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Choose
to Move: Journal #4
Aug. 20, 2002
There’s
always an excuse for not exercising, but this week I
really had no excuse.
I walked with my walking partner for three days, but
after that I let my social life get in the way. Like
I said, there is no excuse — but I had a great weekend!
Now I’m trying to get back into the swing of things
and am starting the week out right by walking. This
week I truly won’t have any excuse for not making time
because I’m taking a few days off from work. Maybe I
can find time to swim in my sister’s pool again. That
was a great workout.
But in the meantime, walking seems to be the most convenient
exercise for me.
At the last Choose to Move meeting, Patrick Calhoun,
a physical therapist from the Sitrin Family of Services,
spoke to us about proper footwear. After listening to
him, I decided my $70 sneakers were well worth the investment.
Calhoun said proper footwear is the most important and
the most neglected part of exercise. He compared it
to the tires of a car: You can wreck your car with bad
tires and you can wreck your body with bad sneakers.
Footwear, he said, can be used to fix the flaws we might
have in the way we walk. He suggested we have a professional
look at an old pair of sneakers so they can analyze
our gaits. He spoke of a magazine called Road Runner
Sports, that offers that type of service. Once the shoe
is analyzed, the magazine helps you select five or six
sneakers that are appropriate for your foot. Anyone
interested can visit the Web site at (www.roadrunnersports.com)
or call (800) 551-5558.
Calhoun had other tips for buying sneakers:
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Buy shoes at the end of the day because our feet are
the most swollen at that time. Then when you wear
them earlier in the day, they will fit better.
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There should be between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch between
the longest toe and the top of the toe box of the
shoe.
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It is important to get a toe box that is wide enough
— that can prevent bunions and discomfort for your
feet.
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Replace footwear frequently because the inside of
the shoe breaks down. They should be replaced on average
about every six months for walkers and three months
for runners.
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Heavy runners need to replace sneakers even more frequently.
They should keep track of their miles and replace
the sneakers when they reach between 400 and 600 miles.
If it’s too difficult to track the miles, you can
figure about 100 miles per month.
Calhoun said we really need to be more concerned with
the function of the shoe rather than how it looks. Someone
joked that they’d only wear black sneakers. He had a
great comeback — something to think about:
“Vanity
has to disappear when it comes to health.”
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