Going barefoot is one of life’s most wonderful experiences so I do it every minute I can. It’s become part of who I am. Indoors I’m barefoot all year long regardless of the weather outside. In warmer times I go barefoot exclusively. Taking a walk, driving my car, visiting a friend etc. Whenever and wherever. The one exception is if I go into a store, though I’ve done that several times and am working on doing that more regularly. For those that find it odd or disturbing (I’ve encountered such people), I say the issue is theirs not mine. What’s wrong with doing something that brings me great pleasure while posing no harm whatsoever to anyone or anything? Poor misguided folks. They should live and let live!
4
I don't hate shoes but I love not wearing them. We have a rather large lawn which I mow barefoot with a walk behind mower and every step is a sensory delight. I appreciate all the different textures I can feel: the grass, coolness of the ground under the trees, all of it that I would miss with shoes on. I also enjoy walking our golden retriever in the neighborhood while barefoot. It just feels good, and I am aware of the practical benefits as well. Just do it!
2
For as long as I can remember I have detested shoes. It was in the 80's when listening to Danny Kaye on a San Francisco tv show where he was talking about the space shoes he wore that I began to look at more earthy shoes that would be akin to walking barefoot.
Have owned Earth Shoes and still have 20 year old Birkenstocks that I get re-soled and re-corked as needed.
Being vegan/plant based has me looking for non leather footwear. But for now I wear the two pairs of non leather FitKicks Women's Non-Slip Sole Active Footwear I own which feel like I am barefoot.
1
@Beth Grant DeRoos
Those "Fitkicks" look very comfortable and similar to two pairs of men's minimalist shoes that I own. Only, they seem more geared toward indoor events. My shoes are soled for outdoors, even though I actually bought them to run on the treadmill. This year is the first time I'm actually using the shoes on hard ground. So far, it's been going ok but I did have a lot of calf aches after a downhill run.
It's fun for me to try different things and use different leg muscles. So, I started running and walking barefoot. I've done 3 runs so far, 1-3 miles each, and it's definitely interesting. I feel like I can go a lot longer but I'm getting some feedback from my right ankle so I'm holding back. I'm already an everyday runner with a forefoot stride so I didn't have to adjust that but, still, having no cushioning at all is somewhat shocking.
Special problem with this practice is that it to appears unhygienic. I don't want to be putting my neighbors off. So far, my runs in the park have been at dawn, at dusk, and in the rain- the least crowded times. Today, I ran in the afternoon so I dug out my "Minimus" shoes which I haven't used in many months. They're kind of like ballet slippers and a good compromise. This article has helped me to try this.
@Ron A
I did a few more barefoot runs in the park and, while they're fun, I'm going to have to give them up. There's no issue while I'm running but a few hours later my ankle stiffens up and throbs. It's more than just fatigue. I'm not interested in creating an issue where there's none now. I may do barefoot runs in the future but only occasionally and less laps.
“Born to walk barefoot” by Gretchen Reynolds
This article interested me this week because I’ve always heard walking barefoot is better for you in general but I thought this article would provide some helpful insight as to why it’s better than wearing shoes. Studies show that barefoot walkers and runners move differently when they have bare feet due to the different sensitivity to the ground that walking or running barefoot offers. Studies also show that the deep calluses that you get from being barefoot all the time, is very beneficial in the long run as it helps with pain tolerance to the ground with bare feet. To test these theories further, a biologist from Harvard went to Kenya and compared people that had worn shoes for life and people that have been barefoot all their lives. He tested the skin and calluses on their feet, which showed that the cushioning on the shoes absorbed the force that the people with bare-feet’s calluses absorbed. These studies all show that wearing shoes sops up some pounding during a walk or run, although they also alter our strides and could increase pressure and wear our joints over time. This article is helpful to me because as a 2 season runner, I never run barefoot and I wanted to see if it’s something that I should move to. After reading this article I may try to start off slow by walking barefoot and then move to running because I want to start to reap the benefits of bare feet, and see if it helps me perform better in my running seasons.
@Adam Thomson
Other studies have found that all that cushioning in modern athletic shoes might be doing more damage than good. When running, if you're wearing shoes, you tend to land on your heel, often with an outstretched knee. That means that the shock is being transmitted to your knees and hips. Children that grow up barefoot and experienced barefoot runners land on their whole foot with knees bent.
One caveat for anyone thinking of starting running barefoot, is to start slow, until you unlearn the bad habits from running with shoes.
Also, one of the worst things you can do for your children is not letting them go barefoot. Besides the fact that enclosed shoes alter the development of the foot's musculo-skeletal system, some studies sugest that children that go barefoot, not only at home, have better immune systems. Up until the mid-20th century, it was not unusual for children in many parts of the U.S. to attend school barefoot and maybe wear shoes on Sundays and special occasions. In other countries, like South Africa and New Zealand, elementary school children regularly attend school barefoot. In South Africa, they even play Rugby barefoot.
If, for some reason going, barefoot is not an option, I would recommend some type of minimalist shoe, with a "zero rise" heel. There are several brands out there. They'll bill themselves as minimalist, or "barefoot", shoes. Of course, nothing beats actually going barefoot.
From reading all the comments here, I get the impression that most people are not aware that there are thousands of people in the U.S. and other parts of the world who have made the informed decision to live their lives never wearing shoes, or to wear them only when they have absolutely no other choice, such as being required in their employment.
The organization Society for Barefoot Living has been in existence for 25 years and is the original and primary source of information for anyone interested in this lifestyle or just curious about what barefooting is all about and why we do it.
Another good source of information on barefoot living is my own blog, Born to Live Barefoot.
The sites for both of these resources can easily be found with an internet search.
6
People have known this stuff for a long time. There was a man named Paul Collins, who was a teacher of the Alexander Technique the Canadian National Marathon Champion in the early 1950's. He also represented Canada in the 1952 Olympics. He said that one should "buy the cheapest running shoes possible and then rip out all the cushioning". This was so you could feel the ground.
Our postural support system is designed to work with gravity and the nerves in our feet send messages to our postural support muscles in the spine to send us upright. When our feet are exposed to the ground we are getting that message more clearly and our entire body "goes up" in response to gravity - which also helps reduce the downward pressure onto the joints.
2
This article put a lot of conruitosty and therefore interests because it relates to the human body. I have always been fascinated by the human body and how it works. I love learning about the system and how it copes with the world. This article caught my eye because it was about being barefoot, which I find very amusing. As a kid, I loved being barefoot. I loved going outside feeling the grass and mud between my toes or the hard concrete sighty scratching the bottoms of my feet. Being barefoot made me feel like being in the wild or more rural areas of the world. It also made me feel grateful to have shoes, always having Vans and Converse, and how some people in the world don’t have shoes. That always made me sad, because it some parts of the world can be very harsh, and where sometimes shoes are a necessity. Being barefoot always calmed me down, I like going to the doctor and seeing that board with all the pressure points and certain areas of the feet the lead to another part of the body. That was so cool to me. I loved going to the beach and feeling hot sand, then splashing into cold water on my feet. In my opinion, shoes are needed, being barefoot should be a choice, no one should have to suffer the harsh earth on the feet, no feet should have to take such a burden. For example, people with back problems need a good shoe, because they need to arch support for their back. I believe that all shoes should have an arch support cause back problems are HUGE in the USA.
"Born to Walk Barefoot"
This article brings up a great point for debate as to whether or not technology makes humans weaker. Though the everyday item of shoes may not be considered as technology in the modern-day, it is indeed a human innovation designed to assist us. However, much like other technological innovations, we humans tend to rely much more on them than our natural given talents. The individuals who do not wear shoes certainly have stronger feet than the individuals who do wear shoes. The claim that somebody should avoid wearing shoes at all would be ludicrous, as they are an essential part of life, but we should consider walking barefoot at times, such as when we are at home. There are certainly benefits of walking barefoot that cannot be obtained through wearing shoes, such as large tough calluses as mentioned in the article. The study also identifies that people who have concerns about their balance or their knees but not their pedicures should consider sometimes walking barefoot, a detailed but interesting find that intrigues those who have those problems. Regardless, we should walk barefoot at times because of the experience it brings to us.
1
@Jacky Wu
I agree with almost everything you wrote, except when you refer to avoiding wearing shoes at all as being ludicrous. Shoes are not, as you wrote, an essential part of life. I am living proof of that. I have lived without shoes at all for the last 17 years, and that has not stopped me from doing everything that shoe wearers normally do - shop, eat out, travel, doctor appointments (I was recently in the hospital for shoulder surgery - no shoes or socks there either). Being barefoot 24/7 can indeed be done if one really wants to and is determined. It's unusual, yes, but that's all it is. And my feet are very strong and healthy.
4
I had a spinal cord injury 50 years ago which left me with, among other things, permanently very weak muscles in my feet. At the time they tried to get me walking in heavy oxfords, but I switched to, and still wear shoes with very thin soles. These maximize the use of those muscles which, weak as they are, are still important in my sense of what is under me and my balance. I go barefoot as much as I can; it makes my feet happy.
When my daughter was learning to walk I remembered those nasty white shoes we had as little kids, and most of the time when she had to wear shoes she wore thin Chinese cotton mary janes. People asked me why she wasn't wearing sneakers and I said because I wanted her foot and toe muscles to have as much freedom to move as possible.
1
You go ahead and walk barefoot, I'll pass. If anything alters my stride it's the pain and discomfort of stepping on something, even something small without shoes on my very sensitive soles.
Not to mention, having worked in a hospital, I've seen far too many people end up losing a limb due to an infection that started with just a small cut or nick, or even just a simple cracked callus.
2
There are quite a few untruths in this article that could only have come from drawing upon "common knowledge" rather than facts. I've been going barefoot for 2 years now, since I turned 70, to improve my proprioception (the awareness of our extremities that we lose by wearing shoes). I regained that and reversed an arch problem (no doubt caused by shoes) that had me wearing orthotics in all my shoes, running, dancing, walking, for 40 years... gone in 6 months. I run barefoot several miles a week, feels great. My feet are not leathery or callused. What happens is that the joints of our feet awaken, unstiffen and learn to move, rising as we walk over gravel and such things, which eventually becomes quite pleasant. Or you can grow older, lose your sense of balance, need to stare down at your feet to step tenuously off a curb... no thank you. I love going barefoot. And there are NO state laws banning it anywhere nor any health codes against it either. When people imply my bare feet might be unsanitary I ask them when the last time was that they washed their shoes.
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@takestu2tango Very interesting. You should share your experience with peasants in third world countries who go bare foot their entire life. I've met a few. Their gait is anything but elastic, sprightly, youthful. If anything, they suffer from deformities on their feet and the bottom of which are very leathery. I saw them remove with nonchalance thorns that would have pierced my shoes. They seemed unaware of their luck.
1
@takestu2tango so wonderful - I enjoy barefoot walking, whenever I can.
1
I was born with feet flat as pancakes. While I actually like walking barefoot, my knees and hips feel it when I do so for too long. Callouses have nothing to do with it.
Were any of the volunteers flat-footed?
2
@Sasha Golden Interesting. I am a high-arched barefooter, as often as I can go barefoot. I kid my husband, a flatfooter who can hardly stand going barefoot to the bathroom at night. He has old-age knee problems; I, with autoimmune joint problems he lacks, am doing fine on the knee front. (Neither of us has hip problems -- yet!)
1
@Sasha Golden I run barefoot because I am a flat footer. if I run or walk with shoes for long like 8 miles and above, I feel strain in my arches.
