have Parkinson's, but her feet are just as deformed as Ana's.

'Why is that?' they ask.

It's clear, you have used the same shoes. The one sold in any shoe shop.

This acts like a click in Carmen's head.

She tries on a pair of Xero Shoes Oswego shoes and gushes that they are the most comfortable shoes she has ever had.

These shoes allow her foot to be close to the ground and her toes to have enough space. This is essential for his stability problem.

When they say goodbye he says:

'I would have paid for everything you have told me. I'm taking gold with me.'


Gold as such they did not take with them, but something more valuable for their health: the discovery of their feet.


At any age, health starts with your feet.

- Antonio Caballo -


Pd. Below all the footwear and toe correctors worn by Ana and Carmen.