Educational Articles: Topics

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

The world of natural foot health is populated with many passionate individuals, practitioners and foot health advocates alike, who are working to increase awareness about the benefits of a more natural approach to feet, footwear, and foot health. In this article, we interview Anya Jensen, the dynamic founder of Anya's Reviews, to get a better sense of her personal foot health story,... Read more

Myths abound in the footwear industry, and many types of shoes that are purported to be “good for your feet” can actually lead to foot pain and problems. In this article, we take a closer look at clogs, a style of shoe that many believe promotes foot health but is, unfortunately, a common contributer to a variety of foot ills. Read on to learn all about clogs... Read more

The flip-flops discussion—are they healthy, are they not—seems to come up every year once the weather turns nice. There are wide-ranging opinions on the merits and pitfalls of flip-flops for foot health, and many healthcare professionals possess strong views on this ubiquitous warm weather footwear. In fact, the topic of flip-flops often generates a lot of controversy, seemingly out... Read more

Here’s a common scenario some of you may find yourself in: It’s been a few months since you last pulled on your athletic shoes, and you’ve been wearing conventional shoes at work that meet the office dress code but are kind of constricting. There is a big annual walking or running event coming up in the not-too-distant future that you... Read more

Dr. Robyn and I were reminded on a recent hike of the importance of wide toe box footwear and natural toe splay for foot comfort and injury prevention. The combination of Correct Toes toe spacers and men's and women's wide toe box footwear is extremely helpful in preventing the foot and knee problems that plague so many trekkers,... Read more

In this informative video, Dr. Ray McClanahan—a sports podiatrist at Northwest Foot and Ankle and the inventor of Correct Toes—discusses (and demonstrates!) a helpful manual technique for stretching and releasing the soft tissues associated with a bunion deformity. This technique can be used by healthcare providers for their patients, or it can be used by patients as a self-care technique at home. Here’s a quote from Dr. Ray... Read more

Using Correct Toes in combination with men's and women's foot-healthy footwear is one of the best strategies to help reverse or prevent bunions, but what else can you do in terms of tactics, techniques, and exercises to assist this process? This video takes a closer look at exactly this question and includes the following demonstrations: 1. How to manually straighten the big toe; 2. How to... Read more

In a lot of cases, people assume they are predisposed to developing bunions because their older relatives developed bunions. But it's impossible to state that bunions are hereditary if all the members of one's family have worn shoes with tapering toe boxes. Shoes with this injurious design element hold the big toe in a bunion configuration for prolonged periods and are the... Read more