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SHL promotes foot wellness, offers shoes with built-in insoles for haj pilgrims
Around 20 percent of each batch of haj pilgrims are flat-footed or have the pes planus deformity, which means they are likely to walk slower and become more easily exhausted.
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Medical rehabilitation specialist and director of Haj Hospital Indonesia Syarief Hasan Lutfie and daughter Larisa Sabrina hold up SHL shoes. (JP/Muthi Kautsar)
T
he long walks that haj pilgrims have to endure naturally came to the attention of Syarief Hasan Lutfie, a doctor specializing in medical rehabilitation who is also director of the Jakarta Haj hospital.
As prime physical condition is essential for pilgrims to complete their required acts of worship, possible health problems must be anticipated. Among the problems that may arise is muscular fatigue, which begins with problematic feet and affects the back.
Syarief, who conducted research on the shape of Indonesian pilgrims’ feet, found that around 20 percent of each batch of pilgrims are flat-footed or have the pes planus deformity, which means they are likely to walk slower and become more easily exhausted.
He explains that normally, there is a gap beneath the inner part of a person’s foot when he or she stands that makes a slight arch. A flat foot has a very low or no arch at all, placing the foot flat on the ground.
When a person walks, the movement of their foot begins with the heel landing, followed by the whole sole stepping on the ground and then a “toe-off”, when the weight shifts to the toes and the heel is lifted. If a person has flat feet, the most weight will likely shift to the big toe, causing instability that leads to blisters, sores and eventually muscular fatigue as mentioned above, especially after a long walk.
“We have been observing [Indonesian] haj pilgrims and we feel that shoes with built-in insoles will help them in long walks,” Syarief said during a press gathering in Plataran Menteng, Central Jakarta.
Syarief worked on manufacturing the shoes with built-in insoles for haj when undergoing his post-doctoral program at Keio University Hospital in Tokyo in 2011-2012.
