For years, I have battled back and foot pain, trying countless orthotics and supportive shoes. Specialists insisted flat feet were just something to accept. But what if that wasn’t true?

This blog marks my turning point—questioning my beliefs about my feet. It’s a journey of frustration and progress after feeling stuck.

If you’ve faced foot pain and ineffective solutions, this is for you.

The First Warning – Back Pain

When I was younger, I assumed I just had flat feet and had was live with it for the rest of my life. At 13, I was diagnosed with scoliosis, and that’s when I first started to understand that everything is connected.

My flat feet weren’t just a foot issue—they were likely contributing to my back pain too.

The only thing I was ever told?

Flat feet are permanent. Can’t be fixed. So the "solution" was orthotics and arch support, for life. For the next 15 years, my pattern looked like this:

Pain flares up → I go to physio → no real improvement → prescribed orthotics → pain eases → I stop using them → repeat.

I built my life around managing pain instead of addressing the root cause.

Foot Myth I Used to Believe #1:
Flat feet are permanent—and you just have to live with it

The truth I wish I’d known sooner? Flat feet aren’t always permanent. With the right exercises and footwear, I could actually strengthen and reshape the way my feet moved and worked. That mindset shift changed everything.

Then Came the Foot Pain

In 2022, things got worse. A brutal, sharp pain suddenly appeared in the ball of my right foot. I thought it was a minor injury, so I rested. But after two weeks, it was still there.

A few months late, I could barely walk awithout putting pressure on the foot. I also had complete numbess under the toe. A doctor suspected a stress fracture. X-rays ruled that out.

So off I went to a podiatrist. Who diagnosed me with tight calves and flat feet, which he believed were overloading the front of my foot and compressing nerves. His plan:

Dry needling to loosen up the calves
Daily calf stretches
Golf ball rolling on the sole of my foot
A switch to 2E-width shoes
Custom orthotics that cost me $300 (again!)

At first, the knowledge of tight calves felt like a breakthrough. The sharp pain eased. I could walk again.

But the numbness in my toe? Still there.

And the podiatrist had no idea why.

Managing the orthotics became a full-time job. Swapping them between shoes, avoiding barefoot moments—it was exhausting. But I doubled down: I upgraded all my shoes to 2E widths, convinced this was the key.

Foot Myth I Used to Believe #2:
I needed 2E size shoes to give my feet more space

The Turning Point

I felt stuck. Pain was creeping back in. Toe still numb. No clear path.

Then two things happened:

1. A YouTube Rabbit Hole: I found a short video about Morton’s Neuroma (think, thickening of tissue in the nerve of the foot).

The symptoms hit home:

🔥 Burning or tingling in the ball of the foot

😶 Numbness & narrowness in the toes (especially between the 3rd and 4th)

🪨 Feeling like a pebble is stuck under your foot

No doctor had ever mentioned this. Yet it described me perfectly.

A quick look down confirmed it: my 3rd and 4th toes were way too close together.

toes meurtons neuroma — Thats my toes fully splayed out. Not the 3/4th toes on the right foot.

2. A Friend’s Book Recommendation: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.

The book explores how a hidden tribe of ultra-runners in Mexico run incredible distances injury-free—often barefoot—and challenges everything we think we know about running shoes and form.

Suddenly, I had a new plan. Barefoot shoes.

Here is a super high level overview of barefoot shoes for those that don’t know

Barefoot shoes are designed to mimic the foots natural movement

Foot Myth I Used to Believe #3:
Barefoot shoes = problem solved

After a week of wearing them for just a few hours a day, my feet still hurt.

I thought I’d cracked the code. I hadn’t. What had I missed

Turns out, barefoot shoes are a tool—not a magic fix. I had to do the work too.

What's Next: Disarming the Myths

My journey didn’t end here—this was just the beginning. I had to unlearn years of bad habits, myths, and one-size-fits-all solutions about foot health.

In Part 2, I’ll break down: