The TRUTH About Arch Support! 

Engineer here: The anology doesn't play out, the structure of the arch in the foot is not the same as an building.

-This video is a great example of "dangerous over-simplification".- This comment is neither helpful nor from a position of education on the subject and I can't believe it has almost 3 thousand likes. I am making this edit to this comment nearly a year later. You'll need to educate yourself on these matter and this guys channel is good place to start.

If you have a flat foot then your foot is a beam bridge.

Arch support isnt meant to support the arch. Its to hold the foot up when the talus pronates past normal range of motion. (Overpronation). If the talus is failing then the arch cant do its job properly hence the need for support. Using the same bridge analogy, the arched bridge also has a maximum load capacity before it fails. Likewise so does your arch. So when your talus is causing excess load on your arch due to it extending past normal range of motion you get pain from not only the joints but all the stabilizing soft tissue that connects to it. The reason most people feel better in Barefoot Shoes like the ones desribed in this video is because the hard floor stops the talus at a certain point. Hypothetically, lets say in your cushioned shoes your talus overpronates to 20 degrees but being barefoot on the floor your talus only overpronates to 17 degrees. Why the big difference? Because soft cushion allows more give until the talus can stop moving vs a hard-floor that stops the talus at a very specific point and doesn't let it go further. Conclusion: Barefoot shoes can help mild to moderate cases of Talus/ Arch induced pain. Severe cases may need to first wear supportive shoes until the pain is lessened and then think about transitioning into barefoot shoes.

As an engineer… This is kinda silly

Please don’t listen to any advice in a 1 minute video. Even if its a good advice you should learn it with full context.

I make orthotics as a podiatrist and the sub talar joint which controls the medial longitudinal arch is a tri plantar joint that moves dynamically in gait three different ways, it’s not a static bridge. Also orthotics don’t just hold up an arch, at the calcaneus and midtarsal region we do modifications so that your heel strikes inverted to the degree best for gait, whilst your midtarsal joint stays locked, and your sub talar joint can pronate at the appropriate time in the gait cycle and supinate too. Feet are meant to flatten a bit, become more flexible and also harden up as a rigid lever where in which the arch height increases. Both movements are needed in gait at the appropriate times. Inefficient gait can usually be seen in flat footed people with a delay in supination or no supination at all. It’s much more complicated of a structure than you’re giving credit to. Additionally a lot of people are hyper mobile with ligaments laxity and develop muscular fatigue with overworking intrinsic foot muscles. Eventually They can develop bones growing in tendons (os naviculare for example to Gain tendon strength in pull) or tendinitis of tib post, tib post dysfunction, plantar fasciitis etc. barefoot shoes are NOT for everyone. That being said I like barefoot shoes shape to prevent hallux abducto valgus but a lack of support is not great in my opinion for most. Also your foot has a foot core that involves two tendons crossing under the foot and the muscular activation of these two in gait pulling both together at the right time is another big factor in the arch. To improve mind muscle activation of intrinsic foot muscles and extrinsic muscles barefoot walking on sand and uneven surfaces is great as well as certain exercises but without that a barefoot shoe and delayed or incorrect sequencing in muscle activation can create problems for many people

I'm gonna go with the advice of my actual foot doctor thank you very much

Some critique about the arch comparison from an engineer: A top Loaded force s distributed throughout, and ultimately supported at the ends but theres still internal stresses throughout the arch thats not even. Due to the geometry and direction of the load (which would be variable and dynamic to some 90 degrees) on the arch, you'd have more stress from compression or shearing on different parts. So the simplest way to make a structural member stronger is to make it thicker, so an arch support essentially add more material thats weaker than your bones, but strong enough to take some weight from your arch. Also the stress and deformation comparison between a solid steel member, brick and mortar, and bone supported by muscles and tendons. But I have found lifting with a flat shoe gives me better balance. I'm also flat footed on one foot, with some kind of constructed arch on a deformed foot that was injured in childhood so my anecdotal evidence is not representative of the general population.

If you have plantar fasciitis, please listen to a foot doctor. I re-injured my foot with this logic. Did I have to wear arch support forever? No, but if you need it, wear it.

