You Walk Wrong

[Barbigirl]

You Walk Wrong
Shoes - To Wear or Not to Wear

I read this article and I love my shoes. I loathe sensible ugly shoes, but at home I love to go barefoot. After reading this article I almost have a guilt factor for abusing my poor feet.

 

[KittyT]

Fascinating article, thanks for posting!

Makes me feel better about wearing my completely flat, thin-soled ballet flats with no arch support, and shoes like Salt Water sandals and Chuck Taylors too.

 

[AmateisGal]

Utterly fascinating.

But one of the reasons I never walked around barefoot growing up is because I was raised on a farm - and if you walked barefoot outside, you'd get stickers in your feet.

 

[KittyT]

But one of the reasons I never walked around barefoot growing up is because I was raised on a farm - and if you walked barefoot outside, you'd get stickers in your feet.

I can't tell you how many bees I stepped on as a child. It put me off walking barefoot early on in my life. I do walk barefoot around my house though. Another issue for me is that, being diabetic, I am just not supposed to walk around barefoot. That said, as my every day shoes, I tend to wear shoes with little support and no stiffness in the sole, that feel like I'm not really wearing shoes.

 

[Barbigirl]

Utterly fascinating.

But one of the reasons I never walked around barefoot growing up is because I was raised on a farm - and if you walked barefoot outside, you'd get stickers in your feet.

Me too, I grew up in the high desert and there were stickers galore, and scorpions too! My mother used to rank on us for going outside without shoes.

 

[AmateisGal]

I can't tell you how many bees I stepped on as a child. It put me off walking barefoot early on in my life. I do walk barefoot around my house though. Another issue for me is that, being diabetic, I am just not supposed to walk around barefoot. That said, as my every day shoes, I tend to wear shoes with little support and no stiffness in the sole, that feel like I'm not really wearing shoes.

I'm a diabetic, too, and when I went to my dietery class after first being diagnosed, I was wearing flip flops. Boy, the nurse wasn't happy with me! lol

 

[zaika]

great article!! i've always loved walking barefoot, and missed it when i moved to the city where i had less of an opportunity to walk around sans shoes.

i might have to get me those vivo's...

 

[freebird]

I'm a diabetic, too, and when I went to my dietery class after first being diagnosed, I was wearing flip flops. Boy, the nurse wasn't happy with me! lol

makes 3 of us, type 1 for 35 years. I go barefoot in the house, but when going outside I wear a pear of croc knock offs. Ugly as sin, but they are ok'd for diabetics.

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

Wow... I shove my feet into at least a two-inch heel every day. Makes me feel a little bad for my tootsies...

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Barbigal...trust me. Having witnessed it, and reactions from the men around you, you walk right!

 

[jayem]

Since I work in a hospital and am on my feet 8-12 hours everday, I tend to wear those ugly-as-sin crocs about 85% of my day. I will admit, they are quite comfortable and my feet are not sore when I get home. According to this article, those are the worse since they're nothing but padding. Eh, oh well...

 

[ShoreRoadLady]

Throughout my life I've hated big, bulky shoes, and tend to walk barefoot when possible.

These days, however, I wonder if I don't have some of that tendon shortening mentioned in the article, since I do wear (moderate) heels most of the time. It's pretty uncomfortable to wear flats now, although part of that may be the lack of flexibility in the soles.

Another really interesting issue is body alignment and how it relates to health. No, not an Eastern mysticism sort of "alignment" - but the way your bones are supposed to relate to each other. We have a few books by a fellow named Egoscue, and there's some relevant information about how our muscles tweak our bodies all out of alignment, which in turn affects how we move, our gait, etc. IIRC he does mention something about barefoot being better for you.

 

[Ada Veen]

Oh, really interesting. I just went mad and bought a pair, they were quite expensive so I hope they are ok!

