If you wear Nike Shox to train in, whether running or any sport, you might as well be wearing a pair of women’s high heels. When you elevate the heel or restrict range of motion at the ankle, via a certain pair of shoes or by athletic tape, you lose range of motion in the ankle joint and prevent dorsiflexion at the ankle (an essential movement needed for increased sports performance, especially in sprinting). Over time, elevating the heel will cause of lose of flexibility and mobility at the ankle joint which in turn makes your body compensate for that lack of mobility by turning the foot outward and internally rotating your legs to make up for the lack of mobility in your ankles. This is why you see a lot of people and athletes walking and doing activities with their toes slightly pointed outward.
Constant elevation of the heel also leads to lack of external rotation of the hip which in turn is why so many females let their knees fall inward when they are in a squat, lunge, or deadlift exercise and puts them at risk for tearing their ACL during sports movements. Increasing posterior chain strength (hamstings and glutes) can counteract this problem, but elevate the heels and excess stress is placed on the quadriceps without the hamstrings and glutes being recruited. So you think the problems stop there, losing ankle mobility is a chain reaction that leads to lack of mobility in the hip which in turn leads to lack of mobility in the lower back (lumbar spine). You will also see this in some gyms where coaches will allows their athletes to elevate their heels with a weight while squatting. This leads to the same problems that shox or high heels lead to.
So the take home message here is that poor ankle mobility that is caused by shoes such as Nike Shox, high-heels, and excessive ankle taping can cause a numerous amount of problems going up your kinetic chain (feet to head).
So how do you fix these problems? First off, get rid of your Nike Shox, any high heels, or any excessive restriction that occurs at the ankle such as taping. Next, when training or running, buy a pair of shoes that puts you in closer contact with the ground. If you are lifting weights, buy Chuck Taylors, wrestling shoes, or go barefoot if allowed.
