July - August 2012 (PDF Version) - New York Chiropractic College

Boots on the Ground,
Orthotics in the Boots
When setting out to prepare
a “Chiropractic and Natural
Healthcare in the Military”-
themed Transitions, we
were curious to know the
role orthotics played, or
may one day play, in the
lives of our men and women
in uniform. Accordingly,
we tossed the question to
Foot Levelers, an orthotics
company celebrating its 60 th
anniversary.
Not only do they clearly envision
a place for orthotics in the
military but they also tell how
an unfortunate happenstance involving
Foot Levelers founder, Dr. Monte Greenawalt,
and his efforts to join the military
wound up leading to the development of
the company’s highly regarded pelvic stabilizing
orthotics. Dr. Greenawalt signed
up to join the military during World War
II. A series of qualifying examinations
and physicals resulted in Dr. Greenawalt’s
having been administered contaminated
inoculations that wound up killing 150
people and leaving him paralyzed and
constrained to an iron lung for six months.
Doctors believed Dr. Greenawalt
would live the rest of his life as a paraplegic.
A chiropractor who felt otherwise
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successfully treated the young man. “They
carried him in and he walked out,” is how
Greenawalt’s mother put it.
Impressed with the results of chiropractic,
Greenawalt decided to become
a chiropractor. This, in turn, led him to
treat his patients with orthotics that he
invented. Though the orthotics were
made for the feet, they also were designed
to stabilize the body from the foot’s three
arches on up.
An Army Perspective
Rebecca Halstead, a retired U.S. Army
Brigadier General cognizant of the relationship
between a properly supported
body and optimal physical performance,
offered an Army perspective. She entered
the Army when very few women were
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serving, was issued men’s boots at West
Point that were much too large, and soon
found that the combination of ill-fitting
boots, 4-mile daily runs and 12-mile foot
marches in full gear, resulted in a condition
known as Achilles tendonitis. “When I
left the army, I could barely stand to have
anyone touch my feet, even the sheets on
my bed,” explains General Halstead. “My
feet ached all the time.”
Though a majority of junior enlisted
and mid-career non-commissioned officers
are on their feet 6-8 hours a day, the
feet are often neglected when the military
undertakes to equip its soldiers. “I would
probably have minimized my injuries and
had much less wear and tear on my body
if I wore orthotics while serving my country,”
said the general.