For me the reason shoes/trainers are more cushioned is because the world we traverse (now) is now largely concrete. I'd happily run around barefoot, no shoes, if we walked on grass/jungle/mud etc, like we used to but we don't. Anytime I wear shoes with a very thin heel (Converse All Star for example) my knees take the brunt and I'm in agony for a while after but when I wear my Nike Pegasus around town I have no such problems and, so far, no issue with my feet becoming pointed either. To be honest I don't like that there is a debate about this because to me it always feels like one or the other is trying to push a product or sell something and at this point (no pun intended) it's mostly the barefoot community. Wear what is comfortable and affordable to you, end of story.
I used to wear all stars. These shoes may have thin soles but they are too stiff and do not allow much bending of the arch which reduces its flexibility. Moreover, they are too narrow. My bunion problems began from youth when I was mostly wearing these shoes. Thin soles should also be flexible. Much better if there is also much toe space.
You cannot heel strike while barefoot. Heel striking is a counternatural walking gait we developed to adapt to our thick heeled shoes. Try a forefoot strike walking/running style: well cushioned even on hard, flat surfaces, and far "springier" and energy efficient than heel striking.
You should try changing the way you walk, walking shouldnt be painful. Like masonthonas2799 said, try a flatter walking style. My walking style changed to be a lot flatter and my posture while walking changed, for the better, to allow for it
@@masonthomas2799so...don't activate your glutes then. Gotcha. People shouldn't tip toe their way through life either. For running/scrimmage shoes, they have a "cushioned heel" to discourage a heel strike. For quick pivoting. You are quoting propaganda if you believe that we would even be using our full core without the heel strike.
What you feel comfortable in is highly correlated with how you walk. Of course, if you don't step lightly, less cushion underneath your foot will make your joints hurt. Barefoot walking is different from cushioned shoe walking.
Just a warning for everyone: Take the last part of this video seriously. Don't run in them when you start out. Even if you're about to miss a train and be late for work. I didn't listen and managed to get a stress fracture in my left midfoot. It took about 3 months for the fracture to heal, and another 9 months for the pain to go away. It's only been about two months now that I can walk without pain again.
Woah so that's what happened to me. just happened to start trying to run again and didnt feel like buying running shoes and ended up not being able to do it for a few months. My doctor must have been right about the type of injury but it was a couple months before I got an mri for it and by then I had rehabilitated naturally
@@smallman9787 quite possible. It's unfortunate that you got your mri late, because it actually looked really cool while it was healing ^^' But I'm glad you're doing better now!
Guys I've never had barefoot shoes. Bought some and immediately used them for everyday walking + running (only couple hundred meters, not real jogging or endurance training!! Just as information for you people) and the gym. Nothing really felt different except my feet feeling more blood circulation and a bit hot, also felt more exhausting first 3 days? Something wrong with my shoes or I'm just lucky nothing happened? (I never used running shoes before, I walk around in "normal" Nike sneakers usually)
I as a water park lifeguard for two years I worked barefoot or had minimalist shoes on concrete and in water. In the military I wore boots, both steel toe and ordinary, and I’ve used both thin soled shoes and thick custom sole expensive running shoes. The way I walk wearing any of these is entirely different. I think people need to understand that there isn’t a singular option for all situations and that knowing what you’ll expect out of the day should change how you chose to go into it. Different kinds of foot wear exist for to fill a different roll and to cater to a different need or foot shape, or to accommodate for an issue someone might be having. People that insist that they have the one solution for all problems are just jackasses.
I was thinking the whole time, Show me a steel toe version. also my feet just hurt on concrete. like a lot, I have always landed with the side of my foot or just a light amount of heal from walking bare foot the majority of my childhood. But I would like something more flexible with how my foot is very narrow when I pick it up but very wide when I step down.
@@TheBSishere - for what it's worth: my experience in looking to achieve those same goals, I've found that for casual daily use I do well with a larger shoe. Some of those are able to tighten down enough through lacing to prevent rubbing and blistering if I need to run or go on a longer hike. I also rarely use the stock insole alone - I'm usually replacing that with something that suits my arch better, or at least adding a thin liner on top of the stock one. Hope your search goes well!
Exactly. Used to work in a lumberyard and which I’d have worn steel toed boots a few times. Similarly when it rains I wear rain boots - which aren’t the most comfortable but they keep my feet dry.
Being flat of foot and having tried all sorts of shoes with arch supports, even bespoke orthotics, I absolutely love my barefoot shoes. I started in Vibrams with the separated toes for the gym and I just splashed out on Vivobarefoot Balerinas which make me feel as if I want to fly. I'll have to chuck all my other shoes because I just know they're now going to feel like concrete by comparison. Of course, foot exercises also help with this. I can walk far longer and with no blisters and less stress and effort. I even think my arches feel more pronounced. I'll never go back. Just a technical comment, though. As a former radio broadcaster, your edits are ridiculously tight: with truncated word endings, sentences running unnaturally into one another and no time for listeners to keep up with your dialogue because your natural pauses have been cut. Large editing gaps not only mimic natural conversation, they give the brain time to keep up with the myriad changes in topic. I also think that a slightly slower pace would make the important information you are imparting easier to digest.
I used to have flat flat arches. I'd go to a snowboard shop show them my feet and ask for insoles and they would immediately point me to the flattest sole. I've been minimalist barefoot for 3 years now. Last time I went to buy new insoles the bootfitter looked at my feet and thought I was a mid or high soler! You will develop an arch from it.
What i dont understand : "Why are minimalist shoes being sold for maximalist prices?" As you sort of said, no padding, no exotic materials, just the bare minimals. If prices were more reasonable id reckon more people would switch.
It's always like this. I have the same problem with products that contain parfume like shampoo, soap, washing powder etc. due to allergies. The few who don't have parfume added are always the most expensive. Add less product = add extra price.
@@Nathan_Bookwurm If they cant parfume the product, they have to use better quality stuff in it. Things which don't smell badly. I accept a higher price for non-parfumed products. I choose them simply because I don't like the smell of the parfuned ones. The problem is that non-parfumed things aren’t in every shop. I think they actually have less profit on them!
I can’t speak for the other shoe companies, but Vivo are high priced because of being a regenerative business. They have a great way of doing business which makes sure that everything and everyone on the chain to producing the shoe is paid a good wage, treated with respect and is able to be sustained for many years.
I'm not sure of it but maybe economies of scale are at play here, most of the industry is focused on "standard" shoes so if they make something different it's more expensive.
I didn't even know there was a barefoot movement until I accidentally transformed my feet. I was laid off during the pandemic, and became a stay at home partner after, and started going barefoot all day every day. It wasn't until I realized regular shoes didn't fit anymore and I started researching it that I figured out what was going on.
@@shish_taoukwell no. Since barefoot shoes are really bad for your feet. Realistically you should really only wear shoes and go barefoot equally. A balanced fair of both.
@@shish_taouk……barefoot minimalist is all I will wear unless I am hunting and then my dad makes me wear boots. I put them on then feel like I’m clunking around in my boots.
Been doing that for years now though and...what? Does everyone need to have a special plotline lol? Ive never needed any barefoot shoes. Are yall sure you arent just severely susceptible to "you are special" marketing tactics?
@@Tinylittledansonman Your feet are just stuck squished. You are on a video irrelevant to you. That’s you looking for a “plot line” I guess Others have had the problem for a while and they just now are making foot shaped shoes that’s aren’t TOE shoes. So it’s new to you. Not to anyone else
I swapped to barefoot shoes for a few years and my feet are a lot stronger and better. The problem is that I needed to switch back after a couple of years because I had some knee pain. As you said a toe strike walk is awkward and sub-optimal so as much as I would try, I always switched back to having a heel strike walk. I always toe strike when I run and now I have my barefoot shoes for running, snow, hiking, and play, but for work I'll wear some shoes with a cushion because I don't want to damage myself because I walk on those ultra hard surfaces for about 8 hours a day. I work on my feet, so I'm standing on it that long. Although I'm pro-barefoot shoes, they will always be bad if you're standing on tile and concrete for 8 hours a day. I would like just wide toe box shoes with a little padding so I can use them at work.
Altra make cushioned foot-shaped trainers. Also, all Birkenstock are wide toe box and zero drop, but they do come with their cork sole. You can take that out in some models.
I'd like wide toe box cushioned shoes with arch support for standing for long periods. They're either only trainers, which not everywhere allows, don't have cushioning and support, or you can only get a wider toe box in wide shoes. I don't have wide feet, so they are to loose everywhere else. I just need a wider toe box due to tailor's bunions caused by a combination of genetics and wearing regular shoes (women's shoes look nice, but are mean to feet).
Let me know if you find a cushioned wide toe box- I work on my feet on concrete and I take shoes to change at lunch- toe squeeze and bottom of the feet happy, or happy toes and ball of the foot/ heel pain. If Alta made a thicker cushioned one, that would be awesome.
Also 6 years into barefoot shoes, cheers. Has been a change for the better in almost every way (the expense and style rarity being the few cons). Worth it for me.
@@BenVallack I have for quite some time been wearing leather soled shoes with a hard leather heel. I used to have the same mentality as barefoot "minimalist shoe wearers. I was hoping that the fact that its hard and not cushioned, would cause my feet get stronger, and I would put less stress on my joints for longevity of the body. But I have also noticed after longs days of work more often pain and in my legs and feet. The question it brings up for me is if the shoe is compressing less and taking less of that impact for us, that doesn't that mean we actually put more stress on our joints? It could also very well be the fact that dress shoes do not compare to barefoot shoes as they do have a heel and are quite hard.
@@pyotrilyichtchaikovsky3733 I'm not the maker of the video, but I can answer this. Basically, the natural way of running at speed is to land on the forefoot as was said in the video. When we do land on our forefoot, our tendons and muscles (for example, the calf muscle and Achilles tendon) take all the force of the landing. This produces no wear and tear (as long as you do not overuse your tendons and muscles to the point of breakdown), because muscles and tendons are elastic and self-repair. However, if you land on your heel, then your muscles and tendons cannot contribute to taking the force of the landing because you are landing straight onto the bone of your foot. This force is transmitted through your body including your knees and hips. The larger the force, the greater the chances of injury or breakdown with every step. This is why heelstriking causes a higher rate of injury amongst runners. To answer your question - if you do heelstrike while walking/running, then wearing a thinner shoe WILL put stress on your joints. If you feel pain, than this could be the reason. The strength of your feet is only relevant when landing on the forefoot (the ball of the foot), because only there can the muscles of the toe, foot and calf get involved. Dress shoes may make it difficult to walk with more of a forefoot focus because they have a heel and a very solid sole, which limits the flexion of the foot and the involvement of the toes. Hope I helped.
For people living in cities or anywhere where they're walking mostly on hard surfaces, with barefoot shoes just imagine you're living on a mountain-beach and you have to walk with no shoes all day on rocks. First few minutes would feel good, but if you have to travel more you'd quickly get very tired by just WALKING and very soon you'd find yourself using your heel more and more, ending the day very tired and with all joints damaged. But if you have to walk short distances or walk mostly on dirt/grass is totally worth switching to barefoot shoes.
I've never worn barefoot shoes but I grew up wearing converse and other skate shoes because anything that wasn't a flat sole felt really weird to me. I didn't really know anything about the difference between heel striking and walking normally until this video, but it totally aligns with my experience. When I had to get some more supportive shoes for work recently I had to basically learn to heel strike more often. Edit: I was never claiming that shoes with flatter soles are like barefoot shoes, or that Converse are in any way inherently more ergonomic (they've killed my feet before too, their build quality sucks since the Nike acquistion, and they've killed my feet before too). I'm simply sharing my experience.
OMGG!! I've had the exact same experience. the flat, dense padding of converse and vans makes for a more natural stride in my opinion. i always liked those shoes because digging my heel first into the ground as i walk just felt extremely strange to me, even if i felt """faster"""", almost as if i was generating more power with each step.
you have to have a deeper understanding here and there are many resources,books and research that could help you. The whole muscle-tendon system of feet and legs changes dramatically after switching to barefoot or barefoot shoes. This does not occur in one day and it requires much and specific exercises to make a smooth transition and to avoid injuries. You see, mechanotrunsduction results in our tendons and muscles getting shorter over time, so transitioning to a zero elevated heel could put much tension at the back, hips and could stress the body. After the transition is completed, which takes a different amount of time and effort for each individual, the whole gait pattern changes, the alignment of spine changes, the weight is distributed evenly, toes get more range of movement, arch muscle is activated, nervous system of foot's sole is stimulated and blood supply on feet is regained to the fullest.
I loved this little break down but in fact a lot of the pointy shoe design did not necessarily come from rich people simply hating on poor people, but since many of the ruling class rode horses pointed shoes were MUCH easier to allow you to slip your foot shoe and all into the stirrup so you could ride the horse without falling off the most popular example of this is in cowboy shoes often seen in the midwest the point toe allows ease of slipping into the stirrup its also why they often have flat slippery leather soles to allow them to even more easily slip into the stirrup.
All fashion trends had their beginnings in something practical, that was then adopted by elite class as stylized imitation fashion, without the practical "hey, we need and use this", and then became a status symbol to parade in front of the plebians. I'm sure things like makeup started practically, probably in theatre, was then copied by the wealthy (theatre with costumes and makeup not being accessible to the poor), etc. Case in point, pointed shoes worn by knights, who could afford a separate set of riding shoes and make frequent use of them, well, knighting was for the wealthy, so even wealthy non-knights started wearing them, but without the hardcore practical design aspects, just as a stylized imitation version. In general, "high fashion" is purposely about being impractical, so show off to others how wealthy you are and how little manual labor (or anything else practical for that matter) you need to be doing. Pointy shoes, high heels, make up, long fingernails, fancy dress, fancy hair, delicate any and everything, corsets, heck, even throw foot binding in there, since there's no way you could grow up to adulthood with bound feet without being wealthy and having an army of people looking after all your needs.
@Marius 007 I mean. We can look at recent trends. Look at 4x4 vehicles. I've been an offroad enthusiast my entire life. I'm a farmer. 4x4s and heavy duty trucks are a necessity for my line of work - look how many workhorse vehicles became luxurious family mobiles. Guys running stretched tires on brand new 4x4s. Work boots - there's a huge following online for guys buying work boots for fashion. Pocket knives - tons of folks have $500+ knives they'll never use for a status symbol. I mean they're smaller less impactful things.. but Trends I've seen change in my lifetime. As far as the actual video - I bought minimalist combat boots when I was in the Army. They weren't awful.. but up to that point in my life all I had to compare them to were steel toe pull on work boots. I didn't really notice a substantial improvement in anything. Those boots were crazy comfortable for those long hauls where you're in boots for 48+ hours.
I've been obsessed with keeping my keep bare since I was born (literally, I grew up being regailed about all the times as a toddler I'd just rip off my shoes, throw them, then take off running). This has carried into my adulthood, and I've always had a toe-first walk. I also have stupidly wide feet that most shoes don't accommodate for. I'm glad you made this video to talk about how barefoot walking changes our bodies. I've always been a bit wary of my walk, as I've always been told that I'm "doing it wrong", but that also seemed very counter intuitive to me because we obviously didn't evolve WITH shoes, and bodies are usually such delicately tuned machines that when we change the slightest thing, we can throw everything out of whack... and don't shoes change our bodies? I actually wrote an essay in middle school about how shoe-wearing is a big conspiracy, and I started it as a sort of silly-extreme argument to make an essay about. I honestly didn't think I'd find much to support my argument, but I started with a book that a local librarian helped me find, and that book had a lot of the points you've made here (I wish I could remember the title, but all I recall is that it's pro-barefoot lifestyle, and has an entire chapter about how crocs and flip-flops are huge indicators on how badly fast fashion has screwed our environment). This book planted the seeds of, "So, I'm not wrong to strive for a barefoot lifestyle?", but outside of that middle school experience back at the cusp of the millennium, I really haven't seen much talk about it. Thanks for validating the way my body has simply been for my whole life, and thanks for letting others know that maybe we need to rethink our relationship with shoes.
Excellent video. I am elderly and obese. Barefoot walking has significantly helped improve my balance: I can now go up and down steps sequentially instead of one at a time. When I walk, I focus on lifting my rib cage to improve my posture, and on powering each stride from my glutes and hamstrings. I try to glide my foot into contact with the terrain like I’m landing an airplane, so the strike, though affecting the entire sole, is more centered in the midsole region. Where I live, we have very uneven sidewalks, and my feet are now not only stronger but also more sensitive to these defects so they don’t trip me up.
the best thing by far i've seen for improving posture is hanging from a pullup bar, even for less than 4 minutes a day without putting all of your weight on it. also pullup bars are cheap to get.
I’m a runner who transitioned to barefoot shoes (the old five fingers). Thank you for stressing the need to slowly transition, many tried to swap over without an adjustment period, only to end up injured. I have now settled on a brand called Altra which is zero drop with a wide toe box. They have padding, it’s hard running ultra bush marathons without some padding. I have no problems with knees or hips, it just seems very natural now.
Personally I prefer Topos as they give a slightly better feel on the forefoot. They also last longer!! Each to their own. My VFF’s are still going strong after 2000+ miles. I just can’t wear them out !!!
When I switched to Altra, my pantar faciitis went away and my little toe that was curling in and causing pain straightened out. On smooth surfaces without any gravel or rocks, I prefer barefoot running, but most courses I need the Altras.
So i'm one of the wierdos that played barefoot outside as a kid almost exclusively except for sport, and continue to do so today. Heel striking is totally normal. I never had barefoot shoes until I got a corporate job and my feet started to ache in heeled pointy boots. Traded them out after 6 months and I'm so happy. I think the surface you are on is the biggest issue. You walk naturally how you should barefoot. Watch kids who are 1 year in to walk, it's fascinating how well they move. Great video!
@@dawnforlife in the states a lot of people, especially older people, will make comments about you if you're barefoot. i grew up in a small woodsy town and always spent most of my time barefoot and only wore shoes into town and to school. i moved to a small city and even if i'm simply taking out the garbage i have neighbors that point out that i'm barefoot, as if i was unaware. lol. also a lot of old people scolding me for not making my kids wear shoes when we play in the grass. it's weird to me but it's because of these interactions that i've realized that most of america prefers shoes always, at least the older generations do.