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@Tran Trong
When i was active duty in the Air Force, I quickly found out that the only running shoes that didn't give me shin splints were the $20 Reeboks. The more expensive shoes always gave me shin splints.
First off, there isn't much science referenced in the article. The publication referenced was mostly about sensitivity. All the stuff about benefits of going without shoes and problems relating to using shoes was pretty much speculation. This seems to be one of those areas where folks are putting forward not simply a hypothesis to test, but a belief to support. I would also point out that our early ancestors who hunted barefoot were not hunting on hard wood floors, paved roads, or concrete sidewalks.
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@Gary Brownell
There are many parts of Africa where the ground can be as hard as concrete, particularly in the dry season. The human body adapts to its environment. One thing is sure. A lot of foot ailments can be attributed to the constant wear of shoes while growing up. Shoes atrophy the muscles that support the arch of the foot. In growing children, they also affects the shape of the foot, particularly closed toe shoes. All those orthotics, cushioning, and arch support can actually make things worse.
The human foot is a marvellous creation that was never designed to live inside sophisticated footwear. This I discovered after nearly a lifetime of foot problems such as sprains, plantar fasciitis, and blisters in spite of expensive supportive and cushioned shoes and experiments with orthotics. After reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall I switched to Vibram Five Fingers minimalist footwear. That was 10 years ago and after a lengthy “break in” period whereby my feet and leg muscles had to develop and adapt to “barefoot” experience I have not had any recurrence of any foot, knee, hip or low back issues. I am physically active and wear this minimal footwear for all activities such as running, hiking, and walking and attribute the success to the fact that my feet are not restricted by the footwear allowing for the feet to interact with the ground exactly the way nature intended. I am now 70 and consider my feet the best functioning part of my body whereas previously they were not even in the running. Pardon the pun.
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@Luk Brown
Hi, I just started wearing Vibram Fivefingers. May I ask how long before the balls of your feet stopped hurting after runs? Also my lower back feels super tight, so I’m wondering if my stride is off in my Vibrams.
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@Patricia
I found vibram 5 fingers modified my stride. Rather than landing on the heels I would land on the front of my feet and use my achilles tendon and calf muscles cushion the shock of landing. It does take getting used to, as the muscles and tendons have to develop in order to carry your weight, as do the calf muscles. But overall the shock of striking the ground is much lower on the ankles and knees that way, and almost non existent on the heels.
This may just be speculation on my part concerning your stride, but are you landing on your heels rather than the front of your feet?
1
Oops it seems I misread! Regardless, I don't remember any discomfort from the change of stride lasting very long, and in any case less than 2 weeks.
I used to wear slippers indoors like it was my religion (so cozy!) but noticed that it was affecting my overall foot health. I was even getting a bunion--this in my late 20's/early 30's. I stopped wearing slippers. I wear socks if my feet are cold. I always go barefoot or wear socks in the house, and out of the house I wear shoes that have arch support but otherwise very minimal soles through which I can feel the ground, and wide toeboxes. The bunion has stopped getting worse and is maybe even reversing itself.
3
If going barefoot means more calluses, count me out. As it is I spend a few minutes a few times a week soaking my feet and using a pumice stone to grind down my cracked, dry soles.
I would never walk barefoot outside. Too much risk of stubbing a toe, stepping on a bee, glass, or other dangerous object. And so DIRTY! Do you wash your feet as soon as you walk inside or do you just track whatever you pick up on your feet into the house and on your furniture? Gross.
Inside I wear slippers. I find going barefoot too slippery inside and just too much risk of a toe-stub.
As others have pointed out, the risk of not having impacts when walking on joints is bone density, a particular issue for women.
I cringe when I see people going barefoot outdoors. Too risky, no benefit.
4
I have a different hypothesis about the connection between shoes and joint pain. I discovered some years ago that my knees felt better when I wore only socks at home. Walking from point of interest to point of interest in my condo requires frequent sharp turns. In socks, I make such turns effortlessly, pivoting naturally on the balls of my feet. My hypothesis is that sneakers and other rubber-soled shoes put some strain on my knees since they do not pivot so easily. I wonder if anyone else has had the same experience?
1
We wear shoes for one reason: Hook Worm.
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@nycminerals
The chances of people living in the United States or any country that has modern sewage systems getting hookworm from going barefoot are zero.
I have a blog entitled Born to Live Barefoot. A few months ago, I wrote an article about hookworm that you can read here: https://borntolivebarefoot.org/bare-feet-are-unlikely-to-get-a-hookworm-infection/
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the world was a much different place when people started walking upright
Most footwear has been causing foot deformation (especially bunions) for decades. In the name of "style", putting on most footwear is akin to squeezing a square into a circle. Properly designed footwear should be narrow at the heel and splay out to a wide toebox. Good luck finding footwear actually shaped as I just described.
See below for an example of how modern footwear deforms your feet compared with a healthy naturally shaped foot:
https://naturalfootgear.com/pages/foot-anatomy-101
3
I've been fortunate to not yet have had foot problems I'm 57). I am almost always barefoot in the house, or with socks or slippers. Outdoors, I usually wear sneakers or sandals. Sometimes I will wear my flat-soled moccasins, which provide some protection from the elements but allow my feet to move more naturally. I never EVER wore stiletto heels; I am sure those do more damage than walking barefoot could ever do! Ban high heels; they are form of violence against women!
8
fifteen years ago I one day decided to jog barefoot on a very nice turf track; all good until after two days I started feeling the most excruciating pain. Turned out my feet, without the restrain from shoes they were used to, expanded, stretching my tendons so that I developed a chronic tendinitis, which to this day comes and goes, paralizing my life for weeks at a time. Worst mistake ever made! Not saying everybody will go through the same ordeal... just a cautionary tale.
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@Hector
I'm very sorry to hear that. But it wasn't the jogging barefoot that caused the problem; it was the years of wearing shoes that severely weakened your feet.
Had you started just walking barefoot, and for very short distances at a time, every few days for several weeks or a month - and then gradually began running very short distances - I doubt you would have had that problem.
People need to realize that shoes are tremendously damaging to feet, causing atrophy and weakness when worn over a period of years. Suddenly starting to go barefoot after that without a period of conditioning will definitely cause even more problems.
15
Use common sense. Walk barefoot at the beach, around the house and yard, on forest paths, etc. Wear shoes going into town, hiking in rocky mountains, walking on gravel, riding escalators, walking among large crowds, etc.
Everything in moderation.
10
I’m not comfortable going barefoot outside but Inside always. I also wear handmade thin mocs for running on treadmills and doing calisthenics. Since switching from running shoes a decade ago, my joints no longer hurt.
4
In the early 1970's, I spent a few months traveling through the Andes and the Amazon in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. At that time most of the indiginas were effectively outside the money economy. Their clothes were homespun and very few wore even sandals. Their feet looked very different than westerner's. Wide, with prehensile toes and thick calluses. They grew up that way, walking and climbing on rough, uneven surfaces, and using their toes to help make stuff. I have met westerners who have forsaken shoes as adults without any problems; they swear by it. But I still think this article is comparing apples to oranges.
2
This study seems deeply flawed. Would like to see more attention paid to the development of the experiment. Just a few of the problems I saw: 1. Use of a treadmill to draw conclusions about walking on other surfaces. 2. Limited duration of the study...what happens after hours/days/months/years of wearing no shoes? 3. What kind of vertical drop did the shoes have? Were there different stride effects when different types shoes were supplied? 4. It is a logical error to suggest that footwear determines stride form. Over-striding can be easily corrected if you just pay attention to how you walk.
2
This study seems deeply flawed. Would like to see more attention paid to the development of the experiment. Just a few of the problems I saw: 1. Use of a treadmill to draw conclusions about walking on other surfaces. 2. Limited duration of the study...what happens after hours/days/months/years of wearing no shoes? 3. What kind of vertical drop did the shoes have? Were there different stride effects when different types shoes were supplied? 4. It is a logical error to suggest that footwear determines stride form. Over-striding can be easily corrected if you just pay attention to how you walk.
1
Poofy slipper socks indoors. Happy medium. Keeps floors a little cleaner, too.
4
I started having pain in my feet both on the bottoms and the tops, a number of years ago. I went to a podiatrist and was told by her that after age 40 no one should go barefoot anymore, including walking around the house. I was surprised to hear this. She said that the padding on the bottoms of our feet wears away with age and walking barefoot puts too much pressure on bones, ligaments and muscles in the feet. She suggested wearing something like Croc sandals around the house. I have followed her advice since and find that when I wear the sandals, my feet feel better and when I don't, the pain returns. It may be true that walking barefoot is better for your leg and hip joints, but maybe not for your feet. I also question the merit in having hard callouses on your feet. Callouses can crack and bleed and cause other problems. I'm going to keep wearing my supportive shoes and my sandals indoors!
4
@Jeanne
What you were told by your podiatrist was ridiculous, but not all that surprising. The vast majority of podiatrists in this country have never studied the feet of long-time or full-time barefooters or have ever had a real barefooter as a patient (since barefooters almost never have any foot problems). All podiatrists know or have had any experience with are people who have worn shoes all their lives. And the only solutions they know to foot problems are usually to just wear different shoes. Going barefoot as a solution to foot problems is totally out of their experience, training, or expertise.
Most likely your problem was caused by your feet having been weakened from years of shoe-wearing. Continuing to cushion them in your house with any type of shoes does not get to the cause of your problem, but only prolongs it.
Calluses naturally formed from going barefoot regularly are not hard at all. They are soft and resilient and help protect the soles from rough or sharp objects on the ground. But it does take time for them to build up properly, usually months, which is why someone who has worn shoes all their life can't expect to be able to walk barefoot on rough surfaces comfortably for a while.
5
@Jeanne I agree with you. Resilient shoes are more necessary as we age. I have never had any problem with my feet, but I notice if I walk barefoot I miss the springiness that good running shoes provide and the bracing effect of well-tied laces. After a while my knees and lower back start bothering me, even if my feet never do.
2
@Kriss My calluses crack and bleed. Happened first back in my twenties. Any trick to keeping them soft?
2
I must be the only person who stubs toes walking barefoot in the house. If I even neglect to put on slippers for a very short time I am sure to end up with stubbed toes. The worst is getting toes caught by a wire chair leg. Aside from that, I am surprised no other comment mentions having been advised to wear very hard-soled shoes due to foot injury.
4
Modern Man (& Woman) no longer run over the Savannah hunting animals. While I believe that improper footwear (high heels, flip-flops & the like) can be harmful to feet & joints. Suddenly ditching your shoes will alter the structure of the foot & ankle of an individual who has worn shoes their entire life will likely cause problems. As an Athletic Trainer, I treated runners who jumped on the barefoot bandwagon & suffered for it.
It is the 21st century & we are no longer in the Wild, wear the appropriate footwear for your activity.
7
Thing is, where is wearing shoes optional? Even at the beach, the sand can be excessively hot and gritty with crushed shells, not to mention flotsam and litter. Exercise classes and running on the TMs at my gym all require shoes. And, in the city streets there is no question I'm wearing shoes. So, that only leaves my house. Regardless of any benefits, with or without shoes, there's not much choice. Best to come to terms with a comfortable of shoes.
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@Ron A
Wearing shoes is optional almost everywhere. I know this for a fact since I haven't worn shoes or any footwear at all in 17 years. I go everywhere barefoot (including city streets, stores, restaurants, medical facilities, etc.) and almost never have a problem or issue with doing that.