This is kinda misleading because there’s people who actually have real foot problems so telling them to just wear better shoes or no shoes at all might make the situation worse.

I got a better idea… don’t compare a human foot to a bridge

The reason you don’t support the arch at the middle is because that would defeat the entire point of the arch in the first place lol (to create an opening underneath). Plus some arches do get supported in the middle

I’ve seen like three of these videos now and now I’m CERTAIN this guy is just selling a specific brand of shoes.

As an engineer, pushing in from the sides is the SECOND best way to support an arch. The BEST WAY is to fill in all of the space beneath the arch with an appropriate material so the arch doesn’t have to do anything. Ya know, arch support.

Idk, at work i have to stand most of the time and my feet would hurt bad. arch support actually worked for me. I didnt have a problem standing in boots all day after switching out to an arch support insole

I had prescribed arches in shoes for years but they never helped. After being bare foot in covid my feet adjusted and are almost fully back to normal, this might not work for everyones case but it did for me.

I had flat feet as a kid. And it caused me to walk with my feet / \ like that. So my parents got me custom shoes that forced the arch. They looked like Mary Jane's. I didn't like to use them cause the kids called them clown shoes and bullied me. Now I see them buying those shoes ._.

The problem is that regular shoes force our toes together, especially the big toe is forced inward and this will put the ligaments in their most extended position, always. The ligaments that connect from our toes (especially the big toe) are none flexible, this is the reason for heel spurs to form, the skeleton literally grows to shorten the length the ligament travels. If you'd look at people that never wore shoes you'd see that the toes naturally are stretched super wide, like "wow is that really how untouched feet look?". When we ruin the foot mechanism by using small toe boxes the arch collapses and our feet hit the ground with an inwards angle and the forces travel upwards to our knees which absorbs every step in an inwards angle and the result is that 80% of old people got joint problems. Having a bridge support will correct the angle of how the foot hits the ground, although those plastic hollow ones are pretty weak, they don't support a lot of weight. But a bridge support won't fix the problem neither, fixing the problem requires using the foot normally, being barefoot or in barefoot shoes but that's not always an option and requires quite a lot of determination as well. So bridge supports do work, but they don't fix the problem.

When you have flat feet

Well, I’ve had a foot doctor ever since I was about 11 because my feet are so flat they roll inward. I started getting knee, foot, and back pain that was terrible in 5th grade. Not very fun. Now for about the last decade I’ve been using custom molded inserts that are made for my feel not just shit bought off the shelves. Let me say, yes they absolutely do work and save me an unbelievable amount of pain. The ones on store shelves may not be very good, but if you’re paying 350 a pair for custom ones yeah they work out pretty damn fine.

I’m surprised that so many people don’t believe this. Just take off you shoes, and walk around by instinct in your home and you will feel the difference. For me, after I switched to barefoot shoes for running, ALL my knee feet back hip pain are gone.

Bro thinks he knows more than my pediatrist eith a phd

Orthopedic technician here, this may come as a surprise, but the foots arch is not made of bricks, but of bone, muscle and ligament structures. In passive correction insoles, this is exactly how the Medial arch is supported. In active correction insoles there is a much higher, harder and more concentrated support element because it works by loading or unloading tendons, which is registered by the body, which then adjusts the muscle tension to reach its "baselines" tension again, actively correctly the foots posture

Wow brilliant idea if I do that my knees will bend inwards and hurt again fuckign brilliant

I don't know what an arch is, I'm flat footed

As a flatfooted person that is not true. You should be ashamed. Why do spread misinformation? What do you gain

Jokes on you, my feet are flatter than a fucking duck’s

I've been wearing zero drop running shoes for over a decade. I'm usually trying to explain the wide box being necessary. Thanks for the video.

That’s what I have been feeling like I feel like my whole side of my foot has one pressure and it needs support on that side

I have flat feet and this is the dumbest shit ive ever heard Also dangerous advice for people who need real foot support like me

As a runner, I disagree. I used to have plantar fasciitis and it prevented me from running until I started investing in insoles. Now I run marathons and looking to do more Ultras.

i think my vans got my back

My feet are flat, as the bones/joints in many parts of my body tend to collapse (I have a genetic condition). I can assure you, the “arches” of my feet are not like grand Roman arches and are more like a rotting plank of wood hastily thrown across two rooftops.