@@lettus143 It’s due to health hazards like broken glass and parasites like hookworm. Hookworm got so bad that it effected the population of the American south so bad that it caused a stereotype of them being dumb and lazy which was true bc they were sick from hookworm making them lethargic and such
Yep I grew up barefoot and still do go mostly. We also don’t allow shoe wearing in the house. I encourage my kids not wear shoes outside as much as possible to except when we are in our livestock pens
Bare everywhere, I've found a few distinct gaits have popped up: Comfiest ground walk (grass, moss): Heel strike, very efficient, somewhat fast, good for a long walk taking minimal energy Rough ground walk: Middle/flat strike for a wider surface taking the grit, noticeably more knee/quad engagement to slow/absorb the impact (like a mini squat) Slippy/muddy/incline/decline walk: Forefoot with active toe spreading and clawing, you can get so much grip by digging into the ground and clasping it, applying weight just on forefoot let's you sink deeper. Having toes spread in all directions reduces slip too as some toes are always against the slip grain Running: Virtually always forefoot, the rougher the ground the more knee bending/mini squatting to absorb impact, mid footing where really bad, but the speed of forefoot is mad It's so cool how they do it themselves, free those dogs
A few years ago my husband and I started running but I had the hardest time with it- half a mile in I'd have terrible knee pain and shin splints. I bought fancy high cushioned running shoes, but that just made it worse. Then my husband started talking about barefoot shoes- I thought he was crazy 😂 But eventually I tried them and loved them! Since switching to barefoot shoes my pain went away completely and I can actually run! It was a slow transition/process but it was definitely worth it! *Edit- A lot of people have suggested that it was my overall level of fitness and not the shoes that make the difference. Recently I've tried cushioned running shoes of the regular variety and with a wider toe box. The knee and shin pain came back pretty quickly. And no, I didn't go into wearing the cushioned shoes hoping they'd fail. I had high hopes particularly for the wide toe box shoes- I thought they could be good for longer runs. But they weren't and I just can't wear them. If cushioned, running shoes work for you then great! But barefoot running shoes genuinely do work best for me. Just because I greatly abridged my barefoot journey for the RUclips comments section doesn't mean it wasn't a careful, well thought out, well researched opinion. Best of luck picking your own running shoes!
I`ve had a lot of issues with my knee after an accident, but found that using "flat" soled shoes helped a lot, it makes you walk more naturally, at kleast for me (:
And have you tried normal old style flat running shoes? I don't like any of those new shoes that look like they stuck a slab of styrofoam underneath them. Flat sneakers work great for me. Barefoot shoes only seem like another extreme on the scale of shoe types. There can be too little and too much cushioning.
@@sabir1208 Well that too. I am all for walking. People think running is better but it's not. Walk the same distance and you burn the same amount of calories. And you'll actually be able to enjoy your surroundings. And you can do it until you're 100 years old.
idk what's with your videos. One moment I am watching a man use a treadmill desk and two button keyboards, the next moment I am interested in how I actually walk. Your content is always great, and your point of view on all things ergo and practical is phenomenal. Keep up the great work!
@@BenVallack I also think there is the problem of potentially glorifying poverty if you had no shoes in the past or poor ones today at least in the west it is likely due to poverty.
One thing not mentioned here, is I found I really appreciate the tactile feeling of using a minimalist shoe. We have a lot of feeling in our feet, but regular shoes is as if you had thick mittens on your hands all the time. There is a portion of sidewalk near my house that has brick for a while on either end of a bus stop, and I usually veer over to it because I can feel the individual bricks under my feet. If tree roots push up ridges in sidewalk, you feel that and your feet also mold around it vs just see-sawing over the pivot. I feel much more connected and less likely to twist my ankle. I appreciate the comments about heel striking when walking. If I'm doing a ton of fast walking on concrete, I do find it easier to use slightly thicker soles and be looser with the heel striking, but still feel like I can easily adjust the gait for comfort. Or if I'm suddenly walking over bumpy grass, it makes sense to go a bit more forefoot at that point.
Hiking barefoot really made me aware that our feet are sensory organs. It was so cool to feel the differences in moisture and temperature, soft vs hard, etc. All the stuff we would miss with shoes on.
Oh man, I sure would appreciate all those times I stepped on huge, pointed upwards shards of broken glass bottles and nails on the street so much more, if my shoe soles were like 3 mm thick.
@@Даниил-н8н I mean obviously if you're constantly stepping on broken bottles and nails, you need more protection, but not everyone is in that situation. Just because people in certain factory or construction jobs need steel toe boots doesn't mean everyone else is being reckless not wearing those boots all the time.
As an engineer, I can say this video is the finest, most accurate one I've ever seen about minimalist footwear. In layman's terms it's this simple: When your feet land, the force upon contact with the ground MUST go somewhere. The biggest misconception out there is that shoe padding will somehow magically absorb and make this force disappear. This is completely WRONG. When that foam is compressed, it simply sends the force back up through your legs, with the hips, lower back, and even your neck paying the price. If you're obese, like most of us are to some degree, the best thing you can do for your feet and joints is lose weight and thereby reducing the landing force. Again, this is an EXCELLENT video.
Correct... but, as a fellow engineer, you forgot about impulse. That's what padding reduces and the whole point of airbags and other padding based protection. The force still gets applied but your muscles and legaments can learn to deal with it. A reduced impulse can have huge effects when done right.
Worked in hospitality for 13 years, on my feet all the time, I can tell you now, barefoot shoes would kill your posture on hard surfaces over long periods of time. Shifting around weight constantly and such on hard surfaces requires the padding in conventional modern shoes. Each type of shoe has its purpose though. Some of the people i used to do fencing with, loved barefoot shoes for it (wooden bouncy floors and grass surfaces). Hiking though, I always felt boots and shoes were a hit or miss, but recently transitioned to a very expensive pair of lowa boots and I have never felt more comfortable in a shoe. Big topic you should mention are socks, they make a world of difference and many people forget to talk about it or not realise how important they are. Looser fitting boots ( to accommodate your feet's natural swelling during strenuous walking) and wool socks make a world of difference in boots for hiking and general wear.
Exactly this. Long distance walking or continuous standing ruins my hip or ankle but when on grass this so rarely causes an issue compared to in a city
I did years of foot heavy jobs. Fedex driver, Mover, dock worker on hard concrete and ceramic flooring. Football, on basically compressed rock with the presences of grass. Hard cleated shoes on that shit or frozen ground is the most brutal feeling in my life. Blisters the size or golf balls with no time to stop will kill your soul. All that to say this. Flat shoes are just better. Toes space is better. Football cleats, American style or what I call soccer just suck. Honesty, I like Barefoot shoes the most but a good pair of boots are fantastic. I have some Sorels with the wools lining and they are heaven though they are a tad big and have a heel. You cannot beat a good pair of those besides the fact they are winter boots.
Unless I'm going somewhere more rugged, I kind of went with a different option with moccasins that have a thicker sole because I'm not wearing something very flexible when in rougher areas and I like to have some cushioning in the shoe.
The new Maury thing is spot on. I switched to barefoot and minimalist running in 2009, and ended up with a stress fracture in my foot because I did way too much way too soon. Went to the doc, got orthotics, rested, got healthy, transitioned gradually, ran a marathon pain free in my silly toe shoes (FiveFingers). I haven’t worn a “normal” shoe since 2009, and I’m never going back.
I have Leguano’s shoes and when I went in the store and asked for info, that was in Germany and she said I could try them out and there was different underground like wood, stones and so on and she even said try it on the street. She also told me that I should build up the time onweer the shoes. Because my body needs readjust to it. I walk at home and in my garden always barefoot except in winter. Like on beaches I love barefooted. We do flyball a dogsport and it has happened I forgot to put on my shoes. It’s a good middle ground of my husbandtelling me to wear shoes and being my own. I’m raised on walking running barefoot till age 7, than had to wear shoes for school and moving to the city. So every opportunity was no shoes if possible.
Im having Leguano’s barefoot shoes, but got the advice to build up the time of wearing them. Because although I’m walking barefoot in my home and garden on the beach or grass places when at a flyball tournament she still advices to build up. So my body could readjusted. Because for the rest I still wear regular shoes. I have what they call ballet feet I did ballet for some years as a hobby but still did it long days training.
I'm planning on running a marathon in about 8 months. I'm playing with the idea of switching to barefoots but I'm a bit in doubt if I'll have enough time to get used to it and be ready for such a long distance (also given I rarely run but rather go skating / cycling etc.). How long did it take you to be able to run a marathon on them? Probably the safer bet is to be a pair to wear casually and get used to "normal" walking on these types of shoes first.
First, pointed shoes come from horse riding. After the invention of stirrups the pointed shoe with a high heel became popular because it was easier to get your foot into the stirrups and hold position while riding. It started with knights and went into the noble classes from there.
"If you just take your shoes off and walk on hard pavement...". Exactly. You simply have to relearn how to move (assuming a lifetime in shoes). I have been barefoot for about 15 years now, and my feet and gait patterns have changed completely. Foot placement is softer, the lower peripheral vision has improved markedly, and knees are always soft. Commenting on the last part of the video (adaptation to barefoot/barefoot shoes), it took me about three years to transition fully to the Five Fingers (Vibram), then a further *five years* to fully transition to bare feet. As well, wearing toe socks inside the shoes you favour (Vivos) will make the brain regard each toe separately-if you look at the wear pattern on your shoes, you will see the forefoot and big toe areas are more worn. In my case, the little and fourth toes are where the majority of the wear occurs, and I noticed that this transition (from big toe more to the outside of the foot) was the last thing to happen. Our students who prefer Vivos or other zero-drop shoes have reported the same effect IF they wear toe socks with them. Great video, thanks.
"... the lower peripheral vision has improved markedly..." Amazing right!? I'm about 15 years in also. I remember when I first started, I had to constantly watch the ground. Slowly, over the years, I was able to align my site parallel to the ground. Like you said, lower peripheral vision improves, but also sole durability increases enough to rule out injury, or pain, from much fewer objects and ground materials. I live on the beach in Brazil (moved from USA), which is also in a city; it is great, because you can go anywhere barefoot, but without anyone looking at you sideways.
When I was a kid, I got a pair of moccasins I wore regularly for 10 years- they were the kind with no rubber or plastic, a sole made of the same hide as the rest, and a little bit of cushion in the sole. They were super flexible and light, but gave me enough protection to walk on rocky or hot surfaces. To me, those will always be the best shoes I've ever had. I will forever be searching for a new identical pair. I could feel the ground and use my feet as if I was barefoot, but my feet were still protected and cushioned. I walked and ran on a wide variety of surfaces from asphalt to grass, climbed trees, hiked in the desert and mountain forests, went to school, and rode horses bareback in those moccasins. The one and only flaw was the deerhide laces were not as effective as they could have been.
if youre ok with saving up for them and are willing to do the leather maintenance to make them last a decade or two, catskill moccasins does custom fits of this type of shoe with whatever design you want (of course the price goes up the more stuff you add or if you want taller boots instead of shoes, but idk ur preferences) and they have a good reputation. I suggest taking a look through the websites finished projects and individual component pricing to see if they actually offer the options you want and if the pricing for that is worth it to you
@@nootshoo3993 Oh, thank you! I've been wanting to do this for many years, and can't find anywhere in Canada. Will check that out. I had real mukluks when I was a preteen, but forget about getting real ones now. No seal skin allowed. And before you say anything, yeah they are cute. So are all the other animals, but I sill eat meat and wear leather.
I used barefoot shoes a while ago and the only issue I had with them was when the surface I was running on got really hot. They have much less insulation than "normal" shoes and it was really painful to run with them on hot surfaces. Other than that they're fantastic, and this video is an excellent portrayal of how going barefoot is a transition to something different (and probably healthier) rather than just bring outright better.
Yeah the ones I had were cheap knock-offs lol, they fell apart after a single season. I'm sure any of the Vivo's would be better than what I had, thanks for the recommendation!
I love my barefoot shoes! But I also love my "normal" cushioned shoes. When I want to have a cozy hike, comfortable day at work, small walk or such, I go for the barefoot shoes, since it feels more like, yeah, barefoot, it makes me think about my steps, etc etc. But for example for running I choose my cushioned running shoes, because of its features and the firm ground, or for biking I also wear harder soled shoes, because it feels too awkward to have the feet curl around the pedals 😅 I think, it's like choosing a tool: what do you want to do? Choose the right option to achieve the goal, and neither one is the ultimate answer for everything.
It depends on the type of running you do. There is actual evidence that suggests long distance running is better with “minimal shoes” (more like barefoot) for foot and leg health.
I had foot surgery a year ago and was completely non weight bearing for over 6 weeks. I have Ehlers-Danlos and really high arches. My posterior tibialis tendon was almost torn through. I wish the surgeon had replaced it with a cadaver tendon instead of repairing it, but it is what it is. Anyway, my physical therapist recommended that I go barefoot or wear barefoot shoes at home as much as possible to strengthen my feet, but wear good supportive shoes when I'll be doing a lot of walking on hard surfaces. I did all of my PT barefoot. The best shoes for me I've found are New Balance 1540 V3. They have a nice wide toe box and offer a lot of support to keep my foot stabilized. With the EDS I need that. But I've always preferred to be barefoot as much as possible, so that's no hardship for me. :) I will also never run again. In hindsight I never should have started. Weight lifting is good for EDS. Rowing, swimming good. Running no.
Switching to barefoot shoes has been the most rewarding thing for my comfort when it comes to my feet. I feel like I just have so much control and sensation awareness when I walk in them. I am just able to react more to my environment as a result.
This is also what I noted. Feeling the ground, angles, and edges is great for knowing what the ground is doing and can reduce injury risk. Plus less heel on the shoe means less of a fulcrum if you do take an awkward step with less strain on ligaments and tendons, thus less likely to injure.
Switching to barefoot shoes has kind of changed my life, or at least my life as it relates to my foot health and walking. My foot structure shifted, my pain went away, and my chronic ingrown toenails became far less frequent. Everyone on both sides of my family have horribly shaped feet and I don’t want to end up like that as I see how much pain it causes them. I love my barefoot shoes so much and I can never go back, but I fully understand that they’re not for everyone.
I also have a chronic ingrown toe, and family history of it. A change in shoes has made a world of difference, even if it's mostly just that I don't much wear hard dress shoes anymore. But also more minimal and wide-toed shoes were an unsurprising but not widely available help
I had a procedure done as a teen to permanently cut the far inside root of the nail to prevent ingrowns. It was a game changer for me because I was constantly digging and mutilating my toes to dig out the nail that was biting into the skin too much, I wouldn't just leave them be. I couldn't recommend it more to at least look into it and see if it something you'd consider. It was just handled by my primary care Dr at the time though nowadays they would probably send you to a foot dr.
Barefoot shoes didn’t do that. You got rid of poor shoes which is what helped. But you started using barefoot shoes and have convinced yourself it was the barefoot shoes that did it
Reality of ingrown toenails is that once they have started, they always come back messed up. The wrong shoe will push your nails into your toes, but they're not a cause according to my podiatrist. Some people are prone genetically, some people aren't. He has kids as young as 7 coming in for nail removals. I had the roots on both my big toes killed to simply avoid having to go to the doctor every year or two and get them yoinked off, the week or two of recovery and not being able to wear shoes at all sucks. They do the root killing with some kind of acid basically, that was the only part I had to look away for, it's kind of shocking how easily your toenails come off when they lift it up and tug. Toenails are mostly aesthetic anyway, especially since we wear shoes.
I hike barefoot. I'm pretty comfortable heel striking while walking but on treacherous terrain or at speed I basically walk on my tip toes. It varies tremendously how my foot strikes. Temperature, firmness, and energy levels are all paramount for deciding how I strike the ground. But when I slip on shoes I don't think about anything like that and just go back to my basal, which is heel striking. Glad you made thisvideo because it's good to see a relatively unbiased study. Bless you in all your endeavors.
You hike barefoot or with barefoot shoes? Unfortunately I'd be worried about stepping on sharp glass walking on some of the more frequented trails around here.
@@connorperrett9559 barefoot. I just watch where I step. But I do get a few sharp sticks and briars every now and again. It still hurts. But you just take it out and carry on. Whenit gets stuck is a different issue.
@@ghostswordsman8024 I usually carry sandals with me when I'm mushroom hunting if I go off the path into treacherous terrain. But they don't do well on the long term.
@@dontworry4945 Don't forget to tell people that the more a foot is exercised on different surfaces it becomes conditioned. The skin on the heel, ball and toes will thicken naturally and nerves will become desensitised.
I have been doing the "barefoot" shoe thing since about 2006, when I discovered Vibram FiveFingers and then a variety of other minimal footwear. I found they didn't take all that long to adjust to, and they eliminated plantar fasciitis /fasciosis... woohoo! I agree with pretty-much everything Ben says in the video. One thing that hardly gets mention, in general (not just in this video), is that my feet really enjoy walking on gnarly hard surfaces. Walking on smooth pavement is "meh, this needs to be done" but, when I'm at the side of a road where the asphalt is lumpy, or on gravel, or in winter when tire ruts have frozen, I just love the constant little pressure changes and twists and overall variation. I also get some of that from a well-worn trail that has embedded pebbles and roots and such. Now, even in Vivos or other thin-soled shoes, it still ain't no pleasure to plant a heel firmly onto a piece of sharp-cornered gravel that's on a no-give surface like concrete, but that's fairly rare, and it barely has time to start hurting before my foot figures it out and ... no big deal. A disadvantage is that my wife, who still wears "foot coffins" does heel-strike hard and she naturally strides long when she does that, so to keep up with her on our less leisurely walks, I'm practically mincing with the comparatively shorter strides enforced by no heel padding. I'd still be using fivefingers a lot more, but as that fad is well past peak, most of the toe-sock manufacturers have gone away, or stopped/cut-back production of mostly-Merino-wool toe socks. Those that remain, when they bother, are really proud (i.e., price) of their product. And of course, nobody in Canada makes a Merino toe sock and a 68-cent Loonie doesn't buy much from the US these days. For EvilestGem and others, I don't mind a bit of padding in a shoe. But I absolutely do not want something so stupid as "arch support". That's as bad or worse than toe-spring. It's just not common to have a shoe with some padding, but without the extra shit that kills your arches over time. . . and it's just not the same to rip the arch 'support' portions out of otherwise cushioned shoes. Kevin in Canada, eh?
I've not been wearing barefoot shoes for too long but I've noticed an increase already in my resilience when walking. The transition has been easy for me as I've never worn tight shoes. I have been a tad concerned about the heel striking on concrete surfaces when walking a lot, but I noticed very quickly that my body was adjusting the way it walked in the same way that it would whenever I walk around without shoes on - which is all the time at home and around the garden. I honestly think everyone should embrace barefoot shoes, especially when running!
If you're heel striking you need to work on your hips they're too tight which is not letting you place feet down gently, ankles need work too, lots of stretching and yoga and you'll see your foot goes down nice and light
Thank you so much for making this! I really appreciate the specifically the citations on the history of why shoes became pointed and also directions to the studies about the efficiency of heel striking in different conditions. I've been walking around on my forefront, and it never felt quite right. I feel like this video just gave me a blueprint to how to heel strike more gently (ie. still maintaining the focus on pushing off the back foot/working the glute rather than reaching ahead of me with my foot and letting my knees take the shock, but now gently landing on the heel instead of awkwardly leaning forward to reach over and land on the ball of my foot). This video is a huge collection of knowledge - really fully spanning from clarifying why barefoot is better and very soberly describing the current discussion/discovery in the barefoot world now. (I guess it's important to remember we're not REALLY the barefoot community. We're the people in industrialized countries who want to be LIKE the real barefooters.) A small note though: I'm not sure your title matches your video! (For instance, what was the REAL reason? Even if it is in there, it's not what I took away.) Also, I think this video is a little too advanced for people just beginning their journey. I wonder if a title like: The Barefoot Community is Too Scared to Admit This. I wonder if it would attract barefooters who've actually put more thought into gait types and who have stronger opinions on this stuff. You know best! I just would love to see this video get as much exposure as possible because it's so good. Excellent video! Thank you for making it! :)
Totally agree with your thoughts. I've had barefoot shoes for only a few months now but one thing I was not yet sold on was zero cushioning when we didn't evolve on concrete, as toe walking felt awkward and inefficient, but heel striking is uncomfortable without cushion. I never considered that you can still heel/flat strike but just do it more gentle. Really good video.
I wore barefoot for a few years, then switched to full leather soled, handmade boots - the kind that mold to the arch. They allow me to stand on hard surfaces for 16 straight hours. Every step feels like a foot massage when I add a cork insole with a metatarsal bump. I'll never go back to barefoot. It's also interesting that the boots are actually quite hard on the bottom - there's no cushion more than the rubber of the outsole. (look up JK, Nicks, Franks, Drew's, etc.)
absolutely 👍🏼 before my job made steel toe shoes mandatory I was wearing barefoot shoes to work and I could stand for HOURS 12 hr shifts were a breeze. Now with steel toe my hip and lower back starts to ache 🫠
Most retail footwear doesn't actually have any heel lift, despite what these people claim (a few mm at most). Most retail footwear is actually closer to barefoot shoes than these people admit. The major difference is the thickness of the soles. Now you can see what an actual heel lift does, it doesn't match up with the "barefoot" marketing, does it?
I've been barefoot 95% of the time for the past 10 years, like literally barefoot. I've noticed when I walk at a slow speed, my heel barely kisses the ground, almost all of my weight is on the front of my feet. Anything faster than a walk turns into full on forefoot, which really does absorb a lot of the shock of hitting the ground, like a spring.
As someone with a really long second toe (naturally pointy feet) I have had a lot of difficulty finding barefoot style shoes that fit my feet. I could always go up a few sizes I suppose but I would much prefer to find a brand that has a more "foot shaped" shoe that isn't made for only a few foot shapes. I gather that a foot changes shape when the toes have the opportunity to spread, but I don't believe that will make my big toe significantly longer or my second toe significantly shorter. Thanks guys!
No idea how long your toe is, but as far as I understand barefoot shoes like vivos should leave plenty of space for your toes. When I tried vivos recommended for my foot size I had a huge amount of space(not sure if that's the case for all brands), so I feel like if I had a long second toe it wouldn't be a problem. So if you are choosing barefoot shoes where your toes touch the end of the shoe, you are potentially getting a size too small. But don't quote me on this, that's just my observation from trying the vivo brand.
@@hornet-h3v I was born with feet like this. (Just like my great grandma.) I actually had surgery to shorten the toe because I couldn't handle the extreme pain. Best thing EVER.
This! My big toe nails are not flat, they are a bit upwards so my vivos gave me a corn under my right toe nail from the shoe being so flat over the toe nails. Most barefoot shoes leave room on the sides and front, but I never found one that left room at the top 😩
I would have no problem with switching if the industry wasn't charging $150-300 for "barefoot" shoes. Talk about ruling class, what kind of price gouging BS is this?
Aasics for a short period had a very thin soled casual everyday shoe. It wasn't an athletic shoe or a wrestling shoe. I got one pair on clearance and it was amazing. Until I wore them out and realized that Aasics phased them out and were no longer making them. Crushed me because for the first time I had finally found a VERY comfortable shoe versus your standard sneaker.
The exact same thing happened to me with a pair of NB. Outside clearance. I have mortins neuroma, and I could only wear those shoes without it blowing up. My son looked at the shoes and noticed details I never would have. I've been wearing Barefoot shoes ever since and have avoided surgery. I swear, barefoot shoes saved my life.
I have very flat, wide feet and have been wearing arch support inserts for most of my life, prescribed by various orthopaedic surgeons. They did not really help but gave me terrible problems with the tendons in both feet because they made me walk too much on the outside of my feet and they also made the soles of my shoes thick and unflexible, which caused pain because I started to walk in an unnatural way. When I spent three weeks walking barefoot up and down a beach on summer vacation, I noticed that my feet were really tired from all this exertion, but the pain and swelling I was used to were going away. The moment I got back home I bought my first pair of barefoot shoes. Since then, I have thrown out all my normal shoes and replaced them with barefoot models. I also had to throw out some new barefoot shoes that turned out to be crappy or not right for me, but have now found out which ones work for me. I have gotten used to the barefoot way of walking, have developed strength in my feet and the pain that accompanied my for most of my life is almost completely gone.
I tried barefoot shoes and followed all the guidance as to how to slowly integrate them and ended up with plantar faciatis from the increased tension on the plantar fascia. I now have to hike with arch support. Really not for everyone. With the exception of the wide toe box, it's so true that our balance, gait etc is far better with splayed toes.
Absolutely. At the end of the day, there’s two extremes here- barefoot walking and incredibly padded shoes. Find your balance. I’m sick of this ‘do this! Do that!’
If you have access to a gym with a sled, try integrating pushing the sled into your workouts. That is supposed to help with foot strength, which should help with plantar fasciitis.
as a semi-retired disabled US Army Vet of 14 years... i have a normal job but still get a minimal disability payment each month for both feet and nerve damage in my ears (tinnitus)... my feet were pretty much my life from 18-32 years old. doing police work even in the Military you're on your feet when you're not driving a vehicle... folks call it, gumshoe feet, foot patrol feet, nurse's feet, the doctors call it Plantar fasciitis. so for my life i've lived at home in sandals, house shoes, basically barefoot with cold weather warm soft shoes (no socks) and minimal protection when i have to pop outside for a few minutes... but elsewhere? US Army/DOD regulations require athletic shoes and so forth for Physical Training in uniform. of course everybody knows about craptastical DOD issued footwear, dress shoes, combat boots... and how the civilian combat boot companies have been decades more advanced and comfortable and less injurious. so i went civilian boots as soon as i could and never looked back. after getting out of the Army i worked in rounded toe sneakers in factories. today i cook pizzas and wear slip stop shoes with rounded toes. i wore rounded toed Army boots and sneakers to work out in back then. i've got kinda sorta wide foot ball width feet so (with my orthotics) i wear a wide width shoe. so, when i could i went 'barefoot' and never even heard of 'the movement'... but alot of my life basically injured my feet till today... if i don't wear orthotics the damage to my heels and plantar tendons starts back up again and if anybody knows podiatry... unless new surgeries have happened... you dick up your plantar tendons? you're effed. might as well cut that foot off and learn how to use a prosthetic foot. my dad was born flat-footed (archless) and i have 'false arches'... so we both were genetically predisposed for plantar problems. pops wore 'corrective shoes' for years as a child and those forced his feet to grow arches... but of course the 1950's through 60's didn't have MRI and motion capture and foot pressure sensitive diagnostics like we have today... so my pop's 20 year Air Force career ruined his plantars so badly that... he was always in pain, always wearing braces to sleep in... podiatrist visits every few months to double-check his custom orthotics... every once in a while pops could get a steroid shot in his heels to increase healing and reduce damage and pops shopped for shoes like a girl does, always looking for THAT PERFECT PAIR. so, what does the barefoot 'movement' say about plantar damage? i noticed the video guy doesn't have strong ankle support in the pairs he showed off. they're high but they're floppy cloth. how does the barefoot 'movement' answer to ankle damage? rolling? sprains? trust me, ankle damage sucks hot sweaty donkey ballzz! wearing walking/running sneakers in Panama, i've experienced a nigh on inverted foot roll which caused a Class 3 Ankle Sprain with tendon damage, and 3 stress fractured foot bones. and all i was doing was stepping backwards out of a full sized 'cattle truck' Ford Maxi Van and PLOP suddenly i'm on my azz FROM my foot landing in a pavement pothole more than 4" deep. i ended up in a solid, toes to knee bend, fiberglass, full cast for SIX MONTHS! with a US Army full bird Colonel podiatrist doing x-rays and MRI on my leg once a week for the first 2 months. then once a month afterwards and another six months of physical therapy out of the cast. i was wearing slowly lowering versions of a brace still under that doctor's care for that second half a year. i basically spent a year of my life doing office drudge work, gimping around on crutches, wearing my ARMY PT gear and one sneaker, then two sneakers. it was damned embarrassing!
I wear barefoot shoes but dont believe they're best for everyone. Many claims are not evidence based. However plantar fasciitis is pretty much all we talk about. Once you've healed from the acute injury (wearing cushioned and arch support) you can strengthen your foot either with exercises or slowly wearing more barefoot shoes. Because barefoot shoes will allow your feet to move and use muscle they result in less plantar fasciitis in the long term if the transition is done right. This is my experience as well and after having periods of cramping or plantar fasciitis since childhood I no longer get them, and no longer need specialised insoles. Barefoot shoes result in less ankle injuries so there isnt the same need for rigid support. Since there is improved feedback, you literally have improved balance and fewer falls or twists. It's one of their main benefits and why they can be recommended for aging individuals as well as situations like hiking/scrambling.
Look at the wear pattern on his shoes at around 7:13. No different than you'd see on 90% of 'regular' shoes. If the 'minimalist' shoes were actually different, the wear pattern would reflect that. The only advantages I can see: lightweight, lower to the ground. He posted an affiliate link. The whole video was a fluff piece to get you to click the link, and make him a few $.
@@dfunited1 as if you know anything. Don’t spout bull about “wear pattern” from a frame of an edited video. He is selling something, but you have a personal interest in going against him too. If you pretend it’s all fake, you don’t have to think about changing your lifestyle.
I grew up going without shoes as much as possible and still usually go barefoot at home, or wear just a simple flipflop when weather allows and I've noticed i have a very different gait than many, with my feet rolling straight forward rather than the outward angles i see many sneaker wearers using (at times 45 degrees or more!) I also seem to walk much more lightly than many people expect and i am 100% sure it is related. One other thing i would like to mention is that for much of history shoes were made very differently than modern ones, and more in line with the concepts used in the barefoot shoes- very flexible leather or fabric that moves with the foot, rather like a thick sock and a leather sole that flexes and molds to the terrain rather than the stiff padded box of modern shoes. If anyone is interested i would recommend checking out some of the very nice videos on the differences in historical shoe making by Nicole Rudolph
Fellow flip-flop fan here! lmao I've had multiple people curse at me whenever I arrive in a room because they can't hear me coming unless I'm wearing unusually noisy shoes (like heels or brand new running shoes with those squeaky soles. Never considered the connection between spending most of my time barefoot/in flip-flops and having a light step, but there might be one.
Haha, I'm really glad I read a comment in its entirety before replying, because as soon as I started reading yours I immediately wanted to recommend Nicole Rudolph's channel! Her videos making historic footwear as well as the ones on the evolution of footwear fashion and construction techniques I think would be really interesting to anyone who found this video intriguing.
I never wear shoes at home unless necessary, and I have been told several times by the people downstairs that they can tell who is walking above them by the noise we make. Despite being heavier than anyone else by at least 100 pounds, they tell me I am the quietist one.
I am over 60 years old with a lot of pain in my joints due to Osteoarthritis. I have it in my feet as well so with Hallux rigidus in my feet I couldn' fit in any normal shoes anymore. I started to wear barefoot shoes which was a relief. About a year after the operation on my feet I could've used normal shoes again but it felt awful. That was 4 years ago and I haven't been wearing normal shoes ever since. Often people ask me about my barefoot shoes and I can only praise them. For me (and this is a personal opinion) they changed so much to the better. My pain is reduced all over (even my back is better), I am more agile and I am able to walk for hours with my dog again. I always used to have cold feet. Not any more even if I wear my thinnest barefoot shoes in winter because the feet are not confined to a small space and since they move around in the shoes they are warm. The shape of my feet has changed. They look wider and the toes aren't pressed against each other anymore. And the soles of my feet are very resilient against gravel, stones etc. For me barefoot shoes are a live changer. PS: My soles are mainly worn out under my forefoot so I guess I am a "forefoot striker" 🦶🏻 •‿•
For me I work outside and have an extremely active job. I use to cry after work every day because my feet would hurt so bad. I tried so many different styles of shoes and finally tried bear foot. And I get barely any pain in my feet anymore. Any pain that I have is bearable. I'll never change shoes.
I'm looking forward to trying them. I've been wearing Docs for decades for the orthopedic benefit, but since 2020, have hardly gone out in winter; in summer, I wear reef sandals, so practically barefoot. Hoping the transition will be smooooth.
When I watch informative videos, I speed them up. You, my sir, brought me back to normal speed. Way to have a completely information packed and decently long video! This was awesome!
Great info. Been using barefoot style footwear for almost two years now. I have found that focusing more on where you land in relation to the rest of your body is more important than which part of your foot you land on. Not over striding seems to play a big role in efficiency of gait as well as reduction of injury.
Agreed. The most important thing is to land under the hip and not to pverstride. Simple ques instead of trying to decipher the mechanics of the foot and gait cycle, I find are helpful
YES, walking barefoot in bad terrain most of my life, you can land on your blade, heel, ball, etc but its strength and flexibility on your ankles that helps.
Makes sense. Locking your knee before the heel strike is possibly more efficient, but it's a bad move if you're walking on rough or hazardous ground and need to adjust your weight quickly. If you don't overstride, you probably won't lock your knee.
@@TBButtSmoothy Personally I can't/don't heelstrike at all when barefoot. If you place your foot on something hard or sharp there's no way to adjust and pivot the weight compared to striking with the front of the foot where I can easily re-adjust if I step on something unintentionally
For about 8 years I've been using a longboard to get to work. I'm only standing and balancing on my left foot using the right leg to push. When I got my first barefoot shoes it took some time to get used to them but only for my right foot. My right foot hurt a lot when I used them too much but my left foot never was a problem since it had the necessary muscles from balancing on the board. Problem is that I can't really use my barefoot shoes on the board but I love them so much that I switched to a bike ^^
I tinkered with this and switched years ago. I duct taped the soles of my old classic runners to see where the action was. Decided to literally just go barefoot based on what I saw. All heel strikes. Increased speed, endurance, knee problems disappeared And I just plain enjoyed the experience of running that much more due to the new tactile feedback. I ended up going with Merrill trail glove shoe. Best move ever.
I agree. I put on Vapor Gloves back in 2018 and practically never took them off. Much improved running form and speed, patellar tendinitis a thing of the past. And they relatively cheap although not very durable. Love em.
My two pair of Merrell Trail Gloves brutally fell apart from week one. Horrible glue job in China. Fabric frayed to pieces. Horrible manufactured shoe. They did not care either. The shoe store did nothing either. Five Fingers by Vibram is just as bad. Looking at Luna, Earth Runner and Shamma. Very caring folks.
During the pandemic I had nothing better to do, so trained for marathon. Got my ACL torn in the progress. Specialists explained, that my leg muscles grew unevenly, upper part being weak, while lower grew too much. That put stress on my ligamemts till they eventually gave up. As a recovery effort I tried barefoot shoes. First for walking, than started running. For me, the progress felt very real. And the upper muscles were aching (meaning they started working). Year later I finally finished my first marathon. So I think I owe this to barefoot shoes and my trauma was mostly due standard cushioned running shoes. The problem I have with them - every pair I tried was bad quality, expensive, absurdly long shipping and they seems to have some kink with shoe laces? Vivobarefoots I've owned have some weird lacing mechanism and wayyyy too long shoe laces. Now I have Feelgrounds with normal mechanism, but still wayyyyy too long shoe laces. Still in search for a decent brand which could make simple shoes 😄
@@UpSideDownABCD for Feelgrounds maybe an option to cut. Maybe even easier buying separate shoe laces 🙂for Vivobarefoot, they had some custom mechanism and cannot be trimmed or changed
I really like xero shoes. Or if you want to get really nerdy, look up Anya's Reviews, she's reviewed just about every barefoot shoe on the market, in depth, and has a lot of resources on how to find a great fit.
A note on toes widening out - I have been in barefoot shoes for about 2 years, and my feet actually expanded to where I needed to get a half size bigger shoe. My toes have spread wider too.
10 year Vibram 5finger convert here. Took 18mths for the acute heel , Achilles and calf pain to settle and I could start running 10klm comfortably. Wear them everywhere esp bush and trail walking, as well as rock scrambling up mountains and at the beach. I stopped rolling my ankles and was just far more agile on my feet. When I walk, I prefer the grass along side a path as the heel strike from walking isn't pleasant, but running I don't mind on concrete. The longer the walk / run. the more a cushioned sole would be luxurious, but my walking / hiking is generally under 10klm The upsides I feel def outweigh the downsides. Stronger feet, calves, ankles, knees etc And I love the 'cat' like feel of going over any terrain. With hiking over rocky ground I feel far more stable I've not noticed any wider associated issues. I do think my posture is better by default Downside is the undersole doesn't last that long. I'm probably churning through a pair every 6mths ($200AUS each) - need to find a way to resole them Overall, 10years down and nearly 60 im a life long convert simply because they are a joy to wear, i can run 10klm now (dodgey knees), I love quick rocky trail descents - rock hopping, and will stump up for a new pair every 6mths. $400 a year is still a very reasonable cost for such a dramatic increase in life quality. BUT the issue is that it takes 18mths of commitment to attune to the Vibram way. Another downside is that it feels disgusting when my toes touch each other in normal shoes. The toes were meant to be separated 😆
I've been in Vibram Five Fingers exclusively since about 2010. What struck me the most about the transition was the way the shape of my foot changed. I went from fallen arches back to the high arches I had when I was younger. Also, my foot became thicker. I also noticed that for the first couple of years, I experienced a noticeable "pins and needles" sensation during my first few steps in the morning as the muscles broke loose and really activated. Over time that subsided. I think the biggest hurdle, and what accounts for much of the injury associated with barefoot shoes, was the muscle atrophy in my feet from wearing conventional footware. The entire shock absorption structure of the foot is disengaged when wearing heel lifted padded shoes. There's a period where the muscles of the feet have to play catchup with the muscle conditioning of the rest of your body and it's pretty easy to injure your feet until that happens. It's made a real difference in my hips and knees and I feel like those joints specifically are aging slow because wear and tear is now more evenly distrubted through my legs.
I did the same. Everything was great, until I started to develop medial knee pain due to the lack of cushion. Switched to Altras. Now I use a lower stack Altra to run in, and a thicker stack Altra to walk in.
Love this video. An accident at 60, lead to a BK amputation. Over a short period of time I had my Prosthetist’s take the heel rise out of my prosthetic foot. I soon learned that walking bare foot or with flat - no shoes, my gait, legs and hips were much better. Moccasins and a recent purchase of bare foot shoes have been a game changer. I get lectured often about my choice, but it’s my choice. In May I will be 73, I am high activity and so happy my body lead me to bare foot. Always wondered about the up tilt on (especially athletic shoes). Even as a teen I was more comfortable in flat profile active ware. Soccer comes to mind. Ha!
10 year trail runner here. I switched to wide toe box 2 years in, it made a massive difference and caused MANY injuries because I switched immediately and never looked back. I had to adjust everything in my form from my joints mostly. My ankles and knees would hit at angles that were "new" to them after years of not having a big toe out balancing where it should be. My tendons would feel like they were always being pulled on at weak points I had never used. Its similar to someone who never trains stabilizers and tries lifting heavy. It took 1 full year of knee and ankle injuries before I began running the way my body should be, without even a shin splint to account for. I can now say that even when I wear closed toe shoes the big toe goes back to its spot after 1 run and stays there. I've grown muscle groups in my calves I didn't even know were there, my feet grew thick meaty muscles connecting under my big toe and My ankle/knee has never been stronger/resilient. Have not had an injury in 5 years(10-15 mile trail runs every other day) and I truly believe its from the stability gained with just my big toe properly being placed for balance. I will say if you smoke a joint before your run in the woods, your gonna be in tune with your body as well.
I run very thin flat shoes on trails (Golden Gate trail run half marathon the last weekend) but thick well cushioned shoes on training runs on concrete pavement in the neighborhood. Concrete is dangerous, people. I injured my foot almost fracture once when the shoes got old and the sole wears out.
I grew up playing outside barefoot a lot and I always end up with massive holes worn into my shoes where the big toe is supposed to be. Wondered if it was a problem or not. Nice to see it can't be tamed lol.
I had Purthese disease as a child. It causes the ball joint of the femur to dissolve. after a couple of years it grows back. However, in that time my posture and muscle and tendon shape had changed, causing me to heel strike heavily and turn my right foot out when i walked. ( it was my right hip joint). this caused a longterm pain in my right knee and lots of footwear with completely worn out heels only! I found that being extra conscious in my walking and turning my toes back to parallel on both feet cured it. Whilst walking barefoot I noticed that it is natural to be more aware and tend to feel the feet moving and compensating for the terrain, even to the point of softening and slightly lifting the part of foot above a sharp chipping! So id say that being sensible and more sensitive is whats more important here than whether barefoot shoes are good or bad.
I have done a mix of barefoot walking and wearing conventional shoes my whole life. I used to spend entire summers running around barefoot. It was never intentional for the sake of my health like much of the barefoot movement over the last couple of decades emphasizes. I was just a wild child, even into my teens. Something I've noticed is that I have different striking patterns when walking in different footwear. In "normal shoes," I heel-to-toe roll or step down flat. When I'm in minimal shoes I do a mix of the ball of my foot and midsole. When I'm barefoot, I strike with the ball of my foot which requires me to step with a gate that is more like reaching forward with my legs. My weight almost exclusively sits in the ball of my foot while walking barefoot. When I'm barefoot, depending on my walking speed, I will do this sort of toe to mid-foot roll where I strike with the ball of my foot, let the weight shift to mid-foot, then back into the heel as I step. Side notes, I've noticed that I am significantly quieter when navigating hardwood floors compared to almost everyone I've ever known. (I'm neurodivergent and loud walking sounds annoy me. So I have a hard time not hyper-focusing on how loud people are when they walk.) I'm also a parkour athlete and do a lot of jumping. I'm known for having strong legs and great landings. Growing up, I played basketball and was always told I had naturally excellent footwork. IDK if those last two relate to how I've walked my whole life or if they are correlated at all, but I just thought they were interesting observations in this context.
Your description of different foot striking patterns is the exact same for me. Although I'm not neurodivergent, I do get bothered by people stomping around. I grew up on hardwood floors and naturally adapted my gait-just seems rude and actually inefficient not to.
I hate when people stomp around like that. I've always walked very quietly, but occasionally I'll stomp around just so people know I'm there and don't run into me. I scare people all the time with how quietly I approach.
I'm autistic and people very rarely hear me approaching, I just walk that quietly on most surfaces. I haven't paid attention to how I walk though and shoe wise I wear whatever is comfortable for me for the time being. Sometimes I prefer very supportive and built up shoes like Timberland or similar, other times I may prefer Crocs or Birkenstock type slippers, and now for a while I've been wearing my Converse a fair bit. All down to how my feet feels at the time and what type of sensory input I can handle
I got awful ingrown toenails as a teenager, I think I had to have the procedure done where they cut off the edge of your big toe’s nail five different times. I realized that my toes are wider and shorter than average for my shoe size, so I switched to wearing shoes with wider toe boxes and my problems disappeared. I haven’t gotten any barefoot/minimalist shoes yet, but I’m definitely considering making the switch, just because they’re the easiest shoes to find that have very wide toe boxes.
Had the same problem as a teenager. Doctors and my parents didn't even think that it could be caused by tight and narrow shoes. Our society is dumb. 6 procedures due to such and obvious reason. And I as a kid listened to the grown-ups.. Didn't occur to me either. Started wearing wider shoes and no issues. Lesson learned.
Same here dunno what caused it. But I got that same surgery just as many times to the point I would hide the hurt so I wouldn't have to do it again. I go to Hawaii and I got such a different treatment, they let me fall asleep while they did it and they put a ointment on the nail that stopped it from growing there anymore so I have a slightly smaller nail
do you have shoe recommendations ? i have also had this problem since i was a kid, grandma got me the surgery once when the cuts they made got infected and my mom wouldnt take me to the doctor but they still grow like this
@@anonalienn I have wide feet and recently tried on a few different walking shoes - Keen shoes and boots seemed to be the widest (but not cheap and not fashion shoes).
Historically the toe box of pointed shoes was just as big as the toe box of e.g. a squared shoe. The pointed part started after the toebox, resulting in rather long, pointy shoes which don't press your toes together. Another important thing to consider is that shoes were made from leather which gradually shaped around your food with time, resulting in a perfectly fitting shoe and the sole was made from leather, so it basically behaved like a barefoot shoe's sole. Most modern shoes have neither of those features, but there are still companies making shoes in that style and they are so comfortable and don't look like shit like all those barefoot shoes (sry but I think they're dead ugly)
Yep, I agree. I've stopped wearing heels but am always creative in buying boots/sneakers/ballet flats that have enough space for my toes to wiggle inside but have a normal looking front shape. I always go for leather or stretchy fabrics. Barefoot shoes are just not my aesthetics. And just by doing this, my feet are also shaped with toes wide apart.
If you think barefoot shoes are "ugly" because they're not pointy then perhaps you need to have a think about what kinds of fashion ideas have been ingrained in your mind.
@@martinar.5722 What they're calling "barefoot shoes" are the ones that we see in the video - square toeboxes. Not what I, at any rate initially thought, which is those shoes that have individual pockets for each toes, which do look rather strange.
@@Vousie Nobody said shoes which are not pointy are ugly, there are ample styles of beatiful shoes. I just have not seen a single barefoot shoe style I think pretty, no matter whether they have seperated toes or not. Maybe you could consider not judging people based on a single comment on RUclips?
I use barefoot toe shoes for beach running. I also wear ankle and knee braces to prevent injuries - and my running socks add a bit of foot and ankle compression. You should look into quality bracing for your knees and ankles if you begin to wear minimalist shoes and are going to do anything intense. In my case there are a lot of partly anticipated twists and turns and lateral movements associated with beach running. It’s definitely something you have to ease into. Running on hard surfaces with my toe shoes is not a good idea, but I’m at the stage where walking on hard surfaces around town for most of the day is no problem. You also have to think more about metal grates and other similar features where you could get your toes jammed. It’s definitely a more gentle walking style. I like the tactile feeling of different surfaces beneath my feet.
I’m about 3 years in and wear a thin insole when I know I’m going to be speed walking on concrete all day at work. I think the zero drop and toe spread are the most important elements. Prolonged intuition and being able to feel changes in surfaces seem to be a beneficial aspect of barefoot shoes. Great video and great information.
That makes sense. I've always preferred to go barefoot, and when I did have to wear shoes I would opt for flat, thin-soled shoes, but when I started working in a warehouse store (miles and miles of walking on solid concrete) I had to switch to shoes with more support. Still hated them, but sadly we're really not built for standing and walking on such hard surfaces all day.
One thing that's really important in the long term is that we train our feet to be used to getting squished together in shoes that are usually not wide enough. That means most people don't really notice anymore when their shoes are too tight. In a lot of cases that leads to bunions on one or both sides of your feet. Also, when we get older, we don't notice when we need shoes one or even two sizes bigger. Feet get bigger during your life. So longterm that means, I have a LOT of older (and someone not so old) patients that have actual injuries from their shoes - e.g. blisters or other kinds of wounds that get infected - which doesn't sound like much but imagine being diabetic and not noticing these wounds (since your nerve endings are dead), keeping on wearing these too tight shoes and then those infections getting really serious. Like amputations serious. And there are LOADS of people like that. The right shoes might not be a cure all but it might this problem a lot less common.
The main reason I got intrigued by this topic at all was that I've always noticed myself doing things differently when walking on socks in the house or when walking in shoes outside: Walking is the same. But the second I'd 'hop' around or sprint as a kid I'd run heelstrike in shoes but toes-first when on socks or barefoot. So a part of my brain always prefers doing one or the other depending on what I'm wearing.
If your foot muscles are conditioned for barefoot walking (meaning walking with no shoes) wearing a shoe that protects the sole of your foot will allow you to walk faster than you would barefoot because it’s protected from laceration, being forced to walk slower actually protects the tendons and ligaments and small underdeveloped muscles in your foot from injury when first conditioning, basically if your going to go barefoot, before you buy a pair of barefoot shoes train yourself to be able to walk a few miles while completely barefoot, it will force your movement to be correct before you move fast while in a barefoot shoe, overuse injuries happen much easier when your feet aren’t trained, remember they are small muscles that you have probably never worked out and they build slower than you might want, stick with it
I have always been a lover of walking barefoot. About 13 years ago I became a yoga teacher and since the job allowed for it, I started to wear shoes less and less. My toes definitely splay out, the front of my foot becoming slightly wider. Because of the practice of yoga as well though; There's a lot of balancing and finding stability through a conscious awareness of the way your feet splay, etc. My feet were definitely stronger! During COVID my studio closed though, and I started walking more (with normal tekkies) as well as wearing slippers a lot (it was a rough time!). My feet changed again, and it was not good. Before COVID, I merrily had theories about the way my feet changed, but it became an accidental experiment as I realised how my feet had changed and set out to consciously strengthen them again. Barefeet RULE! (Have not worn the shoes, although I love a thin soled shoe)
Walking barefoot leaves you at risk to parasites…. Hookworms enter the soles of your feet and work their way to your intestines and eventually to your brain
Former furoshiki user here. They worked well because I could move around outdoors the same way I moved indoors. Fit was also better due to the compliance. Stopped using them after post-concussion symptoms made footfalls painful.
@Ben Vallack No worries, I've been getting better. My old first revision pair developed a few holes, and I don't have enough wear on the second to judge durability. It won't have the ankle support you mentioned but that's a plus for me.
I keep hearing that walking barefoot is linked to toe striking, but for me, it's the opposite. When I started to spend my summers mostly barefoot as a teenager, I quickly adapted heel striking in order to avoid injuries. When walking on gravel, twigs or on a mountain trail, I didn't have to pay as much attention if it was my heel that hit a sharp object first. My toes and balls on the other hand were way too sensitive, no matter the calluses I gained. Now I'm almost thirty and apparently, my partner can hear me coming a mile off.
Yes, much of what the barefoot community says is complete BS. A lot of it is based on a study that found that habitually unshod Kenyans mostly forefoot strike. Except that many of the subjects of the study were running a sub-5:00 mile! How the hell are you supposed to heelstrike while running 1:15 laps around a track??
@@imnotlettingyouseemynamehuh interesting. I go barefoot unless it's required to wear shoes or just smart to wear em like boots with ankle support for airsoft. Doing a little testing during my walking I keep my feet mostly perpendicular to the ground rasing my toes slightly mid stride. Landing flat on the ground settling my toes down with everything shortly after impact. For running I lead with my fore foot with it becoming more exaggerated as I get towards sprinting speed. At full sprint the back of my foot doesn't quite touch the ground. Not a runner but do walk and hike a lot barefoot.
The only time I don't wear my barefoot shoes are: any time I'm doing work that requires steel toes for saftey, skateboarding, mountain biking, and dirtbiking. I don't run, i walk deliberately, I walk mostly on non paved surfaces since the times I'm out and about on pavement without my car I'm either on a bike or skateboard. Most of the reason I like barefoot shoes is comfort and not health reasons, I'm really picky about how shoes feel on my feet and growing up being out in the woods a lot I've walked barefoot enough to where it's comfortable but getting a blackberry thorn in the heel is a major bummer so I just need enough padding to keep thorns and broken glass from cutting me feet and keeping them cleaner when walking in the mud.
I really appreciate this video. I have been running around barefoot since I was a little kid. I HATED wearing shoes so when I heard about the barefoot shoe movement I was pretty excited. It was always so weird about people saying that once you move to barefoot you were supposed to never walk/run on your heel because that clearly never made sense. to me
So I started wearing barefoot shoes in 2012, I didnt know why at the time but they seemed to have a calming effect on me, so i've been wearing them ever since. Jump to last year and I was diagnosed with ADHD. I think the proprioceptive feedback from my feet gives my hyperactive brain something additional to focus on, sort of like stimming in a way I guess. So yeah, they can help ADHD in my experience.
@@RogueSecret I'm British, and I'm a qualified nutritionist. I know how to eat in a biologically appropriate fashion. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder, though the effects of an improper diet could mirror some of the traits of ADHD but certainly not all of them.
I loved this, and I also think that it's worth adding that most natural environments are full of hills, therefore forcing you to walk more on the ends of your feet. Flatland enviroments also tend to have mounds and overall rugged terrain that requires more careful footing to traverse quickly and effectively, so I'd say that it's more efficient than heel striking myself, going by what's natural. Just thought I'd add my two cents there✌️👍
Added to this is that in uneven (natural) terrain you typically shorten your stride significantly and that makes a toe strike much more ergonomic. The way we walk with long strides on flat surfaces naturally makes the heel the lowest part of the foot and the part that touches down first.
I have a naturally wide feet and started sport, that have a lot of tip toeing in ti, so they got even wider. As a woman it's even harder to find shoes that are not to tight for me, and I also value a good look. So I ordered barefoot shoes for summer to try it out. It was the best idea ever, they are my favourite and now I got 2 more pairs for fall. I actually got some insoles for foot pain (that is not barefoot shoes related), and barefoot shoes are the only ones that the insoles fit in. So I have a bit of padding there actually. But I hope we will have both of the worlds some day, especially the wide toebox should be a standard.
I have never used barefoot shoes but 20 years ago I switched to barefoot running on a treadmill and when I am running outside I am wearing sport shoes with an extremely flat sole profile. This switch was initially (the first 6 months) difficult and painful (especially for my calves) but on the long run avoiding heel striking has made a huge positive difference for me. I never experienced again pain in my joints (especially my knees) and my foot stability has improved massively what helped me to prevent the frequent injuries which I had with conventional sport shoes. When I am walking I am still a heel striker but not longer so hard then before. A negative side-effect was that my feet size increased so that many shoes didn't fit longer after a few years.
Thanks for this video 👍👍 I first learned about barefootshoes 3 months ago, after walking barefoot for about 9/10 months out of the year for a little over 4 years now. I'm not really a hiker, so what I walk most on is hard surfaces. (I do always have a pair of flipflops with me, in case I need to use a public restroom, visit a petrolstation etc.) I'm now looking at barefootshoes for those 2/3 months a year I can't walk barefoot (for long periods) because of the low temperatures (in dry weather I switch to flipflops if it's getting close to freezing, in wet weather around 12°C). I do my best to avoid any heelstrike, but about 50 years of walking on regular shoes isn't that easy to shake. 😉 But as I literally hear a healstrike in my head, it's quickly corrected. I'm now experimenting with landing mainly on the front of my foot (what did you call that 🤔), because that's how in my opinion you get the maximum out of the natural shockabsorption of your feet. But without any further adjustments that shortens my strides. I've tried several adjustments - the people in my neighbourhood must think I started working for the Ministry of Silly Walks 😂 . So it's still an ongoing process and I love it. ❤
@ZZZP-SchoolNL I tore my meniscus in my right knee TKD sparing a couple of decades and to attempt to heal without surgery and while the swelling went down I walked backwards around our circular neighborhood every day. I had neighbors come out and ask me what I was doing. Still makes me smile! No surgery but 20 years later injured same knee doing a race called the Bolder Boulder. Lots of hiking steps, walks w loved ones, runs, and time outdoors in between.