There is no logical reason why anyone would ever need to have their feet covered by shoes or other footwear, with the exception of certain conditions that would immediately or very quickly cause injury or damage, such as extreme weather conditions, caustic chemicals, fire, or similar conditions. And those are the only situations where some some foot coverings might actually be necessary.
5
@Kriss How does that play at work?
2
@Jane Smith
Good question. For me personally, I'm retired, so don't have to worry about work. During my working years though, I was required to closed-toe wear shoes every day. As a result, my feet got severely damaged, necessitating several surgeries to correct some problems. Since being able to go barefoot full-time for the last 17 years, all my foot problems have cleared up. My feet are now the strongest and healthiest part of my body.
Unfortunately, very few people have the luxury of being employed and being able to remain barefoot as well. Best and healthiest thing to do in those situations is to be barefoot all the time outside of work. That's what I used to do.
1
I did once have a horrible injury while being barefoot. I stepped on a small stingray in the Gulf of Mexico. The water was not transparent that day but had strong, sand filled surf. I felt it flap and realized immediately my mistake. I tried to leap away but was not quick enough and it stabbed me right between the toes. This is a very tender spot on the human body and the pain was terrible. I had to go to the ranger station for help and it hurt for several months. An injected toxin sticks around. I do still go in the ocean barefoot as I don't think that those flimsy mesh water shoes would have helped much.
2
At a minimum, don’t wear street shoes in your home. It’s a filthy and disgusting habit that’s all to common in the west. I’ve seen people climb into beds with their shoes on. Gross!
10
I walk around barefoot--in our apartment.
4
I'm surprised the author didn't reference the famous podiatry documentary "Die Hard". Narrator Bruce Willis wonderfully demonstrates the benefits and dangers of going barefoot.
7
I've been wearing Vivobarefoot shoes for years -- they're great.
5
I thought this topic got beaten to death several years ago in the flurry of "barefoot running" promotions? That mostly lead people to get injured when they switched from standard running shoes to the more "natural" ones.
This doesn't seem to present new information I haven't seen elsewhere. And none of the actual data is presented. How many people were in this study? Why Kenyans?
8
@crystal wrote: "Why Kenyans?"
Precisely! You have to look long and hard to find someone wearing shoes in Southern India. And that is a much larger sample.
@crystal
Hooray! Count me one as one of those who started barefoot jogging from those promotions too...those five finger shoes. One of the worse mistakes as my feet started hurting very soon.... about 3 weeks after. I quickly stopped. After much stretching,resting and eventually going back to my original jogging shoes, the pain which was symptomatic of the condition plantar fasciitis finally subsided after about a year later. Thank God!
The extrapolation of calluses on Kenyan barefoot walker to Western lifestyle is highly problematic for many reasons. I am a barefoot runner for the last 7 years or so and have no calluses. In fact the skin on the foot gets a free pedicure during a run. Dead skins cells are left on the ground! Why I or any Westerner barefoot walker or runner will never get any calluses is because unlike Kenyans we live in carpeted or tiled or wood floor houses that don't give any calluses. Run or walk outside is very limited not exceeding 5-6 hours in a week.
6
Walking around barefoot in modern America doesn't make any sense to me---you're almost always walking on unnaturally hard surfaces. However, stiff sneakers and shoes with thick heels don't make anatomical sense, either. I've been wearing Vivobarefoot shoes for over 10 years. All of the knee pain I was having back then has disappeared. Anecdotal, I know, but putting your feet in what amount to orthopedic casts doesn't strike me as healthy. Imagine wearing stiff, sneaker-like mittens on your hands your whole life! You'd lose most of your tactile sense of the world. I like feeling the ground.
8
I wear shoes outside but hate them.
All my life, the first thing I do when I come home is take off my shoes.
I worry about injuring my feet outside and also about dirt and infection.
But why anyone wears shoes in their own home is a mystery to me.
If there's a heaven, everyone is barefoot there.
12
Before our forebears hunted live prey on the open savanna, they scavenged. The first sign of a dead animal lying out in the open is the vulture circling overhead. Next, the hyenas and wild dogs arrive from downwind of the corpse, drawn by the smell.
Furthermore, from the relative safety of their woodlands' edges, other bands of fit young hominid males, eager for fresh meat, are scanning the skies for vultures.
So, when your band's sharp-eyed spotter spies the first vulture circling some miles off, your band had better run out to the meat quickly, and drag the corpse back to the forest, before the rival scavengers arrive.
2
I am just shy of my 65th birthday. I have been running on trails barefoot for the past 4 years. I recently moved to AZ and was happy to find that there are trails I can run barefoot here too. And, I am expecting barefoot trail running to be an all season activity. My feet on the trail at dawn, the dance over varied trail surfaces, each step different than the last, is all a delight to me.
Pretty much everyone thinks I am crazy, but I have read the science and I know my own experience. When I was a boy, we went shoeless all summer long. I am reclaiming a bit of that youthful joy. Slow, but game, barefoot in the Sonoran desert!
12
At 77+ years of age, I still go barefoot at every opportunity - even in snow if the temperature is close to freezing. Earlier this summer, I felt something prickly underfoot when I was standing near our pasture fence. I knelt down, pawed through the grass, and found that I'd stood on a piece of barbed wire...
The one concession I make is wearing boots when I go caving.
3
I lived in Nepal for three years in the early ‘70s in a mountain village. Nearly everyone walked barefoot, often carrying heavy loads. The village was about a 5 hour walk from the nearest road.
Everyone had thick callouses on their feet, men, women, and children. I learned to walk in bare feet too, and after about a year developed quarter-inch callouses. No harm done at all.
12
A bone density scan should have been part of this study.
17
One of the best running experiences for me is jogging barefoot along a sandy beach. But shoes have evolved to protect from injury and help us where going barefoot would be objectively dangerous or impossible - think about mountain climbing, or playing basketball or soccer, for example. Also I believe that jogging barefoot on the hard surfaces of the “civilized world” cannot be healthy - the lack of cushioning would surely have a negative impact on joints.
6
@Andy fifteen years ago I one day decided to jog barefoot on a very nice turf track; all good until after two days I started feeling the most excruciating pain. Turned out my feet, without the restrain from shoes they were used to, expanded, stretching my tendons so that I developed a chronic tendinitis, which to this day comes and goes, paralizing my life for weeks at a time. Worst mistake ever made!
My solutionon has been to exercise and work in different shoes. I switch around wearing shoes that are balanced differently. If I don't, sometimes my knees can hurt and then pain moves into hips.
It is better to work out my feet and legs differently by changing the mechanics of shoes.
4
I was a serious barefoot runner about 10 years ago when barefoot running came out as a niche sport. I’d run everywhere barefoot, including in a Marathon. The good thing is that your feet develop strong muscles where your body had no idea that they even could exist. However, a few years ago I abandoned the practice because I started to get knee pain. I changed back to running shoes, and voila, the knee pain subsided. So I am meanwhile skeptical about barefoot running. Seems to be that it may cause a lot of unwanted joint depreciation. 40,000 years ago it did not matter, because your average life expectancy was anyway quite short. Today it’s different.
18
@Tom Mix Life expectancy was short because infant mortality was high. If you made it to adulthood, you had nearly as good a chance at a long life as we do today. Perhaps running barefoot on pavement is the primary difference for your knee pain, something our prehistoric ancestors would not have done.
Ticks ? Hookworms ?
8
@Newfie
Glass, metal, plastic? Tetanus anyone?
6
Doing Pilates and yoga in bare feet has helped with my balance and done wonders for my bunion. Running in my zero drop shoes is revelatory!
5
Walking barefoot on the earth is, and should be thought of as, a spiritual experience.
5
Limited. study... squishy tennis shoes which I have always hated… Boots preferably similar to cowboy boats and with leather soles ; Birkenstock type or Mephisto sandals..
This study needs to be redone. BTW much as I deplore super high heels, they often do improve posture for the person wearing them -- like a ballet dancers walking on her toes.. more or less.
3
@Auntie Mame
Ballet pointe shoes are flat. Rising up onto your toes using the muscles of your feet, legs, and core is very different from being propped up on high heels. Most people wearing high heels have horribly unhealthy postures-- pelvis slung forward, weakened glutes, exaggerate lumbar and thoracic curves.
9
I feel so validated. The first thing I do when I get home is take off my shoes. The last thing I do before I leave is put them on.
15
This all seems like a lovely idea for people with correctly formed feet and arches, ankles and knees. For those of us with structural foot issues, the idea, and even brief experience, of walking or running in bare feet without support and cushioning of shoes is painful to contemplate. Doubly so for doing those activities on hard unforgiving surfaces such as are found in most urban and suburban areas.
Without question, humans evolved with walking and running on relatively soft earth most of the time, not artificial surfaces made of stone-like materials.
There is also a lot of evidence that during the long period when humans put some covering on their feet, but before the advent of hard materials to support motorized transport and urbanization, we walked differently. Medieval-and-earlier shoes were for the most part a form of leather sock, with no structured soles or heels. Reconstruction of peoples' gaits show that we humans walked differently then. Basically, the walk put the ball of the foot down first, then the heel, rather than the current motion of heel down first then ball of foot that people wearing soled shoes tend to do. This is excluding the distortions of gait from higher heeled shoes, which is unnatural for any wearer.
Interestingly, the ball-heel gait results in much more robustly developed calf, ankle, and foot muscles than what happens with the heel-ball gait. Contemporary paintings and drawings from those times show the difference in development.
20
@Joe Watters
Unfortunately, there are a number of videos and articles on the internet and other sources where the narrator or writer claims that when walking barefoot you should never heel strike. This is erroneous and misleading information. An initial heel contact (heel strike) when stepping with bare feet is a normal, natural gait. It's the way the human foot is designed. Many animals do walk on their forefeet or toes. But we are humans. Humans walk on two feet, not four, and their feet are designed in a plantigrade configuration, which has a heel that functions as the beginning point for a normal step, not an ending point.
This is further substantiated by observing the walking gaits of remote indigenous tribes that have never worn shoes in their lives. On relatively smooth ground, they always walk with an initial heel contact.
As to humans walking in medieval and earlier times, there is no evidence whatsoever that they walked with any gait other than a natural initial heel contact. Speculation of something different based only on the fact that footwear at the time had no built up heels, or observing a few crude drawings, lacks any logical reasoning. In fact, there is substantial evidence of a natural initial heel contact being used when walking by humans throughout history, including prehistoric times.
12
I am 58 and in New York City we did not wear footwear most of the summer. It was so hard every school year to go back to shoes! There were exceptions. We wore shoes to the park because in the 60’s and 70’s they were full of broken glass and worse, we had nice shoes for church, and to the beach we wore flip flops because the sand was so hot and there was a lot more of it to get through back then before hitting the water. But the rest of the time - and we were outside all the time - nothing. I am always amazed to read articles like this that don’t mention how recently barefoot was the norm, even in the big city.
19
This is so unsurprising! I have always loved walking barefoot and have always hated most shoes. I wear them as infrequently as possible. I am in my mid-60s and my balance is excellent. Unlike many of my friends, I do not suffer from hammer toes. I never wore pointy-toed shoes and high heels. Several years ago, I discovered vibram five finger shoes. They are not pretty; yet they make it possible to walk for miles as if you were barefoot while protecting the soles of your feet from pebbles, bees and other nasty stuff. Call me an aging hippie, but women, in particular, have been slaves of fashion throughout history. I am happy to see that someone has attempted to prove scientifically what is so intuitively logical.
