Podiatrist · Specialist in Biomechanics · Founder of VOLKAN
"Biomechanics is not about finding the right answer for everyone. It seeks to understand what each person needs to adapt better."
"What is the best footwear?"
It is one of the questions I get asked the most.
And also one of the hardest to answer.
Because most expect to hear a name.
A brand.
A model.
A technology.
However, my answer almost always starts the same.
—It depends.
Not because I want to avoid the question.
But because that is, many times, the most honest answer in biomechanics.
It depends on who you are.
On how you move.
On what you’ve done over the last few years.
On your goals.
On your previous injuries.
On the terrain.
On the time you spend walking.
On the moment your body is in.
The organism never responds solely to the stimulus.
It responds to the stimulus… and to who receives it.
The same load never means the same
Imagine two people.
Both cover ten kilometers.
The same route.
The same speed.
The same footwear.
They seem to have made exactly the same effort.
But one finishes with energy.
The other develops tendinitis.
What has changed?
Not the route.
The organism has changed.
The muscle capacity.
The quality of rest.
The previous experience.
The adaptation of the tissues.
The coordination.
The recovery.
Even the stress level.
The load does not exist in isolation.
There is always a relationship between the load and the organism's ability to take it on.
The context is also part of the treatment.
For many years, medicine focused mainly on finding the injured structure.
Today we still need to explore the tissues.
But we know that they rarely tell the whole story.
The same injury can evolve very differently in two people.
Because no one comes to a consultation being only a foot.
Or a knee.
Or a back.
Each patient brings with them a story.
A job.
A family.
A level of activity.
A way to sleep.
Some concerns.
Some expectations.
And all of this modifies the way the organism responds.
Not because the body and mind are two separate worlds.
But because they never have been.
Adapting does not mean doing the same as another person.
We live surrounded by recommendations.
The training that works for a friend.
The insole that relieved a colleague.
The exercise that someone saw on the internet.
All of it can be useful.
But copying a solution without understanding the problem rarely offers good results.
What helped another person may not be what your body needs right now.
Not because your body is worse.
Simply because it is different.
And the difference is not a defect.
It is a characteristic of all biological systems.
What does this have to do with barefoot?
A lot.
Often two opposing discourses appear.
Some claim that everyone should use minimalist footwear.
Others argue exactly the opposite.
My clinical experience has taught me that none of those statements does justice to reality.
There are people who gain great benefits.
Others need a very slow transition.
And some, for different reasons, may require other strategies.
Barefoot is not an identity.
It is a tool.
And, like any tool, its usefulness depends on the context and the person using it.
The important question is never:
"Is barefoot good?"
The real question is:
"Is it suitable for this person, at this moment, and with this goal?"
What I see every day in consultation
One of the greatest satisfactions of my job comes when a patient stops comparing themselves.
When they understand that they don't need to walk like someone else.
Nor run like her.
Nor use exactly the same treatment.
They start to listen to their own body.
To understand their rhythms.
Their limits.
Their capacity for adaptation.
That change typically marks a before and after.
Because they stop chasing a universal solution and start building a personal solution.
And that is usually the most effective.
What you can do starting today
The next time you read a recommendation about health or movement, ask yourself a question before putting it into practice.
Who was that recommendation valid for?
And then add another.
Does that person really resemble me?
Learning to ask good questions is one of the best tools for taking care of the body.
Because understanding the context is often more useful than seeking universal answers.
🔬 In a sentence
The effectiveness of any intervention depends as much on the stimulus as on the person receiving it.
The most important idea
Biomechanics does not consist of classifying movements as correct or incorrect.
It consists of understanding the relationship between a person, a load, and a context.
That’s why the most effective treatment is not usually the most modern.
Not even the most expensive.
Not even the most popular.
It tends to be the one that best adapts to the needs of the organism we have in front of us.
There are no standard people.
And, precisely for that reason, there shouldn't be standard solutions either.
A question to reflect on
Think about all the health and exercise advice you have received in the last few years.
How many were really meant for you… and how many were general recommendations applied as if we were all the same?
In the next article…
Throughout the blog, we have repeated the word adaptation.
But we still haven't answered a fundamental question.
How does the body know when it should adapt… and when it should protect itself?
Why do some loads generate improvement and others trigger pain?
Why can the same stimulus strengthen a tissue one day and overload it the next?
In the next chapter, we will talk about one of the most important principles of all biology: the equilibrium between adaptation and protection.
We will discover that the organism is constantly negotiating between two objectives that sometimes seem opposite: to change to become more capable… and to protect itself to remain viable.