ARE SOFT SHOES BAD?

Question – Mr Muller, you make elastic springy products, shoes and mats, some people say that walking and standing on these products, that cushioning feeling is bad. Would you like to comment on that?

Answer – I assume that most people who say that don’t use our products. 98% of customers are totally impressed. So it can’t be such a bad thing. But it’s absolutely true, that purely soft material would certainly indulge the body so that it’s no longer being trained. Our materials are not primarily soft, but elastic springy. It’s like being on a trampoline and I have never heard anyone say that a trampoline is harmful for the body.

From a biomechanical point of view is complete nonsense. What’s particularly harmful for the body is the flat and hard floors that we see in everyday life. We do measurements and can also prove that they are huge impacts on our joints. We have high-resolution video footage that shows how the muscles are jolted on hard floors. The fascia become agglutinated and this causes many knee and hip problems.

Question – The theory goes for example that our bones need certain impacts. Take osteoporosis, if these impacts are absent, this encourages osteoporosis.

Answer – That’s a completely pointless study. I have heard about it several times. If it were true then everyone in the wheelchair would have osteoporosis, which is simply not the case. What we actually need is movement of the musculature and unfortunately, that doesn’t happen on flat hard floors. It’s mainly large muscles that are made to work in this case, but the rest of the fine muscles are not. In this sense, the study is completely pointless.

Question – So you are saying that movement on hard flat floors is bad, that you are better off sitting than moving in this way?

Answer – I am not saying that movement on hard flat floors is always bad. It makes sense to walk on hard floors now and again, but not for the whole day throughout your lifetime, that’s the problem. Sitting is, of course, the other problem. Sitting is a very dangerous posture, you can see it in older people when they become elderly, they more or less go into a sitting position because they have more or less taken on a shape of a chair.

Question – So can you guarantee Mr Muller that standing and walking on elastic springy floors is not harmful to health?

Answer – There are no guarantees in medicine. I am one of the 100,000 people who have been walking and standing on elastic springy materials for 20 years. I am 66 now and my body keeps getting better and I am becoming more mobile. I can ski, play football despite advanced osteoarthritis in the knee with the bone rubbing against bone. I am just one example that shows that it’s healthy. But there are 100,000 other people who have been able to avoid having operations.

Question –  Can you explain why standing and walking on elastic springy materials is healthy? Everywhere around us we have only hard floors.

Answer – People were not designed to walk on hard and flat floors but on natural surfaces. Natural surfaces can be quite different, most pleasant if walking barefoot on soft springy moss and loam that gives. Materials that cushion. That’s why kids love trampolining so much, the elastic springy movement is actually the trampolining movement. There is no doubt is the best and healthiest movement that people can do.

Question – So would you advise everyone to walk on elastic springy surfaces?

Answer – Yes definitely, because it is simply the healthiest movement that also relieves fascia agglutinations and keeps you mobile and pain-free for life, but you don’t always have to walk on elastic springy materials, it could be good to switch from one to the other. A study from Canada has shown that what’s healthiest for the body is what feels most pleasant. If you find elastic springy to be unpleasant for a day, an hour or certain period of time you should switch things up.