23
@Jane Welsh
I too am an aging hippie, as I walk barefoot as often as I can, no matter what the temperatures are outside. I used to run barefoot through our woods when I was younger. I loved it. Maybe I am lucky, but I never had anything bad happen to my feet while I was running or even walking without shoes--no hookworms or gashes, just a good sense of balance. When I'm barefoot, I feel so much more stable, love feeling the textures of the ground, and yet I love shoes--that is, when they are on other people. Maybe they are simply too confining to me; I dunno. I just prefer that my toes and soles remain freer to experience where I am going. Thanks for helping me feel that there are others in our culture with similar positive preferences about going barefoot.
6
@Jane Welsh
I have hammertoe in my little toes, something to do with genes the doctor said because I’ve never worn high heels or uncomfortable shoes. I also get toe pain in the winter from clomping around icy sidewalks in crampons and big, ugly winter boots rated to -70. Last year, frustrated with the pain and discomfort, I started wearing toe socks (and easy to slip into flip flops when necestart). I even wear the toe socks inside my winter boots. The relief they give my feet is amazing. I’ve been wearing them on the rower and stationary bike at the gym and am now looking at barefoot running shoes for the treadmill, where my feet need a bit more padding than toe socks can offer.
3
@Jane Welsh - I too discovered Vibram Five Finger shoes some years ago. I wear them in the gym and occasionally at home. People stop me in the gym constantly and ask about them, but so far I've only seen one other person wear them. To me they answer the concerns of all the folks who worry about stepping on sharp, risky or unhygenic things, without also imposing all the limits shoes have.
2
Any orthopedist that I have been to has told me that the worst thing that I can do at home is walk around barefoot. Their reason was lack of support for the foot.
This has always confused me so I still go barefoot at home.
12
I never undertood why podiatrists and sometimes orthopdists say that our feet need artificial support and cant function without
Are there any other animals that need supporting footwear ? And regading our musculoskeletal system, we are animals
6
@Kat
Feet only need "support" when they have been weakened and deformed by bad shoes that push the toes out of alignment.
1
If you want to read a wonderful book look up The Barefoot Sisters Walking Home - memoir of their hike on the Appalachian Trail barefoot. The AT barefoot! All those rocks, roots and twigs. Who needs those $395 Danner leather boots?
6
I take off my shoes at every opportunity I have. There's nothing better than the feeling of the ground under your feet.
13
People should be aware there is a health risk to walking/running barefoot in certain tropical and subtropical regions. Certain nematode parasites exist as larva in soil and will penetrate the skin of the feet migrating to the lung eventually maturing into adult worms which set up residence in the intestine. For obvious reasons this is not a good thing.
17
And what do you do with those feet that are flat and pronate inward? Walking barefoot for any length of time with pronation and shallow groove for the kneecap can cause painful dislocation of the kneecap. Shoes with the proper arch support or insoles keep these knees properly aligned and prevents patellar dislocation.
9
@Libby I'm one of those people - severe pronation and knock-kneed (when my feet face forward, my kneecaps turn inward) to boot. I went barefoot or with minimally cushioned shoes (Keds and the like) as a child, but often had knee and hip pain with running and other sports. When I started college, my cross-country couch sent me to a podiatrist who put me in custom orthotics and recommended maximum cushion in my shoes. At 57, I've now been running 44 years with no major injuries from running (an occasional muscle tear or bout of tendinitis), and a recent Xray showed I have zero arthritis in my knees and hips, and only a trace in my lower back. I am on my second pair of custom orthotics for running, and wear my originals in any shoes or boots that they'll fit in. Walking barefoot or in minimally cushioned shoes for long lengths of time gives me knee and hip pain, so I avoid it.
4
There is so much more to say about this... how did those feet get to be that way? You can’t go Cold Turkey Barefoot without hurting yourself. It would take some intermediate stages to prevent problems you are foreseeing. I’d recommend Katy Bowman’s book: Whole Body Barefoot. She is a biomechanic and she is the best on this topic!
2
@MariaHolland You're born that way. My parents had the option of putting corrective braces on my feet but thought that would be cruel on an infant. It's actually an accepted practice. Instead I have flat, pronated feet that can't tolerate being barefoot or in lightweight shoes. I always wear shoes, indoors, even. For most people, I can believe barefoot works, but not me.
1
I would never go barefoot or even wear sandals. Too many used syringes laying around.
6
I think I would have to consider relocating from a city like that! JS
7
Hookworm. An estimated 576-740 million people in the world are infected with hookworm. Hookworm infection is mainly acquired by walking barefoot on contaminated soil.
Hookworms are nasty. They burrow up into your body and form cysts in your lungs. They were a scourge of our warm states until public health campaigns about wearing shoes and other measures got things under control. No shoes, no service.
I'll be keeping my Tevas.
17
@David Rose
In the United States and other developed countries that have modern sewage systems, the chances of getting a hookworm infection from walking barefoot are practically zero.
According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), hookworm infection can be prevented by:
"not walk[ing] barefoot in areas where hookworm is common and where there may be fecal contamination of the soil… Fecal contamination occurs when people defecate outdoors or use human feces as fertilizer."
Those are not conditions that most barefooters, especially in this country, are likely to ever be walking in.
In certain less developed countries around the world, the chances of getting a hookworm infection are slightly higher.
But in the U.S. and other developed countries, getting hookworm from going barefoot is highly unlikely, and nothing barefooters ever really need to worry about.
2
I could never visit Japan because I put my boots on when I get dressed in the morning and take them off when I get undressed to go to bed. I'd go barefoot at the beach except I'm too old to go there.
2
Too old to go to the beach? Never heard of such a thing! I hope to God I never understand the idea no matter how old I get! Bless you!
10
Bedrock Sandals are the closest thing I've found to barefoot with some sole protection.
2
As someone who has hallux limitus, the thought of walking barefoot is cringe-worthy.
I’d be in some serious pain.
8
Growing up in Australia, we used to run around during summer school holidays counting the days we hadn't worn shoes. We loved it. Dashing everywhere barefoot.
And because it was Australia, when we went somewhere like a doctors office, my grandmother would use the argument: "Put your shoes on. You are just like the Aboriginal kids".
TO which we would say: "Well the Aboriginal kids have the right idea."
And on such a continent in the summer, they certainly did. I stand by my statement until this day.
12
So going barefoot is the natural way for humans as we have only shod our feet for the last 40,000 years? Hmm...
Don't forget the sign of the 60's--no shoes, no shirt, no service!
1
My sister and I never word shoes in our summer days off playing and crabbing in the Cherry Point NC Marine Base of the late 1960's. We were often at the beach barefoot with long stretches of walking barefoot on sharp pointy rocks headed to the beach. We labeled it the "torture rocks" and used it as a badge of honor, no flip flops allowed.
Fast forward 50 years and my dogs are really barking after 40 years of nursing and high heels. A patient of mine had on a pair of Vibram 5 fingers that really intrigued me. I may give them a try. After bunion surgery and a neuroma I need all the help I can get.
7
Keep your shoes if you want, I go barefoot every chance I get and have been for 64 years.
The only foot injuries I’ve suffered is when I was wearing shoes.
I also notice most people have no idea where their feet are, I have one friend who kicks my dog’s very large water bowl every time he visits.
11
Humans have devised many devices they use to make life more pleasurable. Wearing shoes is not something we are required to do, but rather that we choose to do, because, well it works better. Most choose to wear shoes just like most choose to fly in airplanes, wear coats and gloves, and take medicine. Our bodies physical evolution should not preclude our mental evolution and production of items / processes designed to overcome our physical shortcomings. What's next, an argument against pants?
13
Yeah. Wear some high heels and then tell me what you think ...
4
@Rich Oh man I hope so!
7
Life expectany 40,000 years ago was around 35 years. Alas, the feet that I toured around on 40 years ago are no longer with me.
18
Transitioned to barefoot style shoes and going barefoot whenever possible about 15 years ago. No injuries, no diseases, only a greater enjoyment of every step taken. The idea of not feeling the ground underfoot seems unthinkable to me now. If it’s cold, I cover up. If the terrain is harsh, I take precautions. I just walked barefoot to the corner store and survived.
6
Some can walk without shoes, others like me have foot pain when barefoot so even in the house we wear moccasins with insoles.
7
There is something so primal about walking barefoot. Just walking on mud instantly relieves anxiety, making one feel immediately connected to mother nature. In India, you will often see people take off shoes, in places where respect needs to be given. School kids often walk and play barefeet in the open air schools under the giant oak tree. There is good feeling about it, and I could never describe what it is.
14
I suffer from planter faciitis and am going through with it for a second time. I chalk it up to years of wearing 3"+ shoes for 35 years, I find walking barefoot alleviates the pain somewhat but not completely. I now do pilates and that has helped tremendously. Finding good walking shoes would help but have not found anything that really helps. Being in the business world it's pretty impractical though to walk around the office in bare feet however.
5
Try it, and become a legend in the business world,
2
@Margo Channing, I find Clark Shoes to be wonderful walking shoes with the arch support I need although I do not have plantar fasciitis, never having been able tolerate high heels and, as a modern dancer, spending a lot of time barefoot. So glad to hear that Pilates has helped. Be sure to do the foot exercise on the Wunda Chair, leg fixed with knee against seat. Some of the Clark designs are attractive enough for the office. Google Clark's wedge shoes with ankle straps.
@Margo Channing. I’ve had some difficulties with my feet this past year and solved it with shoes from The Walking Store. The shoes are “Abeo”. No more pain. Nice cushioning.
The built environment has made walking barefoot entirely impractical.
23
I prefer to be barefoot at home, but never barefoot out in the city streets, etc. I would never run in bare feet on city pavement, that's crazy for so many reasons! I grew up running around my yard and home in bare feet, and I do believe it's good to "feel the ground". As an adult my feet have definitely changed, they are flatter, I have some arthritis and at the moment, some tendinitis in the ankle. I roll my feet on a little foot roller when they feel a little stiff. I took up modern dance a few years ago because I literally felt my feet were ossifying and wanted a full body workout that would include strengthening the feet. I have loved dancing in bare feet -- and they have improved greatly in their flexibility and strength, and are very callused. Sometimes they get a bit tired from working more than they would have to in shoes, but overall I think it has been good for me to go barefoot where I can.
17
The author left out the very important point that we live in a society in which we walk on pavement, not dirt. This must change the equation dramatically, so running barefoot in an urban environment does not make intuitive sense to me.
53
A rattlesnake killed my neighbor's dog a couple of weeks ago, and another neighbor's dog survived a bite this spring. One was on my driveway last month. I think shoes or boots in many settings are safety devices. That said, I prefer Birkie-style year round.
14
For those who work all day in an office there’s really no reason for shoes other than preventing some people’s embarrassment at seeing or exposing feet.
5
@Mike What about fungi?
4
There have been many studies on barefoot walking/running over many decades. There are clearly changes in either condition, some beneficial, others detrimental. There was an ancient budhist who thought that walking barefoot over grassy knolls was the best form of exercise....but that was long before the invention of the beer bottle!
Shoes can protect from a hostile environment, but excessive cushioning can have a very negative effect as well. Too much padding blocks the noxious stimuli which would otherwise be managed by the body if properly sensed. There are also major differences between concrete and trail walking. But don't be fooled by the hardness...its the flatness and the consistent repetitive movements which are the detriment. Hiking trails vary step by step, but concrete walking does not.
There should be a balance between cushioning and flexibility in footwear. Rigid shoes are just as bad as overly cushioned shoes. Moderation, like all things in life, is most important.