If you put land under an arch bridge to support it then the bridge won’t collapse..?

Dude you're such a breath of fresh air in this industry of liars and frauds. Thanks for the free high-quality information as always ❤️

My feet arches literally do go flat though, so I need the support in the middle to even be able to walk anywhere. A 5min walk to the store would be slowed to 20min if I didn't have the arch support because of the pain in my lower legs. This short is ✨ bullshit ✨ dont listen to it. If arch supporting soles works for you and relieve pain, use them!!

I got wide feet, and tbh nike af1's are one of the most comfortable shoes ive ever had. Usually i wore flat sneakers (because wide feet and weight), but the af1 was a whole different experience. Not all nike shoes are crap

he also forgot to mention actual bridges do not flex like your foot arches do during the activity of walking or running

I'm not knowledgeable about this topic,but I trust my doctor more than some dude on youtube short. Also the whole "wide" shoe thing doesn't work with sports like football,basketball, or any other sport with alot of side movements.if the shoe is not tight enough,you are gonna be sliding in the shoe.

The weakest part of Arch is the user. I use Arch, by the way.

It feels like this vid implies that theres nothing wrong with your foot if its flat as long as you wear a shoe that is wide enough? Im not a doctor but this feels incorrect.

Bridges are also under immense stress at all times. But you know what is stronger than a bridge. If you took a bridge and supported the entirety of it from underneath, effectively just making a road, there isn’t any stress on it.

Flat feet gang

In a bridge, you load the top of the arch, and that force is distributed across the arch. In the foot arch, the forces are applied at the bases. How tf you think these systems are going to be comparable?

So basically: the best way to support your foots arch is to make sure all the load is on it, and using absolutely no support... Got it 👍👍

the problem: an arch brich is diffrent from a fcking foot maybe it looks similar but it's build completly diffrent

These "natural foot shoes' are massively overpriced.

Recently started walking in thin soled zero-drop "barefoot" shoes to strengthen my feet. Two weeks in I'm developing pain that feels like plantar fasciitis I had 3 years ago that only went away when I started wearing molded insoles. I think something that's missed here is that we live in concrete jungles now. We're not walking on grass & dirt in bare feet every day. Asphalt & concrete do not absorb any shock.

I swear to fucking god 30 percent of my shorts are wide toe videos from this guy

flat-footed people finding out that their foot is weak: ain't never gonna skip foot day no more

Chat steamrolled this man

That's great and all, but i wouldn't be caught dead in the shoes he recommends

If you haven’t studied how the foot works, then you shouldn’t be giving advice about it. Stay in your lane. You’re not a podiatrist.

Yeah no, I’m keeping the orthotics the hospital gave me so I can actually walk. The foot, ankle, knee, and back pain from going without them isn’t because of my shoe’s toe box. My toe boxes are plenty wide.

I don't have an existing arch lol

Some of the fastest runners in the world are actually isolated tribes. They are also barefoot runners too

Any doctor or therapist will tell you that “bracing” will weaken muscles over time and is highly situational; ex. Post surgical bracing, deloading* braces post sprain injury, etc. it’s a short term strategy. If you’ve been wearing “normal” shoes your whole life, then you’ve been bracing your foot for possibly DECADES. All of the muscles in your foot will be ridiculously weak in that case. You will need to start from the ground up with intrinsic and extrinsic muscle strengthening of the foot and ankle; flexor hallucis longus, abductor hallicus, tibialis posterior/anterior, and soleus. Toe spreaders can help with mobility, also, if your foot is rigid. Quit looking for a quick fix and get into a longer term solution that will provide great benefits for your feet, ankles, knees, hips, and lower back. Edit: Autocorrect correction of reloading to deloading

I'm flat footed on one side. I need a physical arch under my left foot, or else my body is uneven, leading to knee and hip pain over the years. The flat base would only make my condition worse...

