Why I Go Barefoot

Walking barefoot has become an increasingly popular trend in the past years, however, there is more to it than what originally meets the eye. At first, it might seem crazy, dangerous, and bad for your feet. But what if I told you, it’s the exact opposite. All throughout history, humans have gone either barefoot or worn “minimalist” shoes. It wasn’t until recently that humans decided to start sporting thick and heavily cushioned and supportive shoes and despite common belief, the heavily cushioned and supportive shoes are not based on research. While some may look at minimalist shoes and call them a fad, I’d argue the opposite, in my opinion heavily cushioned and supportive shoes are a fad, and it’s time for them to go. Our feet are strong and meant for use, our shoes do everything for our feet and as a result, we have weak feet. Heavily supportive shoes cause our feet muscles to atrophy and that is how we develop flat feet and bunions for example. There’s a reason arches are used to build bridges and other buildings that require strength, arches are strong structures. Why do we desire arch support in shoes when the arch is such a strong formation? Our shoes have weakened our feet to the point where we are now dependent on them and it’s time to break that dependence.

Why I go barefoot:

One thing that I do regularly now is going on barefoot walks, I‘ve grown to love them and look forward to them throughout the week. I go on these walks for a variety of reasons, but the biggest reason is that I find it fun, it’s a new challenge for me and something that I enjoy getting better at. Another reason is that it both strengthens and toughens my feet, each time I go out it progressively gets easier and I can walk faster and further each time. At first, my feet grew sore as I walked due to weak foot muscles and sore due to stepping on things. Over time my feet have grown tremendously stronger and tougher, and I no longer am afraid when walking through a rougher section of the trial. My feet adapted much faster than I anticipated, after about 2 weeks of walking 3 days a week my feet were much stronger and tougher than when they originally started.

Benefits of Going Barefoot:

There are many benefits to ditching the shoes and going barefoot but, first and foremost, it’s good for your feet. Feet in traditional shoes atrophy due to the support and become weak, going barefoot will allow you to develop stronger and more natural feet. Traditional shoes force us to change our stride and gait resulting in less use of the foot and its muscles. Using the foot less and less will cause it to become more and more dependent on supportive shoes. Thankfully we can reverse the damage by simply spending more time barefoot. There is a growing body of research that claims that going barefoot/wearing minimalist shoes can help offset the development of cognitive decline such as Alzheimer’s, this effect is believed to be due to increased proprioceptive feedback from the feet which results in more brain activity when walking. The overarching theme of this is, “use it or lose it.”

Encourages Good Form

Going barefoot also encourages good form. It does this by increasing proprioceptive feedback, which means that your feet feel more with every contact. Often this causes more of a shift in form for runners and less of a shift in walkers, however, both typically shift a little to automatically correct their form. Most often I see people shift from a forceful heel strike to more of a softer heel strike or even more forward to the midfoot or forefoot.

Grounding:

I also love that I can go outside and ground for as long as I’m out there. Grounding (also known as earthing) is when our skin can come in contact with the ground, the Earth has a field of electrons around it and our rubber soles shoes have caused us to lose connection to the Earth. Radiation from EMFs and other frequencies enter our bodies and causes us to get “charged” with negative energy, direct contact with the ground helps us get rid of that energy and become more electrically balanced. If you’re interested in grounding, leave me a comment and I’ll talk more about it in a future article.

Other Benefits:

Walking and running barefoot, or with minimalist shoes/sandals have a lot of other benefits as well. Walking on its own is a good exercise and can be a useful tool for getting back in shape. Being outside in nature also exposes you to fresh air (hopefully, depending on your area) and natural light which has plenty of proven benefits such as an increased mood and better sleep.

Problems I’ve Had and How to Deal With Them:

I haven’t had many problems since starting to go barefoot more often, I believe this is mostly because of how slow I started so that my feet had time to adapt. The biggest problem I have experienced though is when I increased the intensity too quickly one week, I walked on a much rockier trail that my feet were not tough enough for yet and the next day carpet felt a lot rougher than normal. The sensitivity went away after a day or two though and only affected me when I was barefoot around the house, I had no issues once I put socks on. If you are patient and take your time building up mileage and intensity this shouldn’t be a problem.

