For many years, when a mother asked about what baby shoes should look like, or when they took their first steps, the answer was as firm as the characteristics of the shoes: "They must be boots, with laces to be able to hold them well to the foot or with three or four velcro straps so that they have good fixation. The ankle should be well secured and the sole should continue even towards the heel for added reinforcement. "
Come on, that the children had to wear practically prostheses attached to their feet to prevent strange movements and allow a stiff and rough walk. The curious thing is that now almost the opposite is recommended, and one of the clearest rules today is the following: baby shoes should not hold the ankle.
If you hold the ankle it will impair the development
The ankle is one of many joints of the body and, just as we do not put splints or supports on any of them, we also do not have to do it on the ankle. I do not know anyone who puts wristbands on their children to crawl, and see that they can crawl meters throughout a day. Not even knee pads, and that the knees are not made to go on them, if we think that in the future they will walk with their feet. However, when they finally support the feet, it turns out that we do not trust that the feet and ankles can perform their function perfectly and we put them a tremendously annoying support that also damages development.
The ankle is very mobile, very elastic, and should be gaining strength and muscle as it is used, but from freedom. If the function of the ankle, which is that of support and articulation of the foot, we bother it with a rigid boot, then it will not be able to do it well, because we will be limiting the movement, nor will it take enough force, since the boot is stealing from the ankle part of Your support function.
So, don't we buy boots?
A large part of the supply of footwear for children is boots. And in winter even more, they protect from cold or water. In addition, there are very nice and reminds us all of our childhood, when we mostly wore boots. Yes, you can buy boots, although not with the intention of holding the baby's foot, but because we want to be warm or because we like them.
If we buy them, we must take the precaution of don't tie the upper part tight so you leave that freedom to the ankle that you need, but do not leave it loose on the instep so that the boot does not dance (or that the foot does not dance inside the boot). If they are velcro, the same, the upper should be loose enough so that the ankle is not impaired in their mobility.
It seems a lie, huh? All my life thinking that the feet were best developed with a well-adjusted boot that controlled the mobility of the foot and now it turns out that it is best to give him freedom. The truth is that deep down it has logic: how the hell would our ancestors do when rigid boots did not exist? Did they tie sticks and reeds to children at the feet so that they had little mobility? It seems unbelievable, right?