I use arch btw

I don’t think it’s as simple as switching to wide toe box shoe as well as barefoot shoe. I tried to switch to barefoot but it just gave me achilles tendonitis which I’m still dealing with a couple months later

The arch supports I use actually helped me tremendously. I have extremely high arches and was in so much pain that I left my career for a desk job. I tried countless "high arch" supports but they were horrible. Then I found a certain brand that had really high, stiff plastic arches (along with a gel heel). Those arch supports saved my life! It's been a few years and I'm back to my regular job. My plantar fascitis is gone and my ankle pain disappeared. I'm terrified to go without them and risk being pain or increasing the size of my heel spurs. So when people try to tell me to wear archless, "barefoot" shoes, I'm like.... 😱 Nooooooo!!

Or squat with no shoes bcs i am broke af 😢😢

I am not an engineer nor a biologist but it seems very obvious the structure of the foot is not the same as an arched bridge

Not true, analogy doesn't work out

Aite well I can't even walk a kilometre without severe foot pain unless I'm wearing orthotics so I'ma keep doing that.

As someone with nearly completely flat feet I’ll say this is BS for certain foot types. You can’t strengthen a low arch. You can strengthen the calf and work on walking mechanics and barefoot shoes can help with that. I use barefoot shoes and while, yes, toe spread is very valuable for proprioception, the flat sole is not useful for a fallen arch unless you want to deal with stress fractures and chronic foot pain. It’s also true that shoe companies have overemphasized support as a way to sell cushion and new technologies. Folks with healthy feet don’t need an overly supportive shoe for their day to day life but giving out the advice “less support is better” is just irresponsible. Squat university videos do not replace proper medical analysis and intervention.

I was a valet for years. My feet hurt so bad after 2 weeks of very busy shifts. We stood/ ran/ jogged and picked things up (lifting luggage) all day. No sitting. I went to Walmart. Bought a Dr Scholl's pad (Bec the cheaper ones aren't worth it) and it completely removed the pain. I think both are good. Don't rely on a foreign object to keep your body together (like posture fixers) but don't dismiss them entirely. Do exercise that area and use therapy if needed.

Every logger, rural firefighter and lineman will call bs on you trash-talking arch support. A good leather or steel shank is king.

Sorry man, I’m gonna keep wearing my arch supports given to me by the hospital rather than listen to some random guy online

I've always found high arch support shoes to be horrobly painful.

What if you don't have a arch and have flat feet? 💀

so like this video is actually dangerous...

There is truth to the concept. I bought a pair of shoes from Vivo barefoot and have developed a more muscular arch over time. It has helped straighten my ankles and minimized interior tilting knees.

Not my feet. My feet are so flat even doctors get confused when they see them.

It is meant for people with low or no arch (no center nor sides of a “bridge”). It is really about the body’s biomechanics and skeletal alignment. Sure shoes with wider toe space no problem with that go for it + exercises, but if you try arch support and it relieves your pain or makes you function better then done hesitate

*laughs in years of wearing Altras and still needing arch support to not be in crippling pain after 1hr of walking* I'll keep my ability to walk all day, thanks, dingus. And before anyone asks, I spend at least 1/3 of my time on my feet barefoot, much more when I was younger. Never made a damn bit of difference. Stop giving medical advice like you're qualified to do so.

The point of insoles is to reduce pain and unnecesaary stress on your joints and knees when walking around all day long. They don't strengthen your natural arch and they never promised to do so... You can still try to strengthen your feet with special exercise, but you don't want to walk around with thin flat soled shoes without insoles if you already have severe problems and pain.... well unless you like pain and destroy your knees, hips, ankles, etc.

I started to wear arch support soles like first pic when I started working as a nursing assistant. But those soles made my feet hurt so bad 💀

Did you know that those type of foot support are meant to relieve the pressure from your arch, and it’s meant for people with foot pain who overwork their feet on flat surfaces without having the muscle tone? It’s meant to be paired with feet exercises and not to be worn forever. Wearing the right type of footwork is important, but is not a magic cure for every foot ailment. For people with a flat arch, or that need arch correction, the highest point of the support is under the end of the calcaneus, and all of the muscles of the fascia plantar is are left hanging free, so that they keep moving freely and working and developing. The sides of the foot are also supported with special shoes or foot soles . If you have chronic flat arches they are not going to magically cure if you walk barefoot. That said, flat arches are not a problem per se, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are going to have foot pain or other problems in the future.