6
Ah but will my tough feet protect me from the bane of all parents when responding to the night time cry of a small child at night--the dreaded Lego! Hey this barefoot stuff is nothing new--i remember reading about this new "trend" years ago,
33
I've been a barefoot runner for several years, from 5K to 10K races, on crushed stone, asphalt, dirt, grass and indoor track surfaces. It is absolutely true that running, or walking, barefoot results in a more natural posture. I have not found a shoe that reproduces the ease and naturalness of movement of the bare foot. There is something about the skin of the sole of the feet coming in contact with the surface that allows instant and automatic adjustment to conditions, something shoes simply cannot do. And, no extra weight!
That said, I have suffered through having to heal many inevitable blood blisters caused by barefoot running. These take a painfully long time to heal, and put into question the wisdom of running on hard surfaces. Some barefoot runners I know will start a race barefoot, but put on shoe or socks at some point. That's no fun, and seems to defeat the purpose.
However, I never damage my feet when running on grass surfaces. There is a bird sanctuary near me that has the perfect grassy paths offering miles of liberating and injury-free running. Second to that is running on a soccer or football field. Third, I almost never injure my feet on a well-maintained indoor track.
Lastly, I never have a problem with simple barefoot walking. I can do miles on all surfaces, and always feel a sense of happiness.
I have a Kenyan friend, now in Maine, who used to run barefoot in Kenya. Now that he's an American he laughs at me: "You'll always see me in shoes!"
13
Charles: Have you been able to avoid getting spiked in track races? I always wore spikes in track. Once a runner behind me stepped on the heel counter of my shoe. Apparently there was just enough space so his long spike (cinder track) ripped my shoe but didn't penetrate or scrape my foot. I shudder to think what might have happened had I been barefoot. I'm not negative on barefoot running at all, it's just not for me. I can think of a couple of notable world class barefoot runners: two time Olympic marathon gold medalist Abebe Bikila and the Englishman Bruce Tulloh.
2
@Iplod No, that hasn't happened to me. Perhaps just luck, but I don't worry about it. I know where my feet are, and where their feet are. I would have to think very hard to find an instance over the past 15 years when, even wearing shoes in a crowded road race, someone stepped on one of my feet.
But you don't have to race on a track. Usually, I'm using an indoor track in winter just for training, with perhaps just one planned track meet. (And by the way, try the long jump barefoot—no sand in your shoes, and rid yourself of the extra weight.)
I did forget to say that a great place to practice barefoot running is on a long, flat beach at low tide. We have a number of those here in Southern Maine.
Also, a trick for road races: run on the yellow lines in the middle of a paved road, or the white lines at the side. These usually are the smoothest, rubble-free areas of the road.
And I've used a liquid bandage product on the soles of my feet, Liquid Skin, or similar. Coat the parts of the foot that touch the road surface (not the arches). Problem there is that the smell is toxic, like model airplane glue. Do this outside in fresh air. When I don't feel I have to do this (the road surface is not especially rough and stoney), I don't.
Why do doctors and physical therapists recommend shoes for those suffering from Plantar Fasciaitis? It seem wrong, I don’t have this condition but several people I know are dealing with it. Why are so many suffering with this? It seems to have topped lower back pain as the most common troubling condition. We must be doing something wrong.
13
Because most doctors and PT’s don’t know how to treat it. It’s one of those pesky things that more often than not just burns out on its own. Which is not to say that they are at fault. Remember, almost all do the best they can. And while healthcare should always be a right, perfect health and perfect outcomes are not.
5
@Claire i would add that wearing shoes reduces foot flexibility and weakens the muscles in the foot. Remember, the foot has 28 bones, 30 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments. Walking barefoot helps to keep the whole foot healthy. Also rolling the foot on a ball or doing feet exercised also helps. I've been a yoga teacher for over 20 years and my ankles, knees and lower back have never been happier even with very high arches.
5
@Claire
I am suffering from this now, second time in 2 years now. Tried a couple of remedies that I read about but it's mostly a temporary fix. Pilates is helping but it's been slow going.
While working your computer, you can get a lot of foot work while wriggling your toes. The poor toes, which seldom get any attention, will feel relieved, released as they can move to the beat of Rock and Roll or whatever turns you on.
9
I am nearly 71 and only wear shoes to go out and take them off as soon as I get back home. I dislike shoes and the only shoes I have ever left on when I got home are my allbirds! When my kids were young and they saw me putting on shoes they would ask " where are you going"! My feet are tough, I can walk on rocks, stones or very cold ground. It is liberating to be barefoot.
28
Many years ago a specialist came to our staff meeting where teachers discussed problems with our feet. The specialist asked us why we were wearing these shoes while our nursing and doctor clients were wearing a brand of clogs. A year later we were all wearing clogs. I also installed a mat in the front of my classroom. And guess what. I had installed that kind of mat for my horse to stand on, never thinking about myself. I taught school for thirty-three years and never thought about job related injuries.
9
I look forward to running barefoot at the beach in the summer. It feels good. But when I run on the road, I wear sneakers - and that feels good too.
7
Never used to wear shoes in the house.
Now, plantar fasciatis.
8
@Jnana
Or phrased as:
Always wore shoes outside of the house
Now, plantar fasciatis
correlation is not causation
6
I grew up going barefoot all summer in SoCal, but those of us with very dry skin have the problem of heel cracks, which is painful and can be dangerous (risk of deep infection). I imagine if I went barefoot year-round outdoors the callouses would stay worn and more flexible, but as it is I have to wear Crocks or Birkenstocks (something that cradles the heel) in the house on our hard floors. Interesting article though. It’s exactly how I remember: as barefoot kids our feet were sensitive (good at feeling) but we could walk on gravel without pain. It makes sense that walking barefoot is good for the nerves. I will make a point of going barefoot more often outdoors when I can.
8
Our world is very different than the world that traditional peoples had to walk on although we don't know exactly how much since there have been huge biological changes due to the mix from different continents. The man made hazards like broken glass or garbage are more obvious. If I walk barefoot on my lawn, the cones from the cypress or burr like seeds from weeds get to me right away. I frequently have to cross swift current rivers when hiking and I prefer wet boots to a broken toe, nail or cut on my foot.
11
During my younger and during my adult years, I was barefoot often and I have always worn good shoes, well-fitted ones, shunning high heels and tapered shoes. Through-out the years I was active, playing tennis, jogging, walking and hiking long distances. Then I developed a Morton's neuroma probably from over-use and thinning fat pads. Walking is extremely painful now and neuroma's difficult to treat (I've had 4 cortisone shots and the neuroma is getting worse) and as MU from Atlanta says: "Aging feet change." I would love to see an article addressing the foot problems and solutions. Soon to be 75..... JWT
15
@JWT
I've had neuromas surgically removed from both of my feet in the past. These were caused by years of having to wear closed shoes during my working years. It's also one of the reasons I stopped wearing shoes completely when I was able to retire 17 years ago.
Haven't worn shoes since, and never had any more of the problems I used to have as a shoe-wearer, such as the neuromas, athlete's foot, warts, hammertoes, corns, and smelly feet. Approximately 90% of all foot problems are directly caused by or exacerbated by shoe wearing. And stopping wearing shoes will prevent those problems. I am living proof of that.
4
I am in my early 60's and started going barefoot last year in the spring, in a wildlife refuge across the road and in my yard. I couldn't believe how good it felt for my feet and my whole body. I went barefoot a lot when I was a kid in southern California on the coast. Going barefoot at my current age has improved my posture, changed how my feet strike the ground, brought me happiness, and I feel more connected to the earth. I don't go barefoot on pavement, asphalt or cement. I loved how my feet got protective callouses and it became very easy to walk almost anywhere in the forest or meadows here. The only drawback for me has been the too short season of weather warm enough to be barefoot longer to develop thicker callouses that I think would probably have less or no pain when stepping on yellow jackets.
11
@Gem barefoot shoes are great for when the weather changes. I’m also in my 60s and have been on this path for a couple of years.
2
My meat-bees (Your yellow jackets), must be smarter than yours because they get to sting me between the toes; otherwise, I leave them alone , even when they land on me (and I even share my hamburger with them), since I must have some real bad karma from when I was in my late teens and I flamed – with gasoline – a wasp nest or two when I was up in Washington state. But I mainly like the confidence high top boots give me to walk anywhere in the forest even when there are broken limbs with short stubby stab like broke it off branches that will, and even do, still puncture my body. But nothing works better than the “Billygoat“ like brush (& Christmas tree size) devastator that I’ve modified to walk behind slower, with its chain link (Half-inch link!), swinging around and tearing up everything except rocks and big. trees … No rattlesnakes, bees or anything will exist after I walk through the forest with that machine!
Birkenstocks
5
The article does not speak to how feet change with aging.
I am 70 and my feet are much more sensitive than when I was young. I often have to forgo buying some shoes that fit because the embossed printing on the soles is too noticeable - like walking on string. It seems that the fat pads on the soles of the aging foot are thinner
Also, I have arthritis in my feet; going barefoot leaves me sore and limping for days afterwards.
21
@MU
Maybe the reason your feet have become so sensitive is because you've kept them cooped up in shoes and socks for decades?
I'm 71 and can walk on a gravel road comfortably sans shoes.
I grew up barefooted in the middle of nowhere in the third world country. Then life changed and been wearing shoes . I didn’t realized this change on my feet until recently had to take off my healed shoes after a party....I walked funny barefoot! My feet didn’t feel the way it felt when I walked barefoot back in a day !! But this is the thing I don’t understand: many people in the world ...shoes don’t exist in their culture ( including where I grew up), but we are called poor to the westerns and send in shoes for us to wear! Guess what ? Many of those people take that donated shoes to a market and exchange it with goods . They don’t need shoes . But here in the west they advocate that being barefoot is good for you ! while in the third world country they are called poor. Those who grow up with shoes are being asked to go barefoot , while those who didn’t know what shoes are being asked to wear one ?What’s up with this mix message ?
44
I think people donating to any charity are trying to be helpful. I also think that a lot of healthcare treatments in the past were based on what seemed like the “best” way to manage a problem rather than actual study and evidence. Protecting your feet in a cold climate is mandatory like every other part of your body- many Americans and Europeans live in such climates wearing shoes and giving shoes to less fortunate individuals is a good deed.
But I do agree that scientific study of the human body is the best way to determine treatments and to increase our knowledge base. The natural world with it’s complexity is a real wonder.
3
@Malaika
People who go barefoot all the time have little constraint on how wide their feet get. They are unlikely to be able to squeeze into donated western shoes.
I was born with extra wide feet and a high arch. Being raised in Hawaii on the beach I went barefoot a lot as a child, even to school. My foot and leg problems started as I got older and tried to find shoes to fit my extra wide feet, as shoes for women usually only came as wide as a B, and sometimes a C. Even now I find it hard to find extra wide shoes, which are usually made for overweight or obese people. Men's shoes on the other hand come in wider and more comfortable widths. Not all women are the same. I have corns and bunions from years of wearing uncomfortable women's shoes.
27
@Diane Thompson
I’m a thin woman with very wide feet and bunions. Finally found footwear after years of wrecking my feet and body. Here are some recommendations ( it will still be trial and error because not all styles within the same company fit exactly alike):
Orthofeet
Vionic
Allegria
These have truly been lifesavers! Additionally, Amazon carries all the brands so trying on at home and returning if need be is so much easier.
Good luck!
6
@Diane Thompson
I’m a thin woman with very wide feet and bunions. Finally found footwear after years of wrecking my feet and body. Here are some recommendations ( it will still be trial and error because not all styles within the same company fit exactly alike):
Orthofeet
Vionic
Allegria
These have truly been lifesavers! Additionally, Amazon carries all the brands so trying on at home and returning if need be is so much easier.