I have really high arches and a podiatrist told me I should always wear arch supports, so I wonder which is true...apparently people with high arches tend to roll inward on their feet a little bit, so their muscles are not aligned properly. You can also have the opposite problem of rolling outward. She told me you can always tell by looking where your shoes are worn at the heel, and if it is to the outside or inside. I tend to unconciously notice it on other people now, and have noticed quite a few people seem completely unaligned in those 'Ugg' type boots.

I imagine though that walking as nature intended might strengthen your arches... but then quite often tribal peoples have very flat feet. If anyone knows I'd be interested to hear. I quite like having high arches anyway, it makes me feel like I could be a ballerina (shame I can't even touch my toes!)lol

I also have a pair of trainers I bought in China from the Shaolin temple, that all the monks were wearing, and the sole on those was very flexible and super bouncy, they feel completely different from normal shoes. They were about 50p too! I found them on this website, though a little more expensive... you can buy them here. Apparently they have been making them since the 1920s, so they are vintage too, I never realised! The plain ones do look pretty vintagey.

the ones I have:

these ones are nice too:

phew, what a long rambling message!

 

[Rufus]

In an ideal world we would walk around barefoot.... but trying doing that in NYC, or London! You'd have hepatitis by lunctime!

I'm a soft city boy, and I love my shoes! Hurray for technology!

Rufus

 

[Ada Veen]

Didn't people walk round London barefoot in the 60s? And Sienna Miller does it. Doesn't mean I want to, mind.

 

[Sunny]

I used to really hate shoes. To this day I do not wear shoes unless I'm going somewhere. I was homeschooled, so that meant I had a lot of shoe-less time! When it was cold I wore holes in all my socks; I couldn't be barefoot, but I was still shoeless. I still have significant calluses on my feet. I've never understood why the other girls tried to get rid of theirs...

These days, however, I wonder if I don't have some of that tendon shortening mentioned in the article, since I do wear (moderate) heels most of the time. It's pretty uncomfortable to wear flats now, although part of that may be the lack of flexibility in the soles.

Stiff flats really are no joke, even when they stay on. Mine always slip off my heels if they won't flex with my foot. For some reason heels stay on much better. My favorite pair of flats have very flexible rubber soles. I even use them for Civil War dancing, when losing a shoe would be a very serious matter, and love them.

 

[KittyT]

Stiff flats really are no joke, even when they stay on. Mine always slip off my heels if they won't flex with my foot. For some reason heels stay on much better. My favorite pair of flats have very flexible rubber soles. I even use them for Civil War dancing, when losing a shoe would be a very serious matter, and love them.

For those of you who like flats, the ones they have at Target have thin but durable soles that are very flexible. I can bend mine in half.

 

[Paisley]

I just wonder if people get foot problems because they wear heavily padded shoes, or they wear heavily padded shoes because they have foot problems.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

A podiatrist I went to once told me that he got rich because of women's wearing pointed-toe high heels. He said they can wear them when they are young, but, as they get older, they get horrid foot problems.

Tina Turner might be the exception.

I never could wear them, just couldn't balance myself well when I wore them. Turned out later my Xrays revealed one leg shorter than the other by about a half-an-inch and I also had spina bifida occulta, which is not dangerous like spina bifida is.

When I asked the chirpractor what it would cause, she said, "you've probably always had an awkward gate and were not good at balancing sports."

True, true. Couldn't roller skate or ice skate, couldn't ski, and not too good at gynastics, either. I hate to tell you the number of teachers who had me walking with a book on my head -- to no avail.

karol

 

[NoirDame]

My Response...

...while I'd hate to be dismissive of this, I am.

My entire leg hurts when I do not wear shoes...so I fail to see how that is 'good' and to be preferred. I notice a major difference between wearing shoes and not wearing shoes while cooking dinner. Guess which one makes me sorry?

I also have Patella-Femoral Syndrome which is a chronic and painful knee condition. Bare feet exacerbates that as well.

I guess they can have all the research they want. My own personal experiences and what my body tell me are more valid to me.

Bare feet are only good in the shower, swimming pool, bed and at the beach.