One way mainstream shoes greatly affect your health is to tightly control your foot’s ability to splay. Shoes literally bind your feet to keep them in a pointed position, and it’s not good for any part of you.
With the transition to minimalist footwear, your toes now have freedom, but after years or decades of tight footwear, they may not know how to use it. And use it you should, because a natural foot with the toes being the widest point is more stable and effective for everything you do.
One way to help develop or regain this ability is to actively work on your splay, and there are numerous ways to go about that. It will really benefit you to help your feet into more natural positions, to be less stiff, to be more splayed, to increase blood flow, and so much more with the use of different materials and techniques for toe separation.
This post originally appeared on Instagram but has been expanded for the blog. Check out this post for a look at 7 different toe spreader options.
Happy Feet Socks: These are not for walking around in but rather used for rest periods or during floor exercises where there is no weight-bearing involved. They come in different sizes and colors and need an adjustment period following the instructions that come with them. I personally sleep in them most or all of the night. They are available directly from their website (sometimes with sales) or also on Amazon (affiliate link).
Vibram Five Fingers: There are a million different models of VFFs that will keep your toes in a more natural position and actively encourage your feet to adjust to making their own splay. The required adjustment period depends on how far you are from your target. Check out this post for a solid introductory look and the best places to get them.
Correct Toes: These are the top-of-the-line toe spreaders. They are intended for active use and created by a podiatrist to be healthy for you and not harmful. The cost of them pays contributes to funding the educational resources available on the Correct Toes website. They can be worn with or without socks, but I have a bit of a finger-toe issue, so I find they stay on better with socks.
You: If you don’t have any of the above tools and don’t want them you can get a lot of benefit by just spending a little bit of time shaking hands with your feet, or using a wound sock, or other materials lying around to get some passive splay. If your feet have been cooped up in tight shoes for years they likely have impeded blood flow in addition to the appearance and muscular changes, and you will see benefit from simply giving them time to spread. Be careful with this as it’s very possible to over-splay your toes and do harm. Here is one Yoga practitioner’s method.
And related to that, here’s a look at Correct Toes versus an off-market brand called Relax Tony.
If you look at the Correct Toes you can see a very natural splay, but check out how far my toes are pushed in the off-brand. They are also made with a smaller profile, making it easy to lose your fit, they have very thick posts, and the wrap-around design squeezes the toes.
This is not to say that Correct Toes is the only option. Several other splay options are available, including this option from Earthrunners (use OWBSHOES10 for a discount) and Wild Toes from The Foot Collective. There also numerous other options on Amazon. I have not personally tried anything but what’s listed so cannot give any first-hand thoughts.