Good luck!
PS - I forgot Dansko - just got a pair of their sandals ( they make extra wide clogs now too) that are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever worn. I wish I could still be in fashionable high heels, platforms and wedges, which I greatly miss, but it’s no longer worth it.
4
Diane I am 60 years old and have been buying men’s sneakers and boots for years
Have the same issue, very wide foot and high arch and women’s size 11
Most women’s shoes just don’t work for me, even the “comfort “ shoes. Danskos are good tho
This article is absurd, and has all the hallmarks of yet another flash-in-the-pan trend. How are the sales of those mock barefoot running shoes going? Are they even offered still?
Feet need protection.
5
@Fiona’s Ex
This is science, and the data are the data, nothing more. Others can repeat this work and we'll see if the data are the same. Calling this absurd is like saying "fake news!"
17
@Fiona’s Ex barefoot shoes are very popular, there are more companies selling them - not the silly looking toe ones, though some people like them, but sneakers and even casual leather shoes.
2
@Fiona’s Ex Minimalist shoes are still very popular in the running community. The problem is, most running is done on concrete, an unnatural substance, which is hard on your joints when you're barefoot. BTW, historically speaking, wearing shoes is the "flash in the pan."
2
As I get closer to 50, I've had this feeling when I get up in the morning like my tendons have loosened up and my feet feel clompy and unsteady when I first get up. So, I stopped wearing slippers and am barefoot or just with socks in the house. I can feel a difference after only a few months. I think my feet have gotten the exercise they were lacking. They feel like they know what they're doing again!
12
@teacher in ct Hopefully, you do not have any slick floors in your home, as they could be hazardous when you're walking in socks.
6
David is right re walking in socks, dangerous......
I was wearing socks when my feet totally slipped and I “flew” backwards, banging the back of my head on a radiator and breaking my wrist in 2 places. I needed 8 staples in the back of my skull.
3
@teacher in ct
I also like ballet slippers which will mold themselves to your feet and have an almost non-existent sole.
BTW bunions which in themselves cause calluses can occur as part of aging -- aka arthritis.
Great article. Most of the comments however clearly reflect that those who have the least knowledge and least practical experience on the topic of going barefoot are those who would have us believe they know everything about it.
I have gone barefoot as much as possible my whole life and have lived barefoot 24/7 for the last 17 years since retiring from my employment. My feet are the strongest and healthiest part of my body. My feet have never had any serious injuries or infections, as, on average, that simply just doesn't happen to those of us who have chosen to never wear shoes. All of the fears and "dangers" of going barefoot expressed by those who don't or never would go barefoot themselves come from a viewpoint based on ignorance and unfounded paranoia.
Human beings were born to live barefoot, and human feet, if given the opportunity, are totally efficient and sufficient for that purpose.
30
@Kriss
With your long history of going barefoot, do your callouses protect you if you step on bees or yellow jackets or hornets? I am moving soon to a more mild climate and am hoping to go barefoot almost all the time.
1
@Gem I too have gone barefoot most of my life. Just be cognizant of where you step. You probably don't step on bees with your shoes - so avoid it with your feet.
3
@Gem
My calluses probably wouldn't protect against a direct bee sting on that part of my skin. But I never step on bees or yellow jackets or hornets, so can't answer that for sure. Maybe because I'm usually pretty aware of what's on the ground in front of me - as most experienced barefooters are.
8
Kinda stupid to comment, really- what is there to say? All of us have different feet and lifetimes of different experiences. From the 1950's, when my father had to wear Space Shoes in order to survive the pounding of NYC pavements, to my current orthotics regimen, even my family's experiences have shown that feet are all different, as are the people who walk on them. If you have knee or foot problems, you may have to wear something corrective on your feet. I can't do barefoot at all any more.
10
One of my knees hurts if I wear shoes for more than an hour, especially shoes that constrict the upper part of my foot, such as sneakers or hiking boots.
The other knee has no problem with any footwear.
3
I danced barefoot at a wedding five years ago. The next morning my feet hurt a LOT, due to plantar fasciitis. I have had problems ever since and require orthotics and very supportive shoes to walk pain free. Even so, it has greatly impacted how much I can walk and my lifestyle. Be careful walking barefoot. It can cause severe problems that in my case seem permanent.
2
I have flat feet and walking barefoot gives me long-lasting pain I can do without
3
Interesting but for now, inadequate science. We seem to be increasingly fascinated by any research finding (or merely positing) that modern society is bad for us. Now shoes? Yes, before we migrated to an urban environment, maybe going barefoot down a soft dirt path was the right way to go. We also didn’t live past 47. Today, take a walk anywhere in the City and you’ll be accompanied by octogenarians out doing errands on foot. They’d have been long dead, their feet no longer walking, back in the day. Today they’re doing pretty well in their shoes and getting mileage on their feet for another 40 years. Want to protect your feet? Wear sensible shoes, walk and keep your weight down.
16
I have some balance issues- and I am helped by wearing "barefoot" type shoes. (like the vapor glove from Merrell). I fall down alot less! The idea of barefoot is nice..but I hate a dirty floor and dirty feet!
10
Very not interesting or unexpected.
Perhaps a research team now needs a grant to go to Lapland to determine why humans in cold climates wear hats?
9
We can eat raw food just fine too, but cooking releases more calories and disinfects.
The reason I chose to wear shoes is that that whenever I hurt a toe, it's because I'm barefoot. Considering probabilities here, are you more likely to break a toe going barefoot, or to have a hip replaced because you're wearing the wrong shoes?
Also, flat feet and bowed legs leave me with an odd step and deficiencies thankfully recognized by Selective Service.
Shoes, at least to me, are a prosthetic. And I am certainly nothing special. On behalf of shoes, I am a big fan.
$0.02
8
Barefooter here.
Among other reasons to avoid shoes, and socks, is that various bacteria and fungi thrive in dark, warm, moist conditions.
17
I agree with other posters that in even a semi-urban environment, fully barefoot is absolutely not the way to go. I've gotten tiny glass shards stuck in my feet on multiple occasions just from walking six blocks from car to beach for surfing.
The research the author discusses is interesting, but I'm surprised that excessive heel-toe drops, which among other things don't let your calves extend fully and forces heel striking (could this cause the harsher vibration??), were not mentioned despite the fact that the "average" sneaker likely has a fair bit of it. Did they control for this? I have been convinced by experience that zero-drop (with some foam) or full minimal shoes can help prevent some injuries and possibly improve form. I made the switch after my gastroc snapped on a run (wearing 8mm drop shoes), had to take the next several months off, then tore my soleus upon easing back into it again after healing and PT. I read up on it and switched to zero-drops with about 10mm of foam+sole under the whole foot and have been enjoying an injury-free, stronger calves since. I use them for everything.
BTW to those who wear heels, more power to you but I have no idea how you manage!
7
@Lost: Two other shoe features that warrant attention: toe taper and toe spring. Take a look at your average running shoe. It comes to a point, pulling all the toes towards the midline. And the toes are raised up higher than the ground, so that they are pointing into the air. Both of these features hold the toes out of their natural position and prevent the foot from properly functioning.
And they put a tug on the plantar fascia that strains them and cuts off their blood supply.
Take a look at the work of sports podiatrist Ray Maclanan in Portland, Ore. By following his approach to shoe selection, I cured my neuroma pain, which a conventional podiatrist told me I would have to live with until it got bad enough for surgery.
A transition period is necessary to more barefoot-like shoes or actual barefooting, if you have been wearing conventional shoes and not going barefoot a lot. That’s because your feet are weak and distorted! They need a process to be rehabilitated. Dr. McClanahan and others provide lots of information on how to do this safely.
9
@Karen
The shape of feet is more varied than the shape of shoes. I read that a 19th century scientist wandered why Italian statues always had a 2nd toe longer than the big toe. Imagine his surprise to find that most Italian feet were different than his countrymen. I have that long toe too. Which lines up nicely with that point at the tip of the shoe. You may not need that room, but we of the Long Toe do...
10
@Chuck Jones: Agreed, the shape of feet is very varied! I actually have a longer second toe as well. But I also have wide feet with well-splayed toes. Most shoes would fit me only if I amputated my little toes. The only ones I have found that fit are custom-made.
3
Uh, people started wearing footware 40,000 years ago and kept at it - for a reason:
Heat, cold, and sharp objects. Dirt and filth.
In modern cities, I don't think many people want to walk barefoot on the filth of the streets, or expose themselves to sharp objects, and the extreme heat and cold of the pavement, depending on the season.
Maybe in a relatively mild grassland barefoot is great, but not in reality for most people today.
And at my age, I get plantar fasciitis I don't wear shoes and proper orthotics. So barefoot - no.
7
Rubber flip flops. I've worn them all my life. Except for my younger years of four inch heels all day. But then back to the flip flops after work. At 64, no trouble with my feet. And still wearing them.
12
@Nell
Agree!
We lived in Hawaii for many years where they are called slippers. Universal wear for all those not at work (and even sometimes there too:). Barefoot or slippers was all we wore. Now in my 60s and marvel at others feet that only wear shoes, seem to not contact the ground efficiently. Anyway, barefoot is best for me.
3
Barefoot walk mythology. Unhealthy and dangerous. Wear shoes fitted correctly with proper support.
5
Why would a foot need support to function properly ? Do any other animal need foot support? And regarding musculoskeletal system we are No différent to animals
1
Many of the comments here describe the awful things that could happen while barefoot. I never before realized that going barefoot is a primal fear for many people.
59
When I walk into the house it's shoes and watch off.
15
I hope to see more articles like this so we can put to rest this "stiletto era" of cruel shoes for women. High heels are evil.
122
@DMS I don't know... I have several pairs of high heels that are extremely comfortable and several pairs of flats that aren't.
I never understood how men managed to bamboozle women into wearing high heels in the first place.
3
Most of my childhood in the 50's and 60's in rural New England was spent barefoot. It was the way it was for all the kids then. This article made me remember fondly that wonderful sense of freedom that I had running around barefoot as a child.
I would not be comfortable doing it now, but would happily walk every day barefoot on the beach if I lived closer to the sand. I am sure that would have amazing health benefits for body and soul!
40
@Bluebird
Dry sand = hard to walk in
Wet sand = like stepping onto the cool silky ground just outside the pearly gates
Walking barefoot on the beach has saved me many times.
31
I've worn custom orthotics since around the age of nine, back in the 1960s. If I wear my shoes without them and walk around a bit, my feet will start hurting almost immediately.
On the other hand (or foot?), if I walk barefoot around the house and on my beach walks, no pain at all. So either orthotics with shoes or nothing at all = no pain.
By the way, I was initially diagnosed with a "spur of the heel" (very tRumpian), but now it's more likely a problem with overpronation.
5
@Raye I have exactly the same experience. I can walk pain-free with custom orthotics in my shoes, or walk pain-free barefoot. But walking in normal shoes (like most people do) causes intense pain in the arch of my feet.
3
@JJ It would be interesting to know what podiatrists think of this!
4
@Raye: Take a look at the shape of your shoes. Are they widest at the balls, tapering to the ends of the toes? Do they have a heel that is higher than the ball of the foot (heel raise)? Are the toes pulled up off the ground (toe spring)?
Any and all of these features distort the shape of your foot. The toes should be able to splay wider than the ball (though many people who have worn shoes all their lives have toes that are permanently reshaped.) The heels should be level with the toes.