Another issue I’ve come across is also related to simply increasing mileage or intensity too quickly. This can also result in sore muscles in the feet, this is pretty common especially due to our current shoes providing all the support our feet never have to work for themselves. The muscles in your feet most likely will not be used to the exercise and get sore quickly. The muscles in your feet are just like every other muscle so, getting sore isn’t necessarily bad but don’t push it to the point of pain. Just remember to take your time and eventually your feet will get strong.

The last issue I’ve had going barefoot is sharp objects, it’s important to be sure that where you walk is safe and free of broken glass and other hazardous objects that could cut your foot. With that being said, it is much easier to look out for man-made hazards like glass than natural hazards like sticks and stones. Thankfully the trails near me are very clean and free of man-made hazards, however, there are plenty of natural hazards on them. Going slow and steady helps a lot and allows you to have time to scan the trail for things to avoid and thankfully most sharp natural objects don’t break the skin. I’ve been barefoot walking for a while now and have only gotten a small cut once despite stubbing my toe on a rock or stick every once in a while. When I got the cut, I examined it and determined that it wasn’t too bad, but I quickly finished my walk and went home and cleaned it out. If this happens I would recommend taking a little time off from barefoot walking, until the cut heals depending on where it is. I would take more time off if it is a spot that your foot contacts the ground to make sure that it doesn’t get infected.

Dangers of Going Barefoot:

There are a few dangers to taking off your shoes and going barefoot, however, most are pretty avoidable. The most common is stepping on a sharp object or something that could cause damage to the skin. In my experience this is fairly uncommon and typically not more than a scratch, however, a scratch can still get infected or hurt more depending on where you’re walking. I would be careful not to walk on anything too sharp especially near wildlife due to the chance that some of their excrements could make it onto the trail.

Another danger I would watch out for would be to avoid anywhere with stagnant water or where there are animal excrements. Walking here has an increased chance of getting a parasitic infection even if your foot is completely intact there’s still a chance. The pores of your feet are some of the largest on your body and allow an easy access point to unwanted creatures. While this may be scary it is easy to significantly reduce the risk by just walking in places that don’t have stagnant water or animal excrement.

While both of those dangers are the most intimidating, the most common by far is simply doing too much too soon. It is very important to slowly build into a barefoot habit and not jump in too fast. Training and strengthening your feet are just like any other muscle group, you can’t expect to run a marathon on the first day you run or deadlift 300 lbs your first day in a gym. Take the time to train your feet properly and try to have the training mindset you would use for any other athletic achievement.

Solutions to Dangers:

If done carefully going for barefoot walks can be a wonderful time. Avoiding the dangers can be easy if given the right amount of time to adjust. Taking it slow and allowing your feet to get stronger gradually is very important especially if you spend most of your time in heavily cushioned or supportive shoes. If you do spend most of your time in heavily cushioned or supportive shoes it could also be smart to transition to a zero drop or minimalist pair of shoes and then from there work your way towards barefoot, this will allow your feet to gradually transition down to barefoot instead of going straight from thick shoes to barefoot. Another thing you could do is bring a pair of sandals or shoes with you on your walks, I do this just in case there’s a rough section or if my feet get sore before I’m done. I have a pair of earth runners that I carry with me so that if I do have to put on shoes during the walk I can still be grounded and there’s no toe box so my toes can still splay naturally. Something else that helps a lot of people although I haven’t tried this yet are essential oils and lotions for your feet before and after the walk, this helps them stay strong and not dry out which may lead to cracking.

How to Start:

The most important thing I can say is to start slow. Do not expect to immediately start walking miles and miles on trails your first time. I transitioned to zero drop shoes and minimalist shoes before going barefoot a lot, once I got used to those shoes then I started to go barefoot more often. Before I started walking barefoot on the trails I would go for walks and runs in my earth runners. Even still I bring my earth runners with me just in case I need them at any point on my walk.

In conclusion, taking off your shoes and going barefoot every once in a while can have tremendous benefits but it’s not without its risk. Being smart and careful can about going barefoot can lead to some awesome adventures that will cause you to build up some strong feet and strong feet provide you with a strong base for almost every other movement in life.

I hope that this helped and provided you with good information about the benefits and dangers of going barefoot, if you have any comments or questions feel free to leave them and I’ll try to get back to you.