@@chopwood2995 I hope you can recover from your latest injury without surgery as well. Much better for your overall health. And much more fun for the neighbourhood 😆 (Great story, thanks for sharing 🤗)
Barefoot running godfather Barefoot Ken Bob teaches landing on the whole foot at once, and bending the knees a lot - more than you think. He describes the knees as our body's natural shock absorbers. He actually takes people straight over to gravel when teaching them for the first time, so they understand how light they should move, and how much they should bend their knees. He also invites people to imagine they are sneaking up on someone from behind, again to illustrate proper lightness and knee bending.
When I first started wearing barefoot shoes, I did a lot of research into the pros and cons. I eventually decided I didn't care though because the way barefoot shoes made me feel was reason enough. It's like going from having cinder blocks on your feet to nothingness. I also love being able to feel the ground beneath my feet. The transition was difficult when it came to the calf soreness but never once could i imagine going back to traditional shoes and I still can't. I understand everyone is going to have different experiences but for me, personally, barefoot shoes are a total no-brainer!
You got any recommendations? I'm looking to get into it considering I spend most of my time with no shoes but it's not really socially acceptable and my job requires a protective shoe
I discovered an unexpected yet effective training method through VR gaming and fitness. Over two years ago, I started playing Beat Saber to get in shape, always opting to play barefoot. Initially, my movements were limited, maintaining a wide fighter's stance. However, as I continued, I began to bounce on the balls of my feet, and this activity eventually evolved into full forefoot jumping and dancing, reminiscent of jumping rope but to the beat of my favorite tunes. Interestingly, I use my heels more for maintaining balance rather than for taking impact. I began with just about 20 minutes of gameplay, and as I grew more accustomed to the activity, I increased it to nearly 2 hours. It's important to note that I have a history of athletic injuries from my military service, suffer from high arches, and have experienced stress fractures and shin splints from running in traditional shoes, even with orthotics. Remarkably, since switching to this barefoot VR gaming method, I haven't encountered a single issue. This approach not only keeps me physically active but also aligns perfectly with my body’s limitations and strengths, providing a safe, enjoyable, and effective workout regimen.
I Walk for over 20 years barefoot and I’m slightly amused about the „barefoot shoe trend“… I had never again issues like fungi, smell, cornea, I never hurt my feets that much that I couldn’t walk further and I’m pretty sure most of the glances I earn are in envy ( because my foots are healthy and well shaped ) and in admiration and almost every chat about it starts with „I love to try it but I don’t dare…“
Super interesting video! I often hear people warn about calf muscle pain when first switching to barefoot shoes. I actually never experienced that. I started wearing barefoot shoes about 6 years ago, and at the time knew very little about them. Nobody told me to be careful and give my calf muscles time to adapt. I just put them on, was amazed at how much better my feet were feeling in them compared to traditional shoes, and pretty much switched from one day to the next. I had zero issues with it, even though my calves are pretty tight and stretching them is really difficult for me. So this actually might not be an issue for everyone when switching to barefoot shoes!
Get a "half dome foam roller" for easy calf stretching (from the teachings of biomechanist Katy Bowman... check her books). Also look up the "gravity drop" exercise by legendary therapist Pete Egoscue - another good one.
To add my anecdotes: I have been wearing a particular type of zero-drop, wide toe box, minimal cushion shoes for about 8 years. I got used to it after about 6 months. Now? Every time I wear conventional shoes with padding, and a raised heel, my feet are in agony. My I feel like I have no control. No connection to the ground. Like I'm always fighting with the shoe for stability. It's a question of adaptation. It seems like many healthy, able bodied children and adults would benefit from transitioning to zero drop, wide toe box shoes, with minimal support or padding beyond a strong sole. There are certain lines of work that don't agree with this, but most people don't have those kinds of footwear needs.
Here’s the thing. I am someone who did not wear shoes pretty much ever my whole life except church on Sunday mornings until i was in college. Not because I didn’t have shoes, but because I didn’t want to wear them (was homeschooled, so that’s why it was an option) Then after college i went right back to only wearing shoes when i had to. Now, 7 years later, i have actually had to START wearing shoes because the wear and tear on my feet is so significant. My arches are beginning to cave in, i can feel it ever time i step. When i fet up in the morning my whole foot feels like it’s stepping on daggers as it hits to floor in the morning. Beginning to wear shoes has helped some, the cushion is the only thing standing between me and limping around everywhere, but the shape truly is abominable. I have having to cram my feet in those things. My toe spread is obviously pretty well developed after a life of shoeless living and trying to put my foot into most shoes causes nerve pain on my big toe. Not sure what to do at this point. I hurt if i wear them, i hurt if i don’t and I’m on my feet most of the day doing housework and taking care of my kids.
Thanks, fascinating video. One thing you don’t mention but that has occurred to me might be important (having been experimenting with barefoot shoes for the last few years) is that any shoe, even barefoot ones, reduce the sensory input you get from the *skin* on the sole of your foot. When completely barefoot, you get feedback from your skin as to the substrate you’re walking on a few milliseconds before putting your weight down - at least when walking. Which allows you to adjust foot position, weight distribution etc and so avoid landing heavily or stepping on a sharp stone. For example if you’re walking barefoot on a lawn then you feel the touch of the grass just before your foot touches the actual ground (however hard or soft the latter may be). I find that even in barefoot shoes I sometimes land unexpectedly hard on my heel on uneven ground and I wonder if this lack of feedback from the skin (just before impact) might be the reason.
Barefoot running godfather Barefoot Ken Bob compares learning to walk or run with shoes on to learning to play the piano with earplugs in for this very reason.
As someone who recently transitioned to barefoot shoes, when completely barefoot I have always landed on the front. When using shoes and walking for exercise, the heel strike seems to happen more naturally. Of course,I also transition to light bouncy front landing steps now that I have better leg spring. Before I would do really hard heel landing speedwalks which wrecked my knees if prolonged.
I've been running with a pair if vivobarefoot shoes for about 18 months now, and although I certainly had to ease myself into it to avoid injury, once my feet and calves built a little bit of strength it felt absolutely fantastic. It just feels a whole lot more efficient and I can run longer distances without hitting a wall. I enter this almost zen like flow that I never experienced with traditional cushioned running shoes. If anyone is thinking of transitioning to barefoot running I would definitely recommend doing a couch to 5k program, even if you are already a regular distance runner. Just give your muscles and tendons time to adapt. I can also attest to the quality of vivobarefoot shoes, as that one pair has lasted me 18 months and they're still in great condition. I would be lucky to get a year out of regular cushioned shoes in the past.
Yeah I think people who immediately run in them are weird. I just did farmer walks, going up stairs, walking backwards with the weights. Doing that strengthens the hell outta your toes, ankle, and all those things that normal shoes support. After that I've never had a problem running in them. It doesn't even feel different. I just did this all in grass or my house with no shoes.
I just bought my first pair of these minimalist shoes a month or so ago and the very first thing I noticed was the mid-foot strike that my gait naturally adopted. It's a very strange sensation after wearing traditional shoes for a long time and reminded me a lot of something I'd seen somewhere about soft-soled medieval shoes and how people commonly walked toe first when wearing them. I haven't run in mine yet, and I'm honestly a little leery of doing so, but I have noticed a distinct reduction in planar fascitis heel pain since wearing the new shoes.
I think barefooting and wearing minimal shoes made my feet flat. I noticed that shoes with a heel gave me knee pain when I was 18, so I did some research online and went down the barefoot rabbit hole. the thing is after 7 years of wearing mostly minimal shoes, my shoe size went from a 14 to a 16. Now there are no minimal shoes in my size, the best I can do short of custom shoes is converse. this could have been partly from me still growing, but my feet do seem flat and I am 2 sizes bigger than my dad who is my height. also the wide toebox can be a problem if you are doing sports where you need to do sharp turns running because your feet will slide around. still, I do enjoy going barefoot, it feels good even on concrete. I used to walk barefoot much more and I could walk on broken glass because I had thick calluses on the bottom of my feet.
I have no experience with barefoot shoes but during covid I basically spent 2 years at home and stopped wearing pointed and constraining shoes. I was 18 found myself at 20 with none of my shoes fitting anymore. I went from a UK 8 to a UK 10 which is over the standard for women's shoes (Im a 6 feet tall girl). I guess we will never know if its the barefoot thing or we were just still growing
Just heard from a podiatrist in Arizona who says feet are naturally wider here from people wearing sandals so often. It's probably not that your feet are flat, but more so that the metatarsal bones have spread out and gotten used to more space. Did your feet get bigger or is that the size they should have always been? 🤔
Several years ago I bought a pair of NB minimus shoes before studying abroad in Italy. I've always loved walking but began walking several miles a day in Italy, eventually jogging and running. While the minimus aren't barefoot, they are not far off, and I can remember how comfortable I got sprinting through the countryside. It was slow progress, but clearly made an impact. Once I got back to the states, I went back to standard shoes, and it was only recently that I remember how much I loved those shoes. Makes me want to go barefoot!
I tried barefoot walking for the first time last weekend. I had to take my boots off for wading and as it was so muddy I kept going for a few miles barefoot. It was so much easier, my blisters took a break and I wasn't worried about slipping in the mud, getting water in my boots etc. It was freeing! However, another thing to talk about that wasn't mentioned.... Swimmer's Itch and other great things you pick up outdoors. If you are doing this in the wild you need to prepare for parasites and other things, ticks, leeches etc
yeah see I'm good off of that based on the last part alone. I don't care how better it makes me walk. The shoe was invented for a reason. And I intend to continue exploiting said reason
He isn’t saying not to wear shoes at all, that’s why there are these shoes called barefoot shoes, so you can have the benefits while still having protection!
Definitely don't start barefoot in rough terrain or hot pavement. Train on sidewalk, mild conditions, etc. Your feet will get harder over time and you won't worry about the things you mentioned last.
@@rachelriverasoundhealer true but I don't think shoes were going to protect me when wading in knee deep water XD It was a very specific scenario to be sure but it needs to be mentioned.
Very comprehensive, great. However, What I have been missing in the discussion from both sides is the role of all the other joints for impact modulation. The way we use our hips for example, makes a huge difference in the way our feet strike the ground, if you do a correct hip figure 8, and you lift your legs from the hip they actually absorb already a big part of the impact, but if you just lift them up straight by bending from the knee and put them straight down which a lot of modern people seem to do, only our foot absorbs all the stride power. It’s easy to spot, when someone basically falls onto their front foot, they are not using their hips correctly. Someone that does use their hips has a more pronounced hip movement and a general appearance of “gliding“ over the ground. Granted, you cannot really translate that into running, but I would say that walking is the most common form for movement for any person and it would have a big impact to change to barefoot shoes with correct movement patterns when walking, that alone would have a huge impact on many peoples health . That’s why I would like to see a more comprehensive approach to gait that includes whole body movement and doesn’t just look at the feet.
I recall in a book I read a while ago that foot striking was described in two ways besides heel to toe. The first was on the pads of the foot, per usual, the second was from the outside of the foot, rolling forward to pad of the foot. It is not as drastic as you might think, and basically constitutes what you were doing at (6:06) It has a very similar effect to rolling, but it carries less momentum and reduces your impact. It's also great for running in boots, or flat footed shoes. Another thing he to keep in mind, is that when you walk barefoot you usually keep your weight centered rather than throwing it forwards, to avoid stepping on sharp things, you also reduce impact.
When I was a soldier, I switched from the regular issued boots to "barefoot" boots that came with a warning against rucking in them. Years and years of knee and hip pain skyrocketed for a couple of weeks, along with muscle failure and exhaustion in my entire posterior chain. After a month, my posture was better, my gait had changed, my calves were much larger and stronger, and my soldiers could no longer tell where I was purely by the sound of my footfalls. I wore those boots until our uniforms changed and nobody had started making barefoot boots in the new color yet. Switching back to what the army says is best for you resulted in stress fractures in my legs, one of which never healed. As a civilian, I've found that barefoot shoes are only uncomfortable when the ground is hot, wearing work boots is exhausting, and in cowboy boots my feet are miserable but I have excellent posture.
I started wearing Vibram FiveFingers in 2012. No going back to "normal" shoes for me. I do have some Vivos too. I used to have flat feet (hypermobility), but using the muscles of the foot and calf has strengthened them and I have the natural arch shape now. No foot injuries from running in three years (I started Couch to 5K in lockdown) except for an ankle sprain from overdoing things in the second month. I'll be running a half marathon distance this afternoon. I've run nearly 50km already this week. Yesterday morning after parkrun I was in Lidl and one of the assistants was commenting how creepy my toe shoes looked. Mostly however I get The Question: "Are those things comfy?"
grew up with horribly flat feet, been wearing minimalist shoes for 4 years, somewhat obsessive about foot wear, foot strength etc because it's been so hard for me to avoid injuries when running, but didn't connect hypermobility to my foot problems until reading your comment - thanks!
i never switched to barefoot shoes and i don't particuarly want to but one of the first things i noticed when i started hearing about barefoot shoes was that they're kind of wrong about not heelstriking when walking barefoot. i mean, obviously it depends. but i lived in apartments with hardwood or marble flooring my entire childhood and walked around barefoot in my home and i always heel striked. as a kid i was also super into not wearing shoes because i found them annoying and restrictive and i pretty much heel striked on any surface while walking barefoot. if i wanted to go faster i would switch to toe walking, but for walking speeds heel striking IS natural, even on hard surfaces. you just end up having more bend in your knees to compensate and switch to a forefoot strike at slower speeds than on a soft surface. also, i genuinely spent 90% of my life barefoot at that time but it still didn't stop me from developing overpronation due to weakness. i would literally go to school and take my shoes off and then walk around my school holding my shoes in my hand, but it didn't make my feet any stronger. what kind of shoes you're picking just depends on what you'll be doing in them. padding for our feet is not inherently unnatural. narrow toe boxes are not a problem for some people. instead of touting barefoot shoes as the solution to all your problems, the barefoot community needs to present them as one choice that could potentially help with some things. because that's what they are. i also think there need to be more in-between options. like you should be able to get foot shaped shoes that are heavily padded. for some people they want the heavy padding but not the narrow toe box. same goes for solving the elevated heel issue but keeping the padding and having an even level of elevation for the whole shoe.
I trained with someone who taught me about being barefoot and it really makes my life better. I just got some really minimal shoes and it's so much better for me. My feet were in bad shape but as I wear minimal shoes and get barefoot more often, some of my pain issues are going away and my feet are super strong so I can walk on anything like rocks as long as they are not super sharp.
@Karl with a K It has everything to do with shoes IF you spend a majority of time in them. It's like having a cast on or a corset for many hours a day. Muscles will naturally atrophy when they have no room to move around and create stability.
I do that with iceberg videos; and when I used to keep autoplay on, I’d wake up in the middle of the night and it would be a documentary about the Romanovs. Every night, the Romanovs! 🤷♀️
And this is exactly why I subscribed!! I got into barefoot runners 5 years ago and did a lot of research, books, articles and lots and lots of videos. But even then I was completely unaware of the heel strike while walking, it's almost as if the people who wrote this stuff wanted to erase heelstrikes from existence.. Thank you for all your hard work and research into this and every topic you touch on. I am very greatful to be a little bit more knowledgeable
My understanding is that heel striking on hard ground is still bad for you, even if you're wearing cushioned shoes. You're just less aware of it, because instead of feeling all the impact in your heels, it's being transferred to your knees, hips, and back.
When I heel strike my knee pain comes back. Maybe heel striking is good for some people but for me switching to a mid to front foot strike made a big difference. Honestly, I think a lot of the stuff depends on your body. We try to make a one-size-fits-all solution but that’s not really how people work. So if heel striking feels better for you then do it.
Small world Ben!!!! I was researching Vevo, whacked on a bunch of videos in the background whilst working and the second I heard your voice and immediately thought: IT'S VALLACK!!!! You're looking well - keep up the great work!
Also one thing to note is some people may not transition to minimalist shoe/ barefoot running as easily as others. For example I have very high arches, supinated feet, and piss tight calves. I got into running with minimalist footwear and quickly started to have peroneal pain. So if you have tight and rigid calves and feet like I do you should also stretch your calves, Achilles, and massage your plantar fascia frequently to get your elasticity back so you can properly absorb the shock of running without conventional footwear. This is what my pediatrist recommended and it worked for me.
@@jamiep3606 Look up the ACT health calf stretches PDF and I'd do those 3 plus one where you basically do a single leg standing calf raise but without the raise; you just relax. I was prescribed those stretches but I'd also do the combat stretch which I found is a good way to stretch the achilles. As for the plantar fascia massage, just look it up there's only one common way to do it manually but I also found a lacrosse ball works well. I was told 2 sets of each stretch for 30 sec. or so 3 times a day at least. I also was advised to do some excercises along with these stretches though if you'd like to know. But please note I was prescribed this because I had it bad. My dorsiflexion was about 15* off from what's considered normal and the pain was to the point where I couldn't even run a 1/4 mile.
I’m a vintage viewer and switching to barefoot, actually Vibram with all toes separated, full ninja, has transformed my knee health. I can feel how much stronger my feet are and how much more mindful I am when walking. I can’t recommend them enough. I’m a gardener and constantly walking on prickly ground and plant debris, the vibram soles are very effective at protecting me. Thanks for your very thorough exploration of the subject 🙏
For those with plantar fasciitis or heal spurs I think I have found a great combo of shoes and supports that have worked perfect for me. I had a lot of problems with my heals hurting a lot worse when I was getting out of the Army. I got back from Afghanistan about 6 months before I officially got out of the Army. On my vacation to Japan after getting back I had a hard time walking and had to sit down a lot do to foot pain. I tried running on the weekends in barefoot five toe shoes to help my feet get stronger, and it made my feet worse. When I was doing my exit physical for the VA I found out that I had a heal spur. I tried everything, but then thru trial and error I discovered a combo that works well. I can run several times a week, and work a warehouse manager job requiring me to stand most the day. My feet almost never hurt now. I use adrenaline brooks shoes. But I get the wide so my feet can spread out more. I also use both loops at the top of the laces to help them fit snugly to my ankles. I then got the Kroger brand plantar fasciitis half length heal inserts. Not the full length ones. The ones I get are the blue cheap gel ones. I put the heal inserts underneath my shoe insert that way they stay in place where I don’t half to worry about adjusting them every time I use them. I have found that the inserts can be used for much longer and outlast several pairs of shoes despite being cheep Kroger brand ones. My shoes start to pronate or warp to the side after a few months so I have to change my shoes out ever three to four months if working out a few times a week. I only do mile and a half runs or 20 minutes on the elliptical plus weights. With plantar fasciitis inserts in shoes that already are recommended for people with plantar fasciitis your probably only get about 2/3 the mileage out of them. If they start to warp over to the side a little it does not effect me that much. But I typically buy three or four pairs of the same shoe at a time so I always have at least one pair that is brand new I can compare them to as they warp gradually over time. But I think swapping them out every three months with moderate exercise would work fairly well too. But all in all I found that this is a great combination between these philosophies as I am able to land more on the front of my foot when running because of the extra space for my toes while also having more heal support when I am walking. I typically only ware tennis shoes but I use the same inserts on the rare occasions I ware more fancy shoes.