Most importantly, when the big toe is pulled towards the little toe, as with many shoes (including athletic/running shoes), the arch is almost forced to collapse — hence the need for orthotics to prop it up.
When you go barefoot, your feet can function properly, without pain. I’m not saying this is the case for all foot pain, but clearly yours (and mine).
6
I'm in my 60's and I've been walking barefoot every possible moment since I was in my teens. My family is amazed at where I can walk unshod, though I wore them to work and wear I must every day. But as soon as I'm home, I'm barefoot.
It's not without risks. My heels have cracked requiring frequent treatment with Flexitol over the last 15 years. I've recently managed to tear my foot open and a month later grab a splinter so long and deep I needed a pliers to pull it out! Still, barefoot is how I usually am, and prefer to be.
16
I thought this question was answered in quite detail by Christopher McDougall in his 2009 book ‘Born to Run’. I am surprised that this article didn’t quote anything from that book.
11
I went barefoot for most of my childhood and adolescence, and as an adult I've always gone barefoot indoors. I started running barefoot after reading Born to Run at age 57.
I acquired callouses on the balls of my feet at age 3, and I still have those callouses. But I have not acquired any additional callouses, which is probably too bad, because I have to be careful about small pebbles, which can really hurt. But I love the feeling of barefoot running.
4
The type of shoe one wears as a child has a lasting effect on the way one walks. Those with closed shoes strike the ground heel first. Those that were raised with slip on footwear bend their knees so the foot touches the ground flat. Otherwise, the shoe flies off the foot. This is most apparent if you observe Asians compared to Westerners. A Japanese science show first brought this to my attention.
18
Not sure about walking barefoot, but I appreciate reading this perspective. Yesterday while walking in Macy’s I happened upon a brand of shoes called “Gentle Souls”. My feet were tired and the shoes felt so good I literally wanted to wear them out of the store! While I don’t personally have knee or foot problems, I know a few people (under and over 60) with a “replacement knee”. Doctors should be warning younger women that consistently wearing Manolos & Choos will ultimately catch up with them. Those replacement knees are not cute!
11
@Alish the number of knee replacement surgeries in the US are on the rise, and seem to parallel the rise of overweight and obesity.
-----"The study, published in the June issue of Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, found that total knee replacements more than tripled between 1993 and 2009. In contrast, total hip replacements doubled during this time."
Source: https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=178890
I grew up in Florida and ran around barefoot all summer. I had the thickest skin!!!
5
As a kid in the 1960s, I kicked off my shoes the minute school let out. In Connecticut, I walked barefoot into town (Old Greenwich) but not into some shops, which wouldn't allow it. I even -- occasionally -- went into Stamford barefoot, if it was just to Scalsi's, the fish market.
And then back home in Brooklyn, I'd go barefoot a bit on the sidewalk. But then, it was Windsor Terrace, and the 1970s hadn't caught up with us yet.
My bare feet are still good for walking even on hot summertime jetties. In my youth, they learned to hug the ground and, despite decades of shoe-wearing, haven't forgotten how.
18
Since the 1971 Northridge earthquake here, I always wear shoes when I leave the house, slippers inside and sandals in the yard. Things break during a big earthquake and we may find ourselves having to step on, around or over objects that damage bare feet.
14
Interesting study. But, I would wonder if such factors as sitting (i.e., how much time do we sit vs. walking) has something to do with how our feet interact with the ground. Small muscle groups may not be developing to their full performance and health benefit if our lifestyle has us sitting for great lengths. This seems to me if could be a factor in walking stride, feet health, etc., not just calluses. I'd like to hear more from experts on how sitting might impact the effects of wearing shoes or going barefoot.
12
As a teenager I spent most summers barefoot, even playing sports that way. I did develop some impressive calluses, but I never broke a toe or sprained an ankle. I wasn't trying to prove anything, I just felt more comfortable that way and loved the sense of the ground under my feet in all it's variety.. years have gone by - I should take it up again
13
@brian carter
For a moment at least, the years will slip away if you do.
4
Leiberman does not distinguish between natural ground and pavement. For someone with plantar fasciitis, walking barefoot on a flat man-made surface will damage your foot, while walking barefoot in sand, grass or soft earth will not.
17
@Rebecca This isn't true. I developed plantar fasciitis from wearing regular running shoes. I got better by switching to zero-drop minimal footwear (when I had to wrap up my feet) and walking (and running) barefoot all around LA on streets and sidewalks. Further, the notion that a flat, man-made surface will harm one's feet is belied by the many miles of hard-packed clay surfaces one sees on trails and paths all over the world. They can be just as hard, believe me! Recovering from PF just takes time, patience, and a natural approach.
8
@JB My heels get painful cracks if I walk barefoot for long on hard flats surfaces (including in my house). I need something to cradle the heel. Barefoot is great but it isn’t always better.
Much if Dr. Lieberman's work has been done solely in Kenya with a homogenous genetic population as well as a population that has spent their lives walking and running on ground and not on pavement. I have experienced (Certified Orthotist (E) treating many thousands of foot & lower extremity injuries with custom foot orthotics & proper shoe management. I have anecdotally seen a difference in biomechanical alignment in the sub group of people of African decent vs those of European decent that gives them an advantage to barefoot walking/running. Not to mention so much of their lives are spent barefoot in the undeveloped lands of rural Kenya that is prime environment to run barefoot vs the streets of towns and cities in 1st world countries.
I find Lieberman's work bias as time after time he ends up in Kenya studying the same population. And then comes home compares this to people on treadmill of all things.
All humans run and walk differently when shoeless. But these differences do not automatically translate into excessive "wearing one our leg joints" as this piece suggests. The very last sentence of the abstract of the article linked in this piece by Ms. Reynolds acknowledges that effects on the skeleton are unknown and require future study.
"Along with providing protection and comfort at the cost of tactile sensitivity, cushioned footwear also lowers rates of loading at impact but increases force impulses, with unknown effects on the skeleton that merit future study."
9
For many years, because of just the things written about here, I wore only moccasins. It was great until I developed plantar fasciitis and was forced to get some sort of arch support. I still feel very restricted in shoes of any kind, and around the house wear only sox. Highly recommended.
7
@Watchful
Years ago, I had very painful planter fasciitis . It was as if the soles of my feet were being caned. At a specialty shoe store I was introduced to Naot (Israeli handmade walking shoes). I was cured immediately and forever since!
3
Socks aren't great on uncarpeted stairs. Pretty slippery. Moccasin-style slippers or bare feet are better.
7
The stride inevitably shortens with bare feet, to minimize brain-rattling impact, and the whole foot -- not just the shoe-cushioned heel -- and leg are recruited to absorb the shock of landing. Shoes make it easier to ignore the impact of walking, but luckily they won't keep you from taking shorter strides. Thin-soled shoes like Tom's are a good compromise. It takes time to find a comfortable stride while wearing them, but it's doable.
Interesting. I wear shoes in public. At home I'm barefoot all the time year around (Puget Sound Washington). Only problems are occasional heel cracks that take weeks to heal (barefoot) and black toes from daily 6 mile walks (shoes).
4
I used Vibram five fingers for years to emulate barefoot walking, and I loved it. Way better on my joints, and allowed me to walk longer. However, after years of hitting small rocks and other sharp objects with my heel I developed extreme sensitivity to that type of pain, and now I can no longer use them. I wonder if this is a common thing?
3
When I was ten a southern family moved across the street in our northern town. The were a wonderful group for many reasons and I learned from them to eschew shoes in the summer. It took about a week in June to get the hardened calluses and we went everywhere barefoot. It felt good and was fun. For a kid it was a little bit of a superpower to have tough feet that didn't mind at all the hard, bumpy and normally uncomfortable streets, and trails in the woods, etc. In fact, at night it seemed like my feet were an extra pair of eyes. Alas, I grew up and except for in the house and our yard, I am a tenderfoot now.
I wish someone would study flip-flops. I like them.
29
Yes, I remember those days breaking in my feet. The first few days on the gravel driveway were murder; but then walking on it was fine even on the hottest days.
But I do remember those times in late September, early October, when the gravel became too cold to walk on, and back on went the shoes. Sans socks, of course, until the first snow.
Of all the things I miss in my old age, it's the exquisite sense of freedom that bare feet give a person.
37
@sues
When we visited Nelson, New Zealand in '79, one magical sight among many was a number of little kids scooting alongside the road, carrying book bags on the way to school, bare foot as the day they were born.
13
when i was 2 and started walking there was something wrong with the way I Walked. They put me in metal leg braces and then after that didnt work, they told my parents they would break my bones and put me in a body cast for 6 months!! Lucky for me they got a 2nd opinion and the Dr said " have him walk barefoot on grass!! It worked I am 68 and fine!
123
@Ray
My father had flat feet and at that time - the 1920s - the medical profession thought that flat feed needed correction by breaking bones in the feet to create a false arch. This was an unsupported medical belief with no real evidence in the early part of the 20th Century. I believe he had the procedure when he was around ten years old. That draconian cure ruined my fathers feet for the rest of his life.
Medical science has come a long way since then, in that medicine actually uses double blind clinical experiments when possible, and many untested beliefs have been proven wrong and corrected. However, there are still many beliefs that have not been adequately tested. Nutrition science is a good example. In fact, I wouldn’t even consider nutrition a scientific endeavor.
3
@Maurie Beck
Well on the bright side, it might have kept him out of the infantry during WWII. My father’s weak left eye kept him stateside, though not completely out of danger. But he always referred to it as his “good eye”.
3
Way back when I was a U. S. Peace Corps Volunteer teacher in rural Kenya my students had thick callouses on the soles and toes of their feet.
If the students wanted to become more modern they purchased plastic or soft soled flip-flop sandals or enclosed shoes. Occasionally a relative sent them football (soccer) cleates.
The result was their protective callous became softer and when they could no longer afford flip-flops, enclosed shoes or some other form of footwear the students became increasingly subject to foot punctures (from stones, thorns, etc.) and to various fungal infections.
I wear sandals with a strap and a rubber toe protector; with a relatively soft replaceable foot bed; defined outer sole pattern which mimics my natural no-shoe gait. I wear these sandals even in the winter (with heavier socks) except when the snow is very deep or the temperature is below ~15ºF.
5
@Harvey Botzman
I wear these sandals even in the winter (with heavier socks) except when the snow is very deep or the temperature is below ~15ºF.
gee, what a guy !
5
@Harvey Botzman
I absolutely hate closed shoes. I have always found them both restrictive and painful. I wear sandals year round until it goes below freezing.
Desptie having had a knee injury years ago, I have no problem walking stretches of six or seven miles at a time.
2
@ Harvey Botsman, Intriguing. What make/style are your sandals? And out of curiosity, did you notice if those kids were immune to heel splits if they went barefoot year-round? (My big barrier to going barefoot for long.)
A few friends who were Kenyan runners once commented that once they came to the US they started having pains. The culprit: Sneakers. They would run miles back home barefoot.
19
@AACNY -Some "sneakers" are not shaped like the human foot. And some have an inelastic band that includes the fore-foot preventing proper toe expansion. Some have a sole that is too rigid to allow the proper motion of the foot so that the arch is stressed. others promote achilles tendinitis.
6
Embrace the calluses!
18
@Ellen
I'm barefoot much of the time and have very tough soles, but no visible calluses. I can walk on a gravel road without discomfort.
I figure that being barefoot allows the calluses to be naturally abraded away.