I thought it was to make the arch for people with no arch not to support an existing arch

This doesn't make much sence, since if you don't have any arch, supporting it from the side wont do shit. You need arch support

Unfortunately, bi-lateral planter fasciitis makes me wear supportive insoles. And even if I started wearing barefoot shoes, the widespread part would still be that ball of my feet because I have massive bunions.

Personally I used to have flat feet and would often get cramps up until middle school, it may have been the my flat shoes I always wore that were hip and trendy because one day I got a cramp so bad I decided to buy an arched pair to see if I could alleviate any future pain, immediately on the coming days I had a lot fewer cramps and after a few physical therapy sessions my feet also regained their arch, now I can't remember my last foot cramp and have no difficulty wearing either flat or arched shoes.

Came here to say this sounded like pseudo science and I’m glad that people with the correct knowledge were already in the comments to prove me right

Arch support in my every day shoe is what gave me plantar fasciitis. It took me a long time to figure that out. Fortunately for me, I enjoy walking in vibram five fingers. And after I started wearing these as my regular shoes at the office, I got alot better after just a few weeks. I belive that these shoes helped to strengthen the bottom of my feet, and by doing so helped to fix my issue. If I get a new shoe with too much arch support, I either replace the offending insole with a flatter version, or add a heel spur/sole to counter the arch support.

hey I have trouble understanding the video I have a flat foot so should I get a flat sole for squating because all footwear I have are customized for my flat feet or should I squat bare foot

Kinda makes sense why lifting shoes are flat now doesnt it

My man is making me worry about shit I dont care about

Okay the only problem I had is my foot isn’t made of stone 😢.

arch supports help if you have flat feet by holding the foot in a normal position. in my case, my arches were collapsed and arch supports kept my foot upright, rather than letting them roll in on the arch, and this reduced my pain. being barefoot and wearing wide flat shoes hurt me more. for someone with good arches and normal foot structure arch supports can be unnecessary, but definitely not for the rest of us.

Lmfao 1. Flat shoes are the WORST thing you can wear for flat feet. And the image he shows is actually what is used... By doctors... Please do not listen to Google doctors.

Unless you have flat feet.

Very wrong. I have flat feet and work at a cafe for 8-12 hours. Those insoles with gel arch support took the pressure off the front of m my feet

People commenting "a foot isn't a bridge" as if that's the point of the video, he's only comparing the shape to simply point out the significance of foot structure and strength to a large demographic of people, so people don't think "arch support" is a solution (it's not it's a compensation))

All I know is wearing arch supports has always caused me a lot of pain. I don’t know why, it just does.

Theyve crippled all our feet and we should all sue

If an engineer could support the middle, he would. But usually there's a thing called cost and even sometimes they need a large under bridge space

The underlying issue is that all these people that go against orthoses and state muscle stretching and exercises should fix the problem is that our foot shape /positions is based on genetics that determine foot and leg shape. Some people have high arched feet some low arched and somewhere in the middle. Also feet may be out toed forward or slightly in toed due to tibia / femur development which will have an affect on foot posture.(Also bow legs knock knees) Then some of us are flexible and again will affect foot posture. One foot may collapse more (pronate) and cause a functional limb length difference, which can cause lower and upper back/ neck pain. Shin pain Achilles pain plantarfasciitis, anterior knee pain IT band pain trochanteric bursitis all caused by excessive pronation. And yes orthotics do work to help relieve these symptoms. How much does cost to see a chiropractor?, compared to bespoke foot orthoses? I have a pair of orthoses that are 14 years old and still doing the job!!

Fun fact: as a ballerina, getting on pointe requires all your toes to carry weight, not just the big toe. You also need the arch in your foot to help strengthen that. I have a flat foot, so I have to do extra strengthening but those flat shoes will actually help a lot with both the arch, and stretching your toes naturally