I've had a very similar experience to you. I developed Plantar Fasciitis and fallen arches (from not wearing shoes with arch support, contrary to what a lot of people seems to say about that strengthening your foot naturally). I've found some firm shoes with arch support that make it so that my foot fascia doesn't flex too much and cause me pain, but got them in a wide so that my toes have plenty of room to splay and be comfortable. I've experienced a very clear benefit!
Been wearing barefoot shoes for over 6 years after being told the way I was walking was leading to my knee hip and back problems. It has been a game changer.
For me the reason shoes/trainers are more cushioned is because the world we traverse (now) is now largely concrete. I'd happily run around barefoot, no shoes, if we walked on grass/jungle/mud etc, like we used to but we don't. Anytime I wear shoes with a very thin heel (Converse All Star for example) my knees take the brunt and I'm in agony for a while after but when I wear my Nike Pegasus around town I have no such problems and, so far, no issue with my feet becoming pointed either. To be honest I don't like that there is a debate about this because to me it always feels like one or the other is trying to push a product or sell something and at this point (no pun intended) it's mostly the barefoot community. Wear what is comfortable and affordable to you, end of story.
I used to wear all stars. These shoes may have thin soles but they are too stiff and do not allow much bending of the arch which reduces its flexibility. Moreover, they are too narrow. My bunion problems began from youth when I was mostly wearing these shoes. Thin soles should also be flexible. Much better if there is also much toe space.
You cannot heel strike while barefoot. Heel striking is a counternatural walking gait we developed to adapt to our thick heeled shoes. Try a forefoot strike walking/running style: well cushioned even on hard, flat surfaces, and far "springier" and energy efficient than heel striking.
You should try changing the way you walk, walking shouldnt be painful. Like masonthonas2799 said, try a flatter walking style. My walking style changed to be a lot flatter and my posture while walking changed, for the better, to allow for it
@@masonthomas2799so...don't activate your glutes then. Gotcha. People shouldn't tip toe their way through life either. For running/scrimmage shoes, they have a "cushioned heel" to discourage a heel strike. For quick pivoting. You are quoting propaganda if you believe that we would even be using our full core without the heel strike.
What you feel comfortable in is highly correlated with how you walk. Of course, if you don't step lightly, less cushion underneath your foot will make your joints hurt. Barefoot walking is different from cushioned shoe walking.
Just a warning for everyone: Take the last part of this video seriously. Don't run in them when you start out. Even if you're about to miss a train and be late for work. I didn't listen and managed to get a stress fracture in my left midfoot. It took about 3 months for the fracture to heal, and another 9 months for the pain to go away. It's only been about two months now that I can walk without pain again.
I was fortunately to not be out of commission for months, but I did the same thing, and could barely walk for 3 or 4 days.
@@schweedy1985 that sounds more like soreness than an injury though
Woah so that's what happened to me. just happened to start trying to run again and didnt feel like buying running shoes and ended up not being able to do it for a few months. My doctor must have been right about the type of injury but it was a couple months before I got an mri for it and by then I had rehabilitated naturally
@@smallman9787 quite possible. It's unfortunate that you got your mri late, because it actually looked really cool while it was healing ^^' But I'm glad you're doing better now!
Guys I've never had barefoot shoes. Bought some and immediately used them for everyday walking + running (only couple hundred meters, not real jogging or endurance training!! Just as information for you people) and the gym. Nothing really felt different except my feet feeling more blood circulation and a bit hot, also felt more exhausting first 3 days? Something wrong with my shoes or I'm just lucky nothing happened?
(I never used running shoes before, I walk around in "normal" Nike sneakers usually)
I as a water park lifeguard for two years I worked barefoot or had minimalist shoes on concrete and in water. In the military I wore boots, both steel toe and ordinary, and I’ve used both thin soled shoes and thick custom sole expensive running shoes. The way I walk wearing any of these is entirely different. I think people need to understand that there isn’t a singular option for all situations and that knowing what you’ll expect out of the day should change how you chose to go into it. Different kinds of foot wear exist for to fill a different roll and to cater to a different need or foot shape, or to accommodate for an issue someone might be having. People that insist that they have the one solution for all problems are just jackasses.
I was thinking the whole time, Show me a steel toe version. also my feet just hurt on concrete. like a lot, I have always landed with the side of my foot or just a light amount of heal from walking bare foot the majority of my childhood. But I would like something more flexible with how my foot is very narrow when I pick it up but very wide when I step down.
@@TheBSishere - for what it's worth:
my experience in looking to achieve those same goals, I've found that for casual daily use I do well with a larger shoe. Some of those are able to tighten down enough through lacing to prevent rubbing and blistering if I need to run or go on a longer hike. I also rarely use the stock insole alone - I'm usually replacing that with something that suits my arch better, or at least adding a thin liner on top of the stock one.
Hope your search goes well!
Exactly. Used to work in a lumberyard and which I’d have worn steel toed boots a few times. Similarly when it rains I wear rain boots - which aren’t the most comfortable but they keep my feet dry.
Ya seems like that is so common, one solution for everything.
Please see "there isn't a singular option for all situations" --> Hit the nail on the head, my dude. Thank you for your insight
Being flat of foot and having tried all sorts of shoes with arch supports, even bespoke orthotics, I absolutely love my barefoot shoes. I started in Vibrams with the separated toes for the gym and I just splashed out on Vivobarefoot Balerinas which make me feel as if I want to fly. I'll have to chuck all my other shoes because I just know they're now going to feel like concrete by comparison. Of course, foot exercises also help with this. I can walk far longer and with no blisters and less stress and effort. I even think my arches feel more pronounced. I'll never go back.
Just a technical comment, though. As a former radio broadcaster, your edits are ridiculously tight: with truncated word endings, sentences running unnaturally into one another and no time for listeners to keep up with your dialogue because your natural pauses have been cut. Large editing gaps not only mimic natural conversation, they give the brain time to keep up with the myriad changes in topic. I also think that a slightly slower pace would make the important information you are imparting easier to digest.
Unpleasant to listen to this "speedtalk" like presentation!!!
@@ronkoloz7136play the vid at a slower speed
I don't work in audio/video and I noticed the strange editing too, it felt like I was being bombarded with information!
I used to have flat flat arches. I'd go to a snowboard shop show them my feet and ask for insoles and they would immediately point me to the flattest sole. I've been minimalist barefoot for 3 years now. Last time I went to buy new insoles the bootfitter looked at my feet and thought I was a mid or high soler! You will develop an arch from it.
I loved the quick editing!!
What i dont understand : "Why are minimalist shoes being sold for maximalist prices?" As you sort of said, no padding, no exotic materials, just the bare minimals. If prices were more reasonable id reckon more people would switch.
I'm switching because I developed plantar fasciitis. My transition is so slow because my budget does not allow otherwise.
It's always like this. I have the same problem with products that contain parfume like shampoo, soap, washing powder etc. due to allergies. The few who don't have parfume added are always the most expensive. Add less product = add extra price.
@@Nathan_Bookwurm
If they cant parfume the product, they have to use better quality stuff in it. Things which don't smell badly.
I accept a higher price for non-parfumed products. I choose them simply because I don't like the smell of the parfuned ones.
The problem is that non-parfumed things aren’t in every shop. I think they actually have less profit on them!
I can’t speak for the other shoe companies, but Vivo are high priced because of being a regenerative business. They have a great way of doing business which makes sure that everything and everyone on the chain to producing the shoe is paid a good wage, treated with respect and is able to be sustained for many years.
I'm not sure of it but maybe economies of scale are at play here, most of the industry is focused on "standard" shoes so if they make something different it's more expensive.
I didn't even know there was a barefoot movement until I accidentally transformed my feet. I was laid off during the pandemic, and became a stay at home partner after, and started going barefoot all day every day. It wasn't until I realized regular shoes didn't fit anymore and I started researching it that I figured out what was going on.
@@shish_taoukwell no. Since barefoot shoes are really bad for your feet. Realistically you should really only wear shoes and go barefoot equally. A balanced fair of both.
@@shish_taouk……barefoot minimalist is all I will wear unless I am hunting and then my dad makes me wear boots. I put them on then feel like I’m clunking around in my boots.
Been doing that for years now though and...what? Does everyone need to have a special plotline lol? Ive never needed any barefoot shoes. Are yall sure you arent just severely susceptible to "you are special" marketing tactics?
@@zzodysseuszz
Say that to childhood me that spent all day outdoors barefoot….
@@Tinylittledansonman
Your feet are just stuck squished. You are on a video irrelevant to you. That’s you looking for a “plot line” I guess
Others have had the problem for a while and they just now are making foot shaped shoes that’s aren’t TOE shoes. So it’s new to you. Not to anyone else
I swapped to barefoot shoes for a few years and my feet are a lot stronger and better. The problem is that I needed to switch back after a couple of years because I had some knee pain. As you said a toe strike walk is awkward and sub-optimal so as much as I would try, I always switched back to having a heel strike walk. I always toe strike when I run and now I have my barefoot shoes for running, snow, hiking, and play, but for work I'll wear some shoes with a cushion because I don't want to damage myself because I walk on those ultra hard surfaces for about 8 hours a day. I work on my feet, so I'm standing on it that long. Although I'm pro-barefoot shoes, they will always be bad if you're standing on tile and concrete for 8 hours a day.
I would like just wide toe box shoes with a little padding so I can use them at work.
Altra make cushioned foot-shaped trainers.
Also, all Birkenstock are wide toe box and zero drop, but they do come with their cork sole. You can take that out in some models.
I'd like wide toe box cushioned shoes with arch support for standing for long periods. They're either only trainers, which not everywhere allows, don't have cushioning and support, or you can only get a wider toe box in wide shoes. I don't have wide feet, so they are to loose everywhere else. I just need a wider toe box due to tailor's bunions caused by a combination of genetics and wearing regular shoes (women's shoes look nice, but are mean to feet).
How do you walk on downward sloped ground?
Let me know if you find a cushioned wide toe box- I work on my feet on concrete and I take shoes to change at lunch- toe squeeze and bottom of the feet happy, or happy toes and ball of the foot/ heel pain. If Alta made a thicker cushioned one, that would be awesome.
@@afreespirit5444 Certainly not on the heels.
Also 6 years into barefoot shoes, cheers. Has been a change for the better in almost every way (the expense and style rarity being the few cons). Worth it for me.
Did ur toes become wider again?
I appreciate how concise and straight to the point you are, while remaining comprehensive and explaining things clearly
Thanks so much!
@@BenVallack I have for quite some time been wearing leather soled shoes with a hard leather heel. I used to have the same mentality as barefoot "minimalist shoe wearers. I was hoping that the fact that its hard and not cushioned, would cause my feet get stronger, and I would put less stress on my joints for longevity of the body. But I have also noticed after longs days of work more often pain and in my legs and feet. The question it brings up for me is if the shoe is compressing less and taking less of that impact for us, that doesn't that mean we actually put more stress on our joints? It could also very well be the fact that dress shoes do not compare to barefoot shoes as they do have a heel and are quite hard.
@@pyotrilyichtchaikovsky3733 I'm not the maker of the video, but I can answer this.
Basically, the natural way of running at speed is to land on the forefoot as was said in the video. When we do land on our forefoot, our tendons and muscles (for example, the calf muscle and Achilles tendon) take all the force of the landing. This produces no wear and tear (as long as you do not overuse your tendons and muscles to the point of breakdown), because muscles and tendons are elastic and self-repair.
However, if you land on your heel, then your muscles and tendons cannot contribute to taking the force of the landing because you are landing straight onto the bone of your foot. This force is transmitted through your body including your knees and hips. The larger the force, the greater the chances of injury or breakdown with every step. This is why heelstriking causes a higher rate of injury amongst runners.
To answer your question - if you do heelstrike while walking/running, then wearing a thinner shoe WILL put stress on your joints. If you feel pain, than this could be the reason. The strength of your feet is only relevant when landing on the forefoot (the ball of the foot), because only there can the muscles of the toe, foot and calf get involved. Dress shoes may make it difficult to walk with more of a forefoot focus because they have a heel and a very solid sole, which limits the flexion of the foot and the involvement of the toes.
Hope I helped.
@@Zephromonia Clear and conscise, makes perfect sense. Thank you
For people living in cities or anywhere where they're walking mostly on hard surfaces, with barefoot shoes just imagine you're living on a mountain-beach and you have to walk with no shoes all day on rocks. First few minutes would feel good, but if you have to travel more you'd quickly get very tired by just WALKING and very soon you'd find yourself using your heel more and more, ending the day very tired and with all joints damaged.
But if you have to walk short distances or walk mostly on dirt/grass is totally worth switching to barefoot shoes.
I've never worn barefoot shoes but I grew up wearing converse and other skate shoes because anything that wasn't a flat sole felt really weird to me. I didn't really know anything about the difference between heel striking and walking normally until this video, but it totally aligns with my experience. When I had to get some more supportive shoes for work recently I had to basically learn to heel strike more often.
Edit: I was never claiming that shoes with flatter soles are like barefoot shoes, or that Converse are in any way inherently more ergonomic (they've killed my feet before too, their build quality sucks since the Nike acquistion, and they've killed my feet before too). I'm simply sharing my experience.
OMGG!! I've had the exact same experience. the flat, dense padding of converse and vans makes for a more natural stride in my opinion. i always liked those shoes because digging my heel first into the ground as i walk just felt extremely strange to me, even if i felt """faster"""", almost as if i was generating more power with each step.
I have wide feet, so wear skate shoes or Xero for mountain biking and barefoot shoes for everything else except snowboarding and winter work/hiking.
don't heel strike omg even with padding it'll destroy your foot health.
you have to have a deeper understanding here and there are many resources,books and research that could help you. The whole muscle-tendon system of feet and legs changes dramatically after switching to barefoot or barefoot shoes. This does not occur in one day and it requires much and specific exercises to make a smooth transition and to avoid injuries. You see, mechanotrunsduction results in our tendons and muscles getting shorter over time, so transitioning to a zero elevated heel could put much tension at the back, hips and could stress the body. After the transition is completed, which takes a different amount of time and effort for each individual, the whole gait pattern changes, the alignment of spine changes, the weight is distributed evenly, toes get more range of movement, arch muscle is activated, nervous system of foot's sole is stimulated and blood supply on feet is regained to the fullest.
converse aren't skate shoes and they are way to narrow in my personal opinion but vans, etnies and DC shoes are all really comfortable.
I loved this little break down but in fact a lot of the pointy shoe design did not necessarily come from rich people simply hating on poor people, but since many of the ruling class rode horses pointed shoes were MUCH easier to allow you to slip your foot shoe and all into the stirrup so you could ride the horse without falling off the most popular example of this is in cowboy shoes often seen in the midwest the point toe allows ease of slipping into the stirrup its also why they often have flat slippery leather soles to allow them to even more easily slip into the stirrup.
Also the social class element is probably the reason behind it becoming a fashion
@@HkFinn83 You mean conspicuous consumption?
All fashion trends had their beginnings in something practical, that was then adopted by elite class as stylized imitation fashion, without the practical "hey, we need and use this", and then became a status symbol to parade in front of the plebians. I'm sure things like makeup started practically, probably in theatre, was then copied by the wealthy (theatre with costumes and makeup not being accessible to the poor), etc. Case in point, pointed shoes worn by knights, who could afford a separate set of riding shoes and make frequent use of them, well, knighting was for the wealthy, so even wealthy non-knights started wearing them, but without the hardcore practical design aspects, just as a stylized imitation version. In general, "high fashion" is purposely about being impractical, so show off to others how wealthy you are and how little manual labor (or anything else practical for that matter) you need to be doing. Pointy shoes, high heels, make up, long fingernails, fancy dress, fancy hair, delicate any and everything, corsets, heck, even throw foot binding in there, since there's no way you could grow up to adulthood with bound feet without being wealthy and having an army of people looking after all your needs.
The pointed cowboy boots also allows more of them to stand around a campfire.
@Marius 007 I mean. We can look at recent trends. Look at 4x4 vehicles. I've been an offroad enthusiast my entire life. I'm a farmer. 4x4s and heavy duty trucks are a necessity for my line of work - look how many workhorse vehicles became luxurious family mobiles. Guys running stretched tires on brand new 4x4s.
Work boots - there's a huge following online for guys buying work boots for fashion.
Pocket knives - tons of folks have $500+ knives they'll never use for a status symbol.
I mean they're smaller less impactful things.. but Trends I've seen change in my lifetime.
As far as the actual video - I bought minimalist combat boots when I was in the Army. They weren't awful.. but up to that point in my life all I had to compare them to were steel toe pull on work boots. I didn't really notice a substantial improvement in anything. Those boots were crazy comfortable for those long hauls where you're in boots for 48+ hours.
I've been obsessed with keeping my keep bare since I was born (literally, I grew up being regailed about all the times as a toddler I'd just rip off my shoes, throw them, then take off running). This has carried into my adulthood, and I've always had a toe-first walk. I also have stupidly wide feet that most shoes don't accommodate for.
I'm glad you made this video to talk about how barefoot walking changes our bodies. I've always been a bit wary of my walk, as I've always been told that I'm "doing it wrong", but that also seemed very counter intuitive to me because we obviously didn't evolve WITH shoes, and bodies are usually such delicately tuned machines that when we change the slightest thing, we can throw everything out of whack... and don't shoes change our bodies?
I actually wrote an essay in middle school about how shoe-wearing is a big conspiracy, and I started it as a sort of silly-extreme argument to make an essay about. I honestly didn't think I'd find much to support my argument, but I started with a book that a local librarian helped me find, and that book had a lot of the points you've made here (I wish I could remember the title, but all I recall is that it's pro-barefoot lifestyle, and has an entire chapter about how crocs and flip-flops are huge indicators on how badly fast fashion has screwed our environment). This book planted the seeds of, "So, I'm not wrong to strive for a barefoot lifestyle?", but outside of that middle school experience back at the cusp of the millennium, I really haven't seen much talk about it.
Thanks for validating the way my body has simply been for my whole life, and thanks for letting others know that maybe we need to rethink our relationship with shoes.