2
I walk barefoot in and around the HOUSE all the time. After all, we live in Florida wearing shorts and t- or polo shirts - walking barefoot seems to be a logical extension of this. I simply love the feeling, it is a bit like swimming in the nude, you have that direct sensation on your skin. You should take some precautions though. Make sure there is no glass or other sharp objects on the lawn or in the garage. That is possible with just a little bit of attention.
BTW, my sweetheart NEVER EVER walks barefoot, not even from the bed to the bathroom. She does not have a specific reason, she just not does "barefooting". We are still happily married for 40 years now...
8
@Obsession
There is also the constant danger of catching a toe against furniture. I've broken more than one this way.
8
@Obsession
I go barefoot all the time. I garden and do yard labor barefoot or in flip flops. Another thing to avoid while barefoot are herbicides and pesticides in the yard and on the lawn. Our yard is free of those and shoes are not allowed to be worn in our house because they track in gawd knows what contaminants from the outside world.
13
@Wocky Bad furniture. Bad, bad, bad.
6
I have no doubt that prehistoric hunter-gatherers would have worn Nikes if they could.
13
@Chris Rasmussen Once A Didas, Always A Didas....
Never walk barefooted in a city: too much filth, hot pavement, shards of glass, and in the park, dog feces everywhere.
"Sixty Minutes" did a segment on the dangers of dog feces. Apparently, it has a type of worm in that will burrow up through your soles and slime its way up to your brain or eyes, where it can cause blindness. Now I even sleep with my shoes on.
36
@Jim Muncy - Dogs need not bite to cause damage.
3
@Jim Muncy
I agree! I ran barefoot in Panama back in the 60s, before my mother learned better. I got a parasite that enters through the soles of the feet and travels through your body. 60 years later I'm losing vision in one eye thanks to scar tissue from that parasite.
13
@Jim Muncy I wear a helmet because I'm afraid I'll fall out of bed.
6
As a kid, I went barefoot as soon as school was out in the summer and stayed that way until September. I've lived in a warm climate in a small beach town my entire adult life and, except for work and visits to sites requiring shoes, I try to avoid them. I think my posture, feet, legs, and their joints are stronger as a result. I can't believe shoes are an improvement on nature.
11
@Steve W Shoes weren't meant as an improvement on nature, rather as a defense against nature...like hats.
10
Wearing shoes: Still better than a nail in the foot and tetanus.
86
@Samazama
Hard soled shoes. The only nail I ever got into my foot was through a flip-flop.
5
@Samazama
There's also quite a lot of parasites that are spiral in shape that can enter the body through bare feet.
8
@Samazama -A tetanus toxoid injection every 10 years will prevent tetanus. Clinical tetanus is horrible to treat and is best avoided.
7
Growing up, I seldom wore shoes from June to September. At 72, with bad back and hips, I walk more comfortably, with a better gait, when wearing shoes indoors or out.
6
I trained barefoot on the grass of Golden Gate Park's Polo Field in San Francisco as a high-schooler and rather enjoyed it. Before and after that, though, it's been shoes for me everywhere else.
@BayArea101 You might want to think twice about taking your shoes off anywhere in GGP nowadays. Polo Fields included, since the geese have adopted it as a stopover habitat.
6
Wow, I can see some people are definitely in the shoe camp, but seriously, it's not an either-or proposition. The fear of risk expressed by some people is to me absurd. I saw the original study the other day, and since I needed new workout shoes, leaned a bit more toward buying minimalist designs. Maybe toughen up my soles a bit. Even then, I often opt for sandals with little cushioning, although a bit thicker and geared toward the athletic.
Odd that I would detail this, but as mentioned, it is a not a binary choice:
Shoes
- walking or running where there is a significant risk of harm
- gym, workouts and in the locker room
No shoes
- home
- inside the condo, almost anywhere in the building
- green grass, with some limits
- beaches
- trail, with some limits
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@James Igoe
I was walking across a plush lawn in Negril once and stepped on a bee. It was terrible and I had to drink rum for the rest of the day. The bartender also made a compress out of overproof J Wray and Nephew which greatly relieved the string.
3
I disagree. I think shoes are a good invention, and I will continue to wear them.
28
@Chris Rasmussen - The more I reads this, the more I felt like laughing. Not sure if you meant it as a joke, but I feel the same way about many things, but just a few:
- Life, feels's good, and I will continue living it.
- Wife, she's good, and I will continue loving here.
- Food, tastes good, and I will keep on eating it.
13
Back in the 70's there was a brand of shoe called "Earth Shoe" whose footbed design was supposed to be the the impression of a person's foot as if walking on firm but impressionable sand.
I was a mostly barefoot person for a long time, and had what we would call "dog feet": well calloused pads on my feet. I could run barefoot on rocks!
Eventually all the un-natural surfaces I had to walk on (concrete, tile, asphalt) took their toll on me and I found I required both support and cushioning.
Earth shoes were probably some of the first mass marketed shoes that went beyond style (they were actually kind of dorky looking) and focused on comfort and how shoes can affect posture.
Now there are many choices and I am grateful for that.
Still barefoot on the beach and in the grass.
9
@jm. Earth shoes are still being sold. There’s more models than you can shake a stick at, all with that “negative heel” you’ve described.
3
@jm Likewise, but rather in the mountains of WV.
1
Ha ha, Earth Shoes! I got a terrible backache as a teenager from those in the 70s. Walking in sand is tiring, humans choose firmer ground when they have a choice.
Shoes protect your feet from many types of injury. All it takes is inadvertently stepping on a small rock to cause debilitating injury.
14
I found this article interesting because it combines science and history. Although shoes may alter one's walking, it is still a good idea to use them.
4
Where is it possible to walk barefooted without injury and disease, thorns and parasites... indoors here is rock
7
@Glen L Indeed, where is it possible to walk while WEARING shoes without the risk of shotguns and reckless drivers/riders?
4
This article is misleading and could have a negative effect on people who believe everything they read here in the Times.
The author of this article as well as the researcher fail to mention the nuances of applying this theory to the modern day man. The fact is that following this advice many people who don't know better will actually injure and damage their feet and sometimes do worse.
Having worked in the Sports Medicine and fitness field for more than twenty years I can tell you confidently not try this and to be very careful applying these flawed theories on yourself. The authors fail to mention that there are many cases in which this is a mistake as I have seen. Any person with flat feet, bunions, ankle and knee injuries and imbalances should not be trying to walk barefoot to improve their mechanics. A therapist I worked with used to say that he is happy these barefoot theories are popular because it keeps his practice very busy. That tells you everything you need to know.
It may very well be that if you were living in Africa a hundred years ago and grew up barefoot your walking mechanics were almost perfect. That however is not the case. You grew up wearing shoes and the foot adapts to it. Trying to all of sudden change that will create many problems for you. That said, this may work well for very young people with no injuries and good mechanics if the parents make sure to provide for this change in a slow progressive manner as to allow proper adaptation.
88
@Patrick I don't have any medical expertise, but I've noticed as this idea has become more popular that most of the hippies I run into that ditch their shoes (or wear those "barefoot" type shoes) in warm months don't change their stride, so they end up pounding their heels like they still have an inch of cushion under them. It's painful to watch.
6
@Patrick- I wear vivobarefoot shoes and love them. I have 4 pair and 1 pair of xero shoes. They are incredible.
22
@Patrick Good that you give this note of caution. A few years back when 'Born to Run' came out and helped spur a barefoot running craze, there was suddenly a big selection of barefoot style running shoes. I've been told there was also a rash of injuries (if I recall plantar fasciitis among the more common injuries) and that's why the shoes have retreated more to a niche status.
For myself however I patiently adopted the correct form and conditioning for barefoot running and it's been a big help. My knees are better now than when I started running 15 years ago and it's the barefoot running, without the cushioned heal, that coincided with the turn for the better.
That said we never wore shoes inside when I was growing up, a habit I carried into adulthood. Maybe something for parents to consider.
49
Ida Rolfe of structural integration was preaching 'free the paws' wisdom long before these researchers were likely even born although I'm sure they are quite familiar with her work. It would nice if she got a mention or better yet her own article/profile (in the spirit of overlooked no more) as the western male medical leaders shunned and demonized her work for the duration of her lifetime--even though, as we now know--virtually all physical therapy modalities are based in her ground-brealing work re free the feet, freeing the facia.
13
@pmf
YES! Ida Rolfe (founder of body mechanics called Rolfing) was way ahead of her time and as a woman not given credit or recognition for her incredible work (some things are slow to change)
Earthing is becoming more popular or at least known today- being barefoot - esp. on grass, sand, rocks, dirt, etc. is a powerful way to connect to the earth's energy.
you can connect to the earth's energy for a good night's sleep ( to "re-charge" also w/a connector outside to a special panel on your bed.
look up "earthing" -
also, never wear shoes in the house or apartment - like Japanese or Indians, keep shoes that were worn outside off floors indoors to prevent outside dirt &negative energy building up where you live, eat sleep
4
Ancient Greek priests walked barefoot in sacred oak groves in order to connect to chthonic forces.
2
My podiatrist is adamant that going barefoot outside results in injuries, bruises, fungal diseases, possible tetanus exposure and parasites. He also aggressively buffs off callouses. I will have to share this article with him. I lived a barefoot childhood and certainly feel it is beneficial to the entire body. On the other hand I sure do have wide feet. I continue to go barefoot in the house and on my own lawn and sidewalk. If I lived in a city apartment I would not risk a public park though.
I did visit Kenya once- what a lovely experience. I saw the Masai striding out some distance on the savannah barefoot carrying only a big stick. When I asked the safari guide about the wisdom of this in lion country he said : " these people have lived like this for thousands of years. They know exactly what they are doing".
66
@Consuelo what's more, even the lions weere going barefoot.
13
@Consuelo
When my dog turned up with hookworms I was told to be very careful about cleaning up after her and wearing solid shoes during the treatment. But what about neighbors and strays?
1
That's all very well and good, but how about hookworm whose common route of entry into the human body is through the (bare) foot? In the developing world--where many of us Americans vacation-- a high worm burden (acquired through bare feet) can lead to anemia.
I say shoes are an advancement.
19
@Julie O'Toole MD It's not an either-or proposition. Just a suggestion that it might occasionally be beneficial to ditch the shoes. No one's telling you to walk through the streets of Mumbai unshod.
6
@Julie O'Toole MD
My mother wouldn't allow my brothers and I to go barefoot during childhood because of worms. I know dogs and cats can get hookworms, and I wonder whether the increase in feral cats is spreading this parasite in cities and suburbs.
5
@Julie O'Toole MD as one who grew up in the steep and gravel-coated mountains of WV, I'd say shoes are a lot more comfortable.
6
Around our condo, I get surprised looks from many people when I trod down to our basement to get packages, and I usually explain to them that I grew up in the suburbs, often walking on grass. In truth, I was always barefoot indoors - no shoes in the house - and during warmer months on the grass, only occasionally on the blacktop, and then primarily as a game, to see which one of us could tolerate the heat the longest.
From reading about other studies, I assume my high arches are at partially a result of walking barefoot throughout much of my life, and my spouse and I both require shoes off in our home, although my sister, subject to the same rules, is more flat-footed than most.
As for one of the interpretations of the results of this study, stresses can be both good and bad, as in weight-bearing exercise, so the additional stress from shoes could conceivably be positive. That could have been assessed in the sensitivity study if they had the equipment.
6
What about "cyclical force?" The study that showed improved stem cell production around the knee joints with the steady pounding force on legs and knees when running?
3
@John Booke Running is better for the knee joints ?
@kenneth A number of good studies have challenged the notion that running is bad for the knees.