Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett Forums General Mobility consequences of basketball shoes that don’t flex Re: Mobility consequences of basketball shoes that don’t flex

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AvatarNathan Richer
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Changing shoes is a tough endeavor, especially if you’ve been wearing the typical type of shoes that are out there today. Practically all of them have heels which tip you forward and way too narrow toe boxes which mash your feet together.  Then the cushioning aspect means that you lose some natural ability to absorb force and rely on the cushion to do it.  All of the stuff that Daniel Matrone has said appears.

However, to retrain yourself back can take a ton of time.  Remember that if you’ve been doing something for years, it could take that long to get yourself back to better situation.  This is similar to transition to barefoot running. Going from a heavily cushioned, heeled running shoe to a flat shoe with minimal cushion could lead to a host of transitional problems in your feet and lower legs.  This is something that should be approached slowly and carefully. It could mean that you need to limit your sport until you adapt.
If you are impatient and still want to play bball, it is likely that you may not be able to transition to such kinds of shoes quickly. It may be that you will still need to play in traditional shoes while you work on the other 23 hours of the day in low/no heel and low/no cushion situation to help with adaptation.