Excellent video. I am elderly and obese. Barefoot walking has significantly helped improve my balance: I can now go up and down steps sequentially instead of one at a time. When I walk, I focus on lifting my rib cage to improve my posture, and on powering each stride from my glutes and hamstrings. I try to glide my foot into contact with the terrain like I’m landing an airplane, so the strike, though affecting the entire sole, is more centered in the midsole region. Where I live, we have very uneven sidewalks, and my feet are now not only stronger but also more sensitive to these defects so they don’t trip me up.
That’s fantastic!
Good stuff
Sequentially means one at a time.. ? Perhaps you mean simultaneously or you mean multiple steps at a stride.
the best thing by far i've seen for improving posture is hanging from a pullup bar, even for less than 4 minutes a day without putting all of your weight on it. also pullup bars are cheap to get.
@@nephihenry4328 yes. I do that too. It is very painful, and I had to start with a few seconds.
I’m a runner who transitioned to barefoot shoes (the old five fingers). Thank you for stressing the need to slowly transition, many tried to swap over without an adjustment period, only to end up injured. I have now settled on a brand called Altra which is zero drop with a wide toe box. They have padding, it’s hard running ultra bush marathons without some padding. I have no problems with knees or hips, it just seems very natural now.
I love Altra! which shoes are your favorite?
All those "minimalist" shoes are commercial BS, got fully barefoot
Personally I prefer Topos as they give a slightly better feel on the forefoot. They also last longer!! Each to their own. My VFF’s are still going strong after 2000+ miles. I just can’t wear them out !!!
When I switched to Altra, my pantar faciitis went away and my little toe that was curling in and causing pain straightened out. On smooth surfaces without any gravel or rocks, I prefer barefoot running, but most courses I need the Altras.
Why don't you just go barefoot?
So i'm one of the wierdos that played barefoot outside as a kid almost exclusively except for sport, and continue to do so today. Heel striking is totally normal. I never had barefoot shoes until I got a corporate job and my feet started to ache in heeled pointy boots. Traded them out after 6 months and I'm so happy. I think the surface you are on is the biggest issue. You walk naturally how you should barefoot. Watch kids who are 1 year in to walk, it's fascinating how well they move.
Great video!
You are not weird! In Asia, most kids play barefoot outdoors! 😊
@@dawnforlife And in Australia.
@@dawnforlife in the states a lot of people, especially older people, will make comments about you if you're barefoot. i grew up in a small woodsy town and always spent most of my time barefoot and only wore shoes into town and to school. i moved to a small city and even if i'm simply taking out the garbage i have neighbors that point out that i'm barefoot, as if i was unaware. lol. also a lot of old people scolding me for not making my kids wear shoes when we play in the grass. it's weird to me but it's because of these interactions that i've realized that most of america prefers shoes always, at least the older generations do.
@@lettus143 It’s due to health hazards like broken glass and parasites like hookworm. Hookworm got so bad that it effected the population of the American south so bad that it caused a stereotype of them being dumb and lazy which was true bc they were sick from hookworm making them lethargic and such
Yep I grew up barefoot and still do go mostly. We also don’t allow shoe wearing in the house. I encourage my kids not wear shoes outside as much as possible to except when we are in our livestock pens
Bare everywhere, I've found a few distinct gaits have popped up:
Comfiest ground walk (grass, moss):
Heel strike, very efficient, somewhat fast, good for a long walk taking minimal energy
Rough ground walk:
Middle/flat strike for a wider surface taking the grit, noticeably more knee/quad engagement to slow/absorb the impact (like a mini squat)
Slippy/muddy/incline/decline walk:
Forefoot with active toe spreading and clawing, you can get so much grip by digging into the ground and clasping it, applying weight just on forefoot let's you sink deeper. Having toes spread in all directions reduces slip too as some toes are always against the slip grain
Running:
Virtually always forefoot, the rougher the ground the more knee bending/mini squatting to absorb impact, mid footing where really bad, but the speed of forefoot is mad
It's so cool how they do it themselves, free those dogs
A few years ago my husband and I started running but I had the hardest time with it- half a mile in I'd have terrible knee pain and shin splints. I bought fancy high cushioned running shoes, but that just made it worse. Then my husband started talking about barefoot shoes- I thought he was crazy 😂 But eventually I tried them and loved them! Since switching to barefoot shoes my pain went away completely and I can actually run! It was a slow transition/process but it was definitely worth it!
*Edit- A lot of people have suggested that it was my overall level of fitness and not the shoes that make the difference. Recently I've tried cushioned running shoes of the regular variety and with a wider toe box. The knee and shin pain came back pretty quickly. And no, I didn't go into wearing the cushioned shoes hoping they'd fail. I had high hopes particularly for the wide toe box shoes- I thought they could be good for longer runs. But they weren't and I just can't wear them. If cushioned, running shoes work for you then great! But barefoot running shoes genuinely do work best for me. Just because I greatly abridged my barefoot journey for the RUclips comments section doesn't mean it wasn't a careful, well thought out, well researched opinion. Best of luck picking your own running shoes!
I`ve had a lot of issues with my knee after an accident, but found that using "flat" soled shoes helped a lot, it makes you walk more naturally, at kleast for me (:
And have you tried normal old style flat running shoes? I don't like any of those new shoes that look like they stuck a slab of styrofoam underneath them. Flat sneakers work great for me. Barefoot shoes only seem like another extreme on the scale of shoe types. There can be too little and too much cushioning.
Ever think you felt that way because it's an unnatural activity? Walking is fine and great exercise, all jogging does is destroy your joints
@@sabir1208 Well that too. I am all for walking. People think running is better but it's not. Walk the same distance and you burn the same amount of calories. And you'll actually be able to enjoy your surroundings. And you can do it until you're 100 years old.
@Mola Diver I know! Walking keeps me very lean, as soon as I learned to drive, I gained weight lol
idk what's with your videos. One moment I am watching a man use a treadmill desk and two button keyboards, the next moment I am interested in how I actually walk. Your content is always great, and your point of view on all things ergo and practical is phenomenal. Keep up the great work!
Thanks so much!
Ben the salesman :)
@@lucy-h please, do not insult Ben like that.
@@BenVallack I also think there is the problem of potentially glorifying poverty if you had no shoes in the past or poor ones today at least in the west it is likely due to poverty.
One thing not mentioned here, is I found I really appreciate the tactile feeling of using a minimalist shoe. We have a lot of feeling in our feet, but regular shoes is as if you had thick mittens on your hands all the time. There is a portion of sidewalk near my house that has brick for a while on either end of a bus stop, and I usually veer over to it because I can feel the individual bricks under my feet. If tree roots push up ridges in sidewalk, you feel that and your feet also mold around it vs just see-sawing over the pivot. I feel much more connected and less likely to twist my ankle.
I appreciate the comments about heel striking when walking. If I'm doing a ton of fast walking on concrete, I do find it easier to use slightly thicker soles and be looser with the heel striking, but still feel like I can easily adjust the gait for comfort. Or if I'm suddenly walking over bumpy grass, it makes sense to go a bit more forefoot at that point.
Hiking barefoot really made me aware that our feet are sensory organs. It was so cool to feel the differences in moisture and temperature, soft vs hard, etc. All the stuff we would miss with shoes on.
Blah, blah, blah... "wearing mittens on your feet". BS. Work on your running.
Oh man, I sure would appreciate all those times I stepped on huge, pointed upwards shards of broken glass bottles and nails on the street so much more, if my shoe soles were like 3 mm thick.
@@Даниил-н8н I mean obviously if you're constantly stepping on broken bottles and nails, you need more protection, but not everyone is in that situation. Just because people in certain factory or construction jobs need steel toe boots doesn't mean everyone else is being reckless not wearing those boots all the time.
@@Rpodnee feet aren't organs
As an engineer, I can say this video is the finest, most accurate one I've ever seen about minimalist footwear. In layman's terms it's this simple: When your feet land, the force upon contact with the ground MUST go somewhere. The biggest misconception out there is that shoe padding will somehow magically absorb and make this force disappear. This is completely WRONG. When that foam is compressed, it simply sends the force back up through your legs, with the hips, lower back, and even your neck paying the price. If you're obese, like most of us are to some degree, the best thing you can do for your feet and joints is lose weight and thereby reducing the landing force. Again, this is an EXCELLENT video.
Thanks! (PS check out the rest of my channel!)
@@BenVallackSunscribed. Very good stuff sir.
Correct... but, as a fellow engineer, you forgot about impulse. That's what padding reduces and the whole point of airbags and other padding based protection. The force still gets applied but your muscles and legaments can learn to deal with it.
A reduced impulse can have huge effects when done right.
Is this an argument as to why airbags dont work?
Obese to some degree? Americans smh…
Worked in hospitality for 13 years, on my feet all the time, I can tell you now, barefoot shoes would kill your posture on hard surfaces over long periods of time. Shifting around weight constantly and such on hard surfaces requires the padding in conventional modern shoes. Each type of shoe has its purpose though. Some of the people i used to do fencing with, loved barefoot shoes for it (wooden bouncy floors and grass surfaces). Hiking though, I always felt boots and shoes were a hit or miss, but recently transitioned to a very expensive pair of lowa boots and I have never felt more comfortable in a shoe. Big topic you should mention are socks, they make a world of difference and many people forget to talk about it or not realise how important they are. Looser fitting boots ( to accommodate your feet's natural swelling during strenuous walking) and wool socks make a world of difference in boots for hiking and general wear.
Exactly this. Long distance walking or continuous standing ruins my hip or ankle but when on grass this so rarely causes an issue compared to in a city
I did years of foot heavy jobs. Fedex driver, Mover, dock worker on hard concrete and ceramic flooring. Football, on basically compressed rock with the presences of grass. Hard cleated shoes on that shit or frozen ground is the most brutal feeling in my life. Blisters the size or golf balls with no time to stop will kill your soul. All that to say this. Flat shoes are just better. Toes space is better. Football cleats, American style or what I call soccer just suck. Honesty, I like Barefoot shoes the most but a good pair of boots are fantastic. I have some Sorels with the wools lining and they are heaven though they are a tad big and have a heel. You cannot beat a good pair of those besides the fact they are winter boots.
its not better, theres just not yet barefoot shoes for that kind of thing yet@@ddroz23
Unless I'm going somewhere more rugged, I kind of went with a different option with moccasins that have a thicker sole because I'm not wearing something very flexible when in rougher areas and I like to have some cushioning in the shoe.
Good comment. So basically you are upfront saying that your employers provided unsafe work environments. True that.
The new Maury thing is spot on. I switched to barefoot and minimalist running in 2009, and ended up with a stress fracture in my foot because I did way too much way too soon. Went to the doc, got orthotics, rested, got healthy, transitioned gradually, ran a marathon pain free in my silly toe shoes (FiveFingers). I haven’t worn a “normal” shoe since 2009, and I’m never going back.
I have Leguano’s shoes and when I went in the store and asked for info, that was in Germany and she said I could try them out and there was different underground like wood, stones and so on and she even said try it on the street. She also told me that I should build up the time onweer the shoes. Because my body needs readjust to it. I walk at home and in my garden always barefoot except in winter. Like on beaches I love barefooted. We do flyball a dogsport and it has happened I forgot to put on my shoes. It’s a good middle ground of my husbandtelling me to wear shoes and being my own. I’m raised on walking running barefoot till age 7, than had to wear shoes for school and moving to the city. So every opportunity was no shoes if possible.
Im having Leguano’s barefoot shoes, but got the advice to build up the time of wearing them. Because although I’m walking barefoot in my home and garden on the beach or grass places when at a flyball tournament she still advices to build up. So my body could readjusted. Because for the rest I still wear regular shoes. I have what they call ballet feet I did ballet for some years as a hobby but still did it long days training.
2009, I thought this barefoot trend was a new thing.
I'm planning on running a marathon in about 8 months. I'm playing with the idea of switching to barefoots but I'm a bit in doubt if I'll have enough time to get used to it and be ready for such a long distance (also given I rarely run but rather go skating / cycling etc.).
How long did it take you to be able to run a marathon on them?
Probably the safer bet is to be a pair to wear casually and get used to "normal" walking on these types of shoes first.
@@HL-777- Bruh this shit been around since the early 2000s.... you must be a kid.
First, pointed shoes come from horse riding. After the invention of stirrups the pointed shoe with a high heel became popular because it was easier to get your foot into the stirrups and hold position while riding. It started with knights and went into the noble classes from there.
And second?
A very weird and not altogether accurate rewriting of history there! 😀
@@MusTheFan And second, I do not understand this subculture at all and think it's weird.
@@Lynnefromlyn How so?
@@PenumbranWolf sounds like a personal problem to me
"If you just take your shoes off and walk on hard pavement...". Exactly. You simply have to relearn how to move (assuming a lifetime in shoes). I have been barefoot for about 15 years now, and my feet and gait patterns have changed completely. Foot placement is softer, the lower peripheral vision has improved markedly, and knees are always soft.
Commenting on the last part of the video (adaptation to barefoot/barefoot shoes), it took me about three years to transition fully to the Five Fingers (Vibram), then a further *five years* to fully transition to bare feet.
As well, wearing toe socks inside the shoes you favour (Vivos) will make the brain regard each toe separately-if you look at the wear pattern on your shoes, you will see the forefoot and big toe areas are more worn. In my case, the little and fourth toes are where the majority of the wear occurs, and I noticed that this transition (from big toe more to the outside of the foot) was the last thing to happen. Our students who prefer Vivos or other zero-drop shoes have reported the same effect IF they wear toe socks with them. Great video, thanks.
It's ironic how we feel entightled to tromp through life with out feeling what we are stepping on, instead of walking carefully and mindfully ❤
"... the lower peripheral vision has improved markedly..." Amazing right!? I'm about 15 years in also. I remember when I first started, I had to constantly watch the ground. Slowly, over the years, I was able to align my site parallel to the ground. Like you said, lower peripheral vision improves, but also sole durability increases enough to rule out injury, or pain, from much fewer objects and ground materials. I live on the beach in Brazil (moved from USA), which is also in a city; it is great, because you can go anywhere barefoot, but without anyone looking at you sideways.
When I was a kid, I got a pair of moccasins I wore regularly for 10 years- they were the kind with no rubber or plastic, a sole made of the same hide as the rest, and a little bit of cushion in the sole. They were super flexible and light, but gave me enough protection to walk on rocky or hot surfaces. To me, those will always be the best shoes I've ever had. I will forever be searching for a new identical pair. I could feel the ground and use my feet as if I was barefoot, but my feet were still protected and cushioned. I walked and ran on a wide variety of surfaces from asphalt to grass, climbed trees, hiked in the desert and mountain forests, went to school, and rode horses bareback in those moccasins. The one and only flaw was the deerhide laces were not as effective as they could have been.
if youre ok with saving up for them and are willing to do the leather maintenance to make them last a decade or two, catskill moccasins does custom fits of this type of shoe with whatever design you want (of course the price goes up the more stuff you add or if you want taller boots instead of shoes, but idk ur preferences) and they have a good reputation.
I suggest taking a look through the websites finished projects and individual component pricing to see if they actually offer the options you want and if the pricing for that is worth it to you
@@nootshoo3993 Oh, thank you! I've been wanting to do this for many years, and can't find anywhere in Canada. Will check that out. I had real mukluks when I was a preteen, but forget about getting real ones now. No seal skin allowed. And before you say anything, yeah they are cute. So are all the other animals, but I sill eat meat and wear leather.
I used barefoot shoes a while ago and the only issue I had with them was when the surface I was running on got really hot. They have much less insulation than "normal" shoes and it was really painful to run with them on hot surfaces.
Other than that they're fantastic, and this video is an excellent portrayal of how going barefoot is a transition to something different (and probably healthier) rather than just bring outright better.
Vivo do sell some really thin insoles that come included in some of their shoes, the cork one might be good for your case?
Yeah the ones I had were cheap knock-offs lol, they fell apart after a single season. I'm sure any of the Vivo's would be better than what I had, thanks for the recommendation!
How I solve this was to cut out sole shaped space blanket reflective material and place it underneath the shoe-liner.
@@hamster2845 Ooh what a smart idea.
@@infinitenayc9910 For hot surfaces you would put the reflective side down, for cold, you would put the reflective side up.
I love my barefoot shoes! But I also love my "normal" cushioned shoes. When I want to have a cozy hike, comfortable day at work, small walk or such, I go for the barefoot shoes, since it feels more like, yeah, barefoot, it makes me think about my steps, etc etc. But for example for running I choose my cushioned running shoes, because of its features and the firm ground, or for biking I also wear harder soled shoes, because it feels too awkward to have the feet curl around the pedals 😅 I think, it's like choosing a tool: what do you want to do? Choose the right option to achieve the goal, and neither one is the ultimate answer for everything.
Riding barefoot is great for strengthening legs and feet.
It depends on the type of running you do. There is actual evidence that suggests long distance running is better with “minimal shoes” (more like barefoot) for foot and leg health.
@Karl with a K who gaf abt IQ though, lol
@Karl with a K i smell bullshit 🤣🤣you’re out of touch w reality😂😂😂
@Karl with a K literally ebverything you said is wrong
I had foot surgery a year ago and was completely non weight bearing for over 6 weeks. I have Ehlers-Danlos and really high arches. My posterior tibialis tendon was almost torn through. I wish the surgeon had replaced it with a cadaver tendon instead of repairing it, but it is what it is. Anyway, my physical therapist recommended that I go barefoot or wear barefoot shoes at home as much as possible to strengthen my feet, but wear good supportive shoes when I'll be doing a lot of walking on hard surfaces. I did all of my PT barefoot. The best shoes for me I've found are New Balance 1540 V3. They have a nice wide toe box and offer a lot of support to keep my foot stabilized. With the EDS I need that. But I've always preferred to be barefoot as much as possible, so that's no hardship for me. :) I will also never run again. In hindsight I never should have started. Weight lifting is good for EDS. Rowing, swimming good. Running no.
Switching to barefoot shoes has been the most rewarding thing for my comfort when it comes to my feet. I feel like I just have so much control and sensation awareness when I walk in them. I am just able to react more to my environment as a result.
This is also what I noted.
Feeling the ground, angles, and edges is great for knowing what the ground is doing and can reduce injury risk.
Plus less heel on the shoe means less of a fulcrum if you do take an awkward step with less strain on ligaments and tendons, thus less likely to injure.
when was that useful?
