Educational Articles: Natural Foot Care Origins

As a sports podiatrist, I use natural approaches to address common foot, ankle, and lower extremity problems. However, the foot health approach I use in my office today differs markedly from how I practiced after I graduated from Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine (now Temple University) in 1995. My education, including my two-year podiatric surgical residency at Legacy Health Systems and Kaiser Permanente in Portland, Oregon, taught... Read more

Natural Footgear is a one-stop shop for all your natural foot health needs. We offer in one place all the gear you need to realize lasting foot health, and we are committed to sharing the information and approaches that we’ve found most beneficial for ourselves, our customers, and our former patients. At Natural Footgear, we take the approach that the... Read more

This is the first installment in what will be an ongoing series of articles examining classic research studies in the field of natural foot form and function. Many of the articles that will be reviewed here were published in reputable journals that still exist today. Many of these studies, which range in size and design, were published over 40, 50, 60, or, in this case, 100 years... Read more

This is the second installment in our ongoing series in which we examine foot-related research studies published many decades ago. This study, conducted by Earl T. Engle and Dudley J. Morton, is called “Notes on Foot Disorders Among Natives of the Belgian Congo” and was published in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery in 1931. The researchers were part of an Africa expedition sponsored by Columbia... Read more

This is the third installment in our ongoing series in which we examine foot-related research studies published many decades ago. This study, conducted by Clifford S. James, is called “Footprints and Feet of Natives of the Solomon Islands” and was published in The Lancet in 1939. The researcher, James, worked in the Solomon Islands region for over a decade. This study was conducted out of the Melanesian... Read more

This video introduces Dr. Ray McClanahan, a leader in conservative foot care treatments, the inventor of Correct Toes, and our personal mentor. In this clip, Dr. Ray discusses his personal journey as a healthcare provider and the reasons why he adopted a more natural approach to foot care. This video also identifies the footwear features that cause or contribute to numerous toe, foot, ankle, and lower extremity... Read more

When we set out on this journey so many years ago, we scarcely imagined—though we certainly hoped, at least in the backs of our minds—that we’d be coming to you today with news of Natural Footgear’s 10th anniversary. But here we are, in late March 2022, 10 wonderful years into our mission, and we thought it might be fun... Read more

The natural foot health revolution is here. Increasing numbers of people are liberating their feet from the shackles of conventional footwear and realizing the benefits of more minimalist footwear. For the first time ever, footgear is now available to consumers that supports and respects the brilliant design of the human foot and helps correct toe deformities caused by years of inappropriate footwear use. We are rediscovering our... Read more