Can Reflexology Shoes Improve Your Focus?

It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

No question/request too big or small 😎

❝What about shoes with insoles for reflexology, like the new ones with neuroscience claims. Are they legit?❞

First, a disclaimer-laden answer: probably by “legit” you mean “do they work to improve brain function?”, but it’s hard to uncouple “legit” from “legitimate” in the litigious sense. So, we will say, we are but a humble health science publication, and cannot comment on the legality of any company’s products or claims.

We can comment on more concrete scientific questions though, such as: does the evidence support claims that such shoes improve brain function?

In which case, the answer is: no

What you have to bear in mind is how a lot of companies will make claims that are technically true (for legal reasons) but functionally meaningless (in any practical sense that most readers would read it).

For example, let’s look at one such example that’s been making headlines lately, perhaps it’s even what you saw. It’s Nike’s new “neuroscience-based footwear”, which they describe with such statements as:

Nike is launching a new type of shoe designed to help athletes lock in their mindset pre- and post-competition.

The Mind 001 and Mind 002 are the first neuroscience-based footwear from Nike that tap into the mind-body connection by activating sensory receptors in the feet.

Nike is introducing its first neuroscience-based footwear: two mind-altering silhouettes designed to help athletes lock in their mindset before and after competition. Scientifically shown to activate key sensory areas of the brain via underfoot stimulation, the Nike Mind 001 mule and Mind 002 sneaker deepen an athlete’s awareness, helping ground them in their bodies and bring them back to the present moment.

Source: Nike Debuts its First Neuroscience-Based Footwear to Help Athletes Feel Calm, Focused and Present

These sound like strong claims, but let’s break it down a little:

designed to help athletes lock in their mindset pre- and post-competition

When this writer was small, she designed a pair of shoes to help her walk on water (there were shoe-sized pieces of wood attached under them, on the basis that wood floats).

Were they designed to help our intrepid writer to walk on water? Yes, they were. That was literally what they were designed to do.

Did they actually enable her to walk on water? No, they did not.

So, always watch out for such phrases as “designed to”, “intended to”, “aimed at helping”, and so forth.

Now, as for…

Scientifically shown to activate key sensory areas of the brain via underfoot stimulation

That’s a fair claim! But it’s also not what it might seem like. The reality is, anything that you can experience will activate key sensory areas in the brain. If it didn’t, then you wouldn’t experience it, because how could you, if it didn’t activate the relevant sensory areas in your brain?

And so on, with various other true claims.

Can they help anything?

Yes! Shoes are very relevant things for our health.

For example, shoes with “zero-drop”, i.e. with no incline/decline, and the inside sole of the foot is parallel to the floor (so, not like the featured image for this article, which are by no means high heels, but you can see the heel is raised more than the toes, and there’s a gradient between the two, as is common in most “flat” shoes that aren’t really flat), support good foot health for most people, and foot health is indeed the foundation of a lot of other good health, much like if your car tires are bad, the rest of your car won’t stay in good condition for long.

We wrote about the zero-drop issue here: Steps For Keeping Your Feet A Healthy Foundation

…which is consistent with such science as: Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners

However, some other things are less evidence-based, for example:

Are Grounding Mats Grounded In Good Science?

…and:

Reflexology: What The Science Says

Want to learn more?

You might also like:

The Foot Book – by Dr. Todd Brennan & Dr. Leslie Johnston

Take care!