The foot on the left has never worn shoes.The foot on the right is of a boy who has worn shoes for just a few weeks. (())
This photo was taken by Phil Hoffmann in 1905, long before Adidas or Nike had us believe that our feet need support and motion control to stop us rolling about as we waddle along, feet like ships in a storm.
Our feet are beautifully designed springs. The arch should not be too high, so the foot has maximum bounce. High arches equate to stiff feet that have lost vital ability to absorb impact.
As we run or walk along, our toes should spread out. And if we examine the foot on the left above, we can see that in fact the big toe is aligned slightly inside the heel. !! It’s part of the design that it should sit like that. !! Also look at the little toe – there’s a nice space between it and the 4th toe. This means that the child’s foot on the right has been caged in shoes that disallow that natural spread of the toes and already the foot is closing in.
A strong, healthy foot needs a shoe with toe space, no raised heel and no arch support which will keep both foot bones and muscles strong and pliant.
The two makes of shoe that most fit this are Vivobarefoot and Vibram five fingers. I can assure you that both sorts of shoe look odd. The Vivobarefoot range have what is called a big toe box, which means they are hugely rounded, giving the toes loads of room to do their thing. As you peer down at your feet, they look simply enormous. And the complete lack of raised heel also makes them look a bit odd. We are all so used to seeing narrowed shoes with some type of raised heel, after all. Shoes with narrower toes and even a small heel lift make the foot look smaller.
The Vivobarefoot shoe is blown away for oddity by the Vibram fivefingers, of course. These resemble gloves for the feet and people see them as seriously weird.
Most trainer manufacturers are producing some sort of barefoot trainer and it is good to see trainers getting more minimal. Vivobarefoot also make shoes as well as trainers.
Which means there is a growing trend for barefoot shoes, which will ultimately be a good thing since our feet will regain lost strength and we will become less injury prone. However, in America, Vibrams are being sued for precisely this – failing to live up to the promise of making the feet stronger and more injury resistant. Unfortunately, just ditching the Asics and running like a loon in a pair of foot gloves is not enough to make our feet like those of someone who has only ever lived barefoot.
The bones of the feet form a complex arch and there are four layers of muscle in each foot. An important fact to get the head around is that we adapt completely and utterly to whatever we do – brain work, bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Which in this case means that if we wear normal shoes and trainers, our feet cannot do their thing, so lose the ability to do their thing – and how we move as a result is imprinted in our brain. The arch of the foot gets messed up and the muscles get either weak or very stiff. Which means for minimal shoes to have maximum positive effect, we need brain re-mapping, foot strengthening, and mobilising exercises along with easing our way into the new shoes.
If we do this, bendy toes will slowly straighten out. However bent toes or a severe bunion may never go completely straight, but they should straighten somewhat and certainly not get worse.
The more supportive the shoe, the worse it gets. Long term use of orthotics are the last straw to foot health, completely negating the need for the muscles of the foot to do anything at all. Both are exactly like wearing a neck brace day in, day out and expecting our neck to be strong without the brace. How can it be?
When changing to minimal shoes, it is essential to try out as many different types as possible to find what suits your feet as they are now. As the feet strengthen and regain lost suppleness and strength, the type of shoe will change to even more minimal.
An initial problem with a completely minimal shoe is the lack of any type of cushioning. I promise you can feel every stone and bump. Of course, this is good since it improves feedback from the feet; it also toughens the feet up, making the sole itself thicker – yup, your feet get fat on the bottom. Good news: your feet feel the cold less.
Some diehards say the lack of cushioning causes problems and we were never designed to walk and run on hard surfaces. Way back in 1949 there was a study done on 3,906 people in China and 1,222 people in India – these people had never worn shoes. Their feet were compared with the feet of Americans. Shoeless feet were found to be astonishingly healthier in every way than the feet of the American population: this means that barefoot people didn’t suffer plantar fascitis, heel spurs, hammer toes, verrucas, torn achilles tendons, tight calf muscles and all the crap that people commonly struggle with.
In the course of the study, they looked at the feet of rickshaw coolies: now these men run hard every day over cobbles.
One hundred and eighteen of those interviewed were rickshaw coolies. Because these men spend very long hours each day on cobblestone or other hard roads pulling their passengers at a run it was of particular interest to survey them. If anything, their feet were more perfect than the others. All of them, however, gave a history of much pain and swelling of the foot and ankle during the first few days of work as a rickshaw puller. But after a rest of two days or a week’s more work on their feet, the pain and swelling passed away and never returned again. There is no occupation more strenuous for the feet than trotting a rickshaw on hard pavement for many hours each day yet these men do it without pain or pathology. ((Samuel B. Shulman. Survey in China and India of feet that have never worn shoes. The Journal of the national association of Chiropodists. 1949. Vol 9 pages 26-30. This is a free access article and well worth a read. It’s not very long.))
At one extreme, some say we should abandon shoes altogether. I once went on a running course with a wonderful Alexander Technique teacher called John Woodward, and he never ever wore shoes, and certainly he was impervious to cold and gravel. But he did have to take great care not to run on glass or flint. Sharp stuff still cuts the feet of the most hardy barefooter.
There is a terrific amount to be gained from ditching the normal shoes – not least never being short of conversation with complete strangers. We do have to work at the change and not just expect our poor feet and body to just get used to it. By small aside, as a result of stronger feet, we girlies can withstand a decent set of heels on occasion and our toes will not become horrid twiddly things as a result.
Finally here is a link to a terrific blog about going barefoot. It’s long and even more rambly than me – but there is a great discussion of the pros and cons of barefooting, along with some good jokes.