Below, Dr. Milica McDowell and Dr. Courtney Conley share five key insights from their new book, Walk: Rediscover the Most Natural Way to Boost Your Health and Longevity―One Step at a Time.
Milica is the founder of Clearwater Physical Therapy, Bluebird Medical Supply Company, and co-founder of Epic Fitness, 4C Sports Injury Analytics, and CrossFit Send It. She was a university faculty member in Human Performance for nearly a decade, has developed numerous medical education curricula, and has presented on many national stages, including the American Physical Therapy Association and the American College of Sports Medicine conventions.
Courtney is the founder and creator of Gait Happens and has worked with professional athletic teams, including the Phoenix Suns, New York Yankees, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers, and Minnesota Vikings. She is Head of Patient Care at Total Health Solutions and Total Health Performance. As an internationally recognized authority on foot mechanics and gait dynamics, she has a private client list that includes numerous professional athletes, A-list celebrities, global experts in medical care, and politicians.
What’s the big idea?
Walking and foot health are fundamental to overall health—not optional fitness habits. Unfortunately, modern lifestyles and footwear are weakening the body systems evolutionary design for regular movement.
Listen to the audio version of this Book Bite—read by the authors—in the Next Big Idea App, or buy the book.
1. Walking is a physiological necessity.
We’ve spent millions of years becoming bipeds, yet we have reduced one of our birthrights to just another form of exercise, or a number on a fitness tracker.
Walking is not exercise at all. It defines us as human beings and is equally important as breathing and sleeping. Every major system in the body is built around the expectation that we will walk often, and over long distances.
2. Your body flourishes with low-intensity locomotion.
Walking nourishes joints, loads bones, activates muscles, and adapts tissues through repetitive, sub-maximal stress. It regulates glucose uptake, insulin sensitivity, and lipid metabolism. The calf, often called the body’s second heart, pumps blood and lymphatic fluid back toward the torso when you walk. Sit too much, and the entire system quietly deteriorates.
The average American takes fewer than 5,000 steps a day. Time and modern convenience explain some of it, but one of the most overlooked culprits is foot pain. One in three Americans will experience significant foot pain in their lifetime, and no other musculoskeletal complaint stops a person in their tracks quite like it.
3. Toe strength is one of the most powerful predictors of falls as we age.
The big toe alone should produce at least 10 percent of body weight in force. When it can’t, compensation travels upward, and patients arrive at our clinics with back, hip, and knee pain that began in the foot.
The good news: foot and toe muscles can be trained like any other muscle group, and six consistent months in minimal footwear can improve foot strength by up to 60 percent.
With four layers of intrinsic muscles designed to handle two to three times your body weight with every step, your foot does not need over-engineered, hyper-cushioned shoes to prop it up. It needs strength.
4. The 10,000-step rule is a myth.
One of the biggest misconceptions in wellness culture originated from a 1960s Japanese pedometer marketing campaign tied to the Tokyo Olympics. The character for “10,000” resembles a walking figure, and it was the ceiling the device could count to before resetting.
The research is far more encouraging.
A 2022 JAMA study found that just 3,900 steps a day reduces dementia risk by 25 percent, and 5,000 steps lowers cancer risk. By 5,500 steps, depressive symptoms begin easing up—and at 7,500 steps, the lifetime risk of depression drops measurably.
Moving from 2,500 to 3,500 steps reduces all-cause mortality by 15 percent.
5. Roughly 60 percent of people are wearing the wrong shoes.
More specifically, most people are wearing the wrong shape.
The widest part of a shoe should match the widest part of the foot and the toes, not the ball. Tapered toe boxes are not good for your feet or your overall health. Motion control, arch support, and thick cushioning feel easier in the moment, but they fail to train the intrinsic muscles, and the arch becomes dependent on the technology.
Consider a transition from conventional footwear to functional shoes, and then maybe go so far as to wear truly minimal ones. This way, you can make sure that your feet can carry you over the distances they were designed for.
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