Hi everyone,

Given the responses it kicked off last year here in the newsgroups, I
would like to annually address the biomechanical effects of shoes on
human degenerative diseases.  Most people still think the idea stinks.
Yet it seems to me that shoes on the feet are like germs on the hands.

Chiropodist Dr. Simon J. Wikler pioneered efforts to understand the
influences of shoes in the 1950's, but his work was neglected during
the subsequent drug-and-diet-based approaches to medicine.  However,
the prolific footwear historian and podiatrist Dr. William A. Rossi
clearly demonstrated throughout his publications that shoes influence
the posture of the human body.  Therefore, coupled with the
posture-based approaches to medicine of the distinguished orthopedist
Dr. Joel E. Goldthwait, I have expanded Dr. Wikler's insightful work to
include a variety of illnesses and conditions whose cause remains
unknown.

Alzheimer's disease is just one example of diseases that seem to be
related to the use of footwear, especially since it affects women
disproportionately more than men.  Women's footwear is more physically
deforming to the feet because of higher heels, pointier toes, and
smaller sizes, but any shoe might have a more deforming effect on the
lighter build of a woman's body.  Even the first clinical case,
presenting to Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1901, was a woman called "Auguste
D." who was born on May 16, 1850, during the last year that shoes were
made completely by hand.  Isaac Singer's sewing machine of 1851 made
modern shoes widely available for the first time in the history of
mankind.  The second clinical case of what became known as Alzheimer's
disease was a man, "Johann F." born about a year later on March 8,
1853.  Both "Auguste D." and "Johann F." were among the first children
growing up in the modern manufactured shoe era.

You may find my thesis on shoes and disease at
http://www.shoebusters.com on the Internet.  My outlined treatment
involves removing the cause; regularly applying a contrast bath--or
more descriptively, an alternate cold-hot footbath--to maintain
flexibility in the feet; barefoot walking to maintain strength in the
feet, resorting to wide-toed, soft-soled moccasins if necessary; and
getting plenty of rest.

Depending on age, footwear habits, and daily demands, a 20-minute daily
walk, supplemented by a 20-minute contrast footbath every third or
fourth day (about twice a week), could actually be sufficient to
control or prevent many common conditions, but the regimen should be
used as the foundation for any other therapy, which may provide further
relief of symptoms if necessary.

Thank you very much for any questions, discussion, or feetback.
the barefoot loafer,
  James Semmel