@Karl with a K nice troll
Switching to barefoot shoes has kind of changed my life, or at least my life as it relates to my foot health and walking. My foot structure shifted, my pain went away, and my chronic ingrown toenails became far less frequent. Everyone on both sides of my family have horribly shaped feet and I don’t want to end up like that as I see how much pain it causes them. I love my barefoot shoes so much and I can never go back, but I fully understand that they’re not for everyone.
I also have a chronic ingrown toe, and family history of it. A change in shoes has made a world of difference, even if it's mostly just that I don't much wear hard dress shoes anymore. But also more minimal and wide-toed shoes were an unsurprising but not widely available help
I had a procedure done as a teen to permanently cut the far inside root of the nail to prevent ingrowns. It was a game changer for me because I was constantly digging and mutilating my toes to dig out the nail that was biting into the skin too much, I wouldn't just leave them be. I couldn't recommend it more to at least look into it and see if it something you'd consider. It was just handled by my primary care Dr at the time though nowadays they would probably send you to a foot dr.
Barefoot shoes didn’t do that. You got rid of poor shoes which is what helped. But you started using barefoot shoes and have convinced yourself it was the barefoot shoes that did it
@@zzodysseuszz The point is that switching to a different shoe is what helped. The 3rd option is go completely barefoot which many are fine doing
Reality of ingrown toenails is that once they have started, they always come back messed up. The wrong shoe will push your nails into your toes, but they're not a cause according to my podiatrist. Some people are prone genetically, some people aren't. He has kids as young as 7 coming in for nail removals. I had the roots on both my big toes killed to simply avoid having to go to the doctor every year or two and get them yoinked off, the week or two of recovery and not being able to wear shoes at all sucks. They do the root killing with some kind of acid basically, that was the only part I had to look away for, it's kind of shocking how easily your toenails come off when they lift it up and tug. Toenails are mostly aesthetic anyway, especially since we wear shoes.
I hike barefoot. I'm pretty comfortable heel striking while walking but on treacherous terrain or at speed I basically walk on my tip toes. It varies tremendously how my foot strikes. Temperature, firmness, and energy levels are all paramount for deciding how I strike the ground. But when I slip on shoes I don't think about anything like that and just go back to my basal, which is heel striking.
Glad you made thisvideo because it's good to see a relatively unbiased study.
Bless you in all your endeavors.
You hike barefoot or with barefoot shoes? Unfortunately I'd be worried about stepping on sharp glass walking on some of the more frequented trails around here.
Yea how dp you hike barefoot? I always thought about it but i would be worried about steppinf on something sharp
@@connorperrett9559 barefoot. I just watch where I step. But I do get a few sharp sticks and briars every now and again. It still hurts. But you just take it out and carry on.
Whenit gets stuck is a different issue.
@@ghostswordsman8024 I usually carry sandals with me when I'm mushroom hunting if I go off the path into treacherous terrain. But they don't do well on the long term.
@@dontworry4945 Don't forget to tell people that the more a foot is exercised on different surfaces it becomes conditioned. The skin on the heel, ball and toes will thicken naturally and nerves will become desensitised.
I have been doing the "barefoot" shoe thing since about 2006, when I discovered Vibram FiveFingers and then a variety of other minimal footwear. I found they didn't take all that long to adjust to, and they eliminated plantar fasciitis /fasciosis... woohoo!
I agree with pretty-much everything Ben says in the video.
One thing that hardly gets mention, in general (not just in this video), is that my feet really enjoy walking on gnarly hard surfaces.
Walking on smooth pavement is "meh, this needs to be done" but, when I'm at the side of a road where the asphalt is lumpy, or on gravel, or in winter when tire ruts have frozen, I just love the constant little pressure changes and twists and overall variation. I also get some of that from a well-worn trail that has embedded pebbles and roots and such.
Now, even in Vivos or other thin-soled shoes, it still ain't no pleasure to plant a heel firmly onto a piece of sharp-cornered gravel that's on a no-give surface like concrete, but that's fairly rare, and it barely has time to start hurting before my foot figures it out and ... no big deal.
A disadvantage is that my wife, who still wears "foot coffins" does heel-strike hard and she naturally strides long when she does that, so to keep up with her on our less leisurely walks, I'm practically mincing with the comparatively shorter strides enforced by no heel padding.
I'd still be using fivefingers a lot more, but as that fad is well past peak, most of the toe-sock manufacturers have gone away, or stopped/cut-back production of mostly-Merino-wool toe socks. Those that remain, when they bother, are really proud (i.e., price) of their product. And of course, nobody in Canada makes a Merino toe sock and a 68-cent Loonie doesn't buy much from the US these days.
For EvilestGem and others, I don't mind a bit of padding in a shoe.
But I absolutely do not want something so stupid as "arch support". That's as bad or worse than toe-spring. It's just not common to have a shoe with some padding, but without the extra shit that kills your arches over time. . . and it's just not the same to rip the arch 'support' portions out of otherwise cushioned shoes.
Kevin in Canada, eh?
I've not been wearing barefoot shoes for too long but I've noticed an increase already in my resilience when walking. The transition has been easy for me as I've never worn tight shoes. I have been a tad concerned about the heel striking on concrete surfaces when walking a lot, but I noticed very quickly that my body was adjusting the way it walked in the same way that it would whenever I walk around without shoes on - which is all the time at home and around the garden. I honestly think everyone should embrace barefoot shoes, especially when running!
If you're heel striking you need to work on your hips they're too tight which is not letting you place feet down gently, ankles need work too, lots of stretching and yoga and you'll see your foot goes down nice and light
Thank you so much for making this!
I really appreciate the specifically the citations on the history of why shoes became pointed and also directions to the studies about the efficiency of heel striking in different conditions.
I've been walking around on my forefront, and it never felt quite right. I feel like this video just gave me a blueprint to how to heel strike more gently (ie. still maintaining the focus on pushing off the back foot/working the glute rather than reaching ahead of me with my foot and letting my knees take the shock, but now gently landing on the heel instead of awkwardly leaning forward to reach over and land on the ball of my foot).
This video is a huge collection of knowledge - really fully spanning from clarifying why barefoot is better and very soberly describing the current discussion/discovery in the barefoot world now. (I guess it's important to remember we're not REALLY the barefoot community. We're the people in industrialized countries who want to be LIKE the real barefooters.)
A small note though: I'm not sure your title matches your video! (For instance, what was the REAL reason? Even if it is in there, it's not what I took away.) Also, I think this video is a little too advanced for people just beginning their journey. I wonder if a title like: The Barefoot Community is Too Scared to Admit This. I wonder if it would attract barefooters who've actually put more thought into gait types and who have stronger opinions on this stuff. You know best! I just would love to see this video get as much exposure as possible because it's so good.
Excellent video! Thank you for making it! :)
I like the title idea! I’ll try it - thanks for your comments!
@@BenVallack Holy shit, this video is popping off! So glad to see it! well deserved 💪
@@MinimalEncourager many thanks to your title suggestions!!
Totally agree with your thoughts.
I've had barefoot shoes for only a few months now but one thing I was not yet sold on was zero cushioning when we didn't evolve on concrete, as toe walking felt awkward and inefficient, but heel striking is uncomfortable without cushion. I never considered that you can still heel/flat strike but just do it more gentle. Really good video.
Just noticed was a very generous super thanks - very kind of you, thanks so much!
I wore barefoot for a few years, then switched to full leather soled, handmade boots - the kind that mold to the arch. They allow me to stand on hard surfaces for 16 straight hours. Every step feels like a foot massage when I add a cork insole with a metatarsal bump. I'll never go back to barefoot. It's also interesting that the boots are actually quite hard on the bottom - there's no cushion more than the rubber of the outsole. (look up JK, Nicks, Franks, Drew's, etc.)
Ooh, I’ve been wondering about leather soles. Thank you
absolutely 👍🏼 before my job made steel toe shoes mandatory I was wearing barefoot shoes to work and I could stand for HOURS 12 hr shifts were a breeze. Now with steel toe my hip and lower back starts to ache 🫠
@@jasminemora6869 yes me too!!! Exactly. Hate company shoes. I put the insole on thee wrong side to compensate for height slightly
Most retail footwear doesn't actually have any heel lift, despite what these people claim (a few mm at most). Most retail footwear is actually closer to barefoot shoes than these people admit. The major difference is the thickness of the soles. Now you can see what an actual heel lift does, it doesn't match up with the "barefoot" marketing, does it?
@@averyj.steele1074 this is not accurate. The vast majority of footwear has a heel to toe drop.
I've been barefoot 95% of the time for the past 10 years, like literally barefoot. I've noticed when I walk at a slow speed, my heel barely kisses the ground, almost all of my weight is on the front of my feet. Anything faster than a walk turns into full on forefoot, which really does absorb a lot of the shock of hitting the ground, like a spring.
As someone with a really long second toe (naturally pointy feet) I have had a lot of difficulty finding barefoot style shoes that fit my feet. I could always go up a few sizes I suppose but I would much prefer to find a brand that has a more "foot shaped" shoe that isn't made for only a few foot shapes. I gather that a foot changes shape when the toes have the opportunity to spread, but I don't believe that will make my big toe significantly longer or my second toe significantly shorter. Thanks guys!
No idea how long your toe is, but as far as I understand barefoot shoes like vivos should leave plenty of space for your toes. When I tried vivos recommended for my foot size I had a huge amount of space(not sure if that's the case for all brands), so I feel like if I had a long second toe it wouldn't be a problem. So if you are choosing barefoot shoes where your toes touch the end of the shoe, you are potentially getting a size too small. But don't quote me on this, that's just my observation from trying the vivo brand.
Naot
@@hornet-h3v I was born with feet like this. (Just like my great grandma.) I actually had surgery to shorten the toe because I couldn't handle the extreme pain. Best thing EVER.
Well you can't mass manufacture things that fit individuals...
This! My big toe nails are not flat, they are a bit upwards so my vivos gave me a corn under my right toe nail from the shoe being so flat over the toe nails. Most barefoot shoes leave room on the sides and front, but I never found one that left room at the top 😩
I would have no problem with switching if the industry wasn't charging $150-300 for "barefoot" shoes. Talk about ruling class, what kind of price gouging BS is this?
Just a result of supply and demand I think. Just need more people buying them so they can start producing more and competitors bring the cost down.
They are 50-150 right about now. Regular shoes are going for 150-600
Regular shoes: $150-600? 😂😂😂. U need a reality check boi
@@kizarumelon2477 not everyone shops Walmart for crap. Go look at Lowa, or Danner or bellview. Get out of the ghetto... boi
If you choose a different brand, you can get a pair of barefoot shoes for less than £30. I wouldn't purchase this brand out of principle.
Aasics for a short period had a very thin soled casual everyday shoe. It wasn't an athletic shoe or a wrestling shoe. I got one pair on clearance and it was amazing. Until I wore them out and realized that Aasics phased them out and were no longer making them. Crushed me because for the first time I had finally found a VERY comfortable shoe versus your standard sneaker.
The exact same thing happened to me with a pair of NB. Outside clearance. I have mortins neuroma, and I could only wear those shoes without it blowing up. My son looked at the shoes and noticed details I never would have. I've been wearing Barefoot shoes ever since and have avoided surgery. I swear, barefoot shoes saved my life.
If you still have them you could find a cobbler and get them repaired
If you do find another shoe that good for you, buy multiples since they too can be discontinued.
I have very flat, wide feet and have been wearing arch support inserts for most of my life, prescribed by various orthopaedic surgeons. They did not really help but gave me terrible problems with the tendons in both feet because they made me walk too much on the outside of my feet and they also made the soles of my shoes thick and unflexible, which caused pain because I started to walk in an unnatural way.
When I spent three weeks walking barefoot up and down a beach on summer vacation, I noticed that my feet were really tired from all this exertion, but the pain and swelling I was used to were going away. The moment I got back home I bought my first pair of barefoot shoes. Since then, I have thrown out all my normal shoes and replaced them with barefoot models. I also had to throw out some new barefoot shoes that turned out to be crappy or not right for me, but have now found out which ones work for me. I have gotten used to the barefoot way of walking, have developed strength in my feet and the pain that accompanied my for most of my life is almost completely gone.
I tried barefoot shoes and followed all the guidance as to how to slowly integrate them and ended up with plantar faciatis from the increased tension on the plantar fascia. I now have to hike with arch support. Really not for everyone. With the exception of the wide toe box, it's so true that our balance, gait etc is far better with splayed toes.
Absolutely. At the end of the day, there’s two extremes here- barefoot walking and incredibly padded shoes. Find your balance. I’m sick of this ‘do this! Do that!’
You may look for some broad toe box boots like Keens or Corcoran jump boots (Munson Army last). Then you can have the wide toe box with some support.
If you have access to a gym with a sled, try integrating pushing the sled into your workouts. That is supposed to help with foot strength, which should help with plantar fasciitis.
@Paul Skalla Yeah, there are lots more brands now that have a wide toe box. I'm currently using Topo boots in the summer & Altberg in winter.
as a semi-retired disabled US Army Vet of 14 years... i have a normal job but still get a minimal disability payment each month for both feet and nerve damage in my ears (tinnitus)... my feet were pretty much my life from 18-32 years old. doing police work even in the Military you're on your feet when you're not driving a vehicle... folks call it, gumshoe feet, foot patrol feet, nurse's feet, the doctors call it Plantar fasciitis.
so for my life i've lived at home in sandals, house shoes, basically barefoot with cold weather warm soft shoes (no socks) and minimal protection when i have to pop outside for a few minutes... but elsewhere? US Army/DOD regulations require athletic shoes and so forth for Physical Training in uniform. of course everybody knows about craptastical DOD issued footwear, dress shoes, combat boots... and how the civilian combat boot companies have been decades more advanced and comfortable and less injurious. so i went civilian boots as soon as i could and never looked back.
after getting out of the Army i worked in rounded toe sneakers in factories. today i cook pizzas and wear slip stop shoes with rounded toes. i wore rounded toed Army boots and sneakers to work out in back then. i've got kinda sorta wide foot ball width feet so (with my orthotics) i wear a wide width shoe.
so, when i could i went 'barefoot' and never even heard of 'the movement'... but alot of my life basically injured my feet till today... if i don't wear orthotics the damage to my heels and plantar tendons starts back up again and if anybody knows podiatry... unless new surgeries have happened... you dick up your plantar tendons? you're effed. might as well cut that foot off and learn how to use a prosthetic foot.
my dad was born flat-footed (archless) and i have 'false arches'... so we both were genetically predisposed for plantar problems. pops wore 'corrective shoes' for years as a child and those forced his feet to grow arches... but of course the 1950's through 60's didn't have MRI and motion capture and foot pressure sensitive diagnostics like we have today... so my pop's 20 year Air Force career ruined his plantars so badly that... he was always in pain, always wearing braces to sleep in... podiatrist visits every few months to double-check his custom orthotics... every once in a while pops could get a steroid shot in his heels to increase healing and reduce damage and pops shopped for shoes like a girl does, always looking for THAT PERFECT PAIR.
so, what does the barefoot 'movement' say about plantar damage?
i noticed the video guy doesn't have strong ankle support in the pairs he showed off. they're high but they're floppy cloth. how does the barefoot 'movement' answer to ankle damage? rolling? sprains?
trust me, ankle damage sucks hot sweaty donkey ballzz! wearing walking/running sneakers in Panama, i've experienced a nigh on inverted foot roll which caused a Class 3 Ankle Sprain with tendon damage, and 3 stress fractured foot bones. and all i was doing was stepping backwards out of a full sized 'cattle truck' Ford Maxi Van and PLOP suddenly i'm on my azz FROM my foot landing in a pavement pothole more than 4" deep. i ended up in a solid, toes to knee bend, fiberglass, full cast for SIX MONTHS! with a US Army full bird Colonel podiatrist doing x-rays and MRI on my leg once a week for the first 2 months. then once a month afterwards and another six months of physical therapy out of the cast. i was wearing slowly lowering versions of a brace still under that doctor's care for that second half a year. i basically spent a year of my life doing office drudge work, gimping around on crutches, wearing my ARMY PT gear and one sneaker, then two sneakers. it was damned embarrassing!
Similar here.
I personally found that wearing barefoot shoes completely eliminated the odd ankle roll id have once in a while, since they're so low to the ground.
I wear barefoot shoes but dont believe they're best for everyone. Many claims are not evidence based. However plantar fasciitis is pretty much all we talk about. Once you've healed from the acute injury (wearing cushioned and arch support) you can strengthen your foot either with exercises or slowly wearing more barefoot shoes. Because barefoot shoes will allow your feet to move and use muscle they result in less plantar fasciitis in the long term if the transition is done right. This is my experience as well and after having periods of cramping or plantar fasciitis since childhood I no longer get them, and no longer need specialised insoles.
Barefoot shoes result in less ankle injuries so there isnt the same need for rigid support. Since there is improved feedback, you literally have improved balance and fewer falls or twists. It's one of their main benefits and why they can be recommended for aging individuals as well as situations like hiking/scrambling.
Look at the wear pattern on his shoes at around 7:13. No different than you'd see on 90% of 'regular' shoes. If the 'minimalist' shoes were actually different, the wear pattern would reflect that. The only advantages I can see: lightweight, lower to the ground.
He posted an affiliate link. The whole video was a fluff piece to get you to click the link, and make him a few $.
@@dfunited1 as if you know anything. Don’t spout bull about “wear pattern” from a frame of an edited video. He is selling something, but you have a personal interest in going against him too. If you pretend it’s all fake, you don’t have to think about changing your lifestyle.
I grew up going without shoes as much as possible and still usually go barefoot at home, or wear just a simple flipflop when weather allows and I've noticed i have a very different gait than many, with my feet rolling straight forward rather than the outward angles i see many sneaker wearers using (at times 45 degrees or more!) I also seem to walk much more lightly than many people expect and i am 100% sure it is related.
One other thing i would like to mention is that for much of history shoes were made very differently than modern ones, and more in line with the concepts used in the barefoot shoes- very flexible leather or fabric that moves with the foot, rather like a thick sock and a leather sole that flexes and molds to the terrain rather than the stiff padded box of modern shoes. If anyone is interested i would recommend checking out some of the very nice videos on the differences in historical shoe making by Nicole Rudolph
what gets me is why people even wear shoes at home period lol
Fellow flip-flop fan here! lmao I've had multiple people curse at me whenever I arrive in a room because they can't hear me coming unless I'm wearing unusually noisy shoes (like heels or brand new running shoes with those squeaky soles. Never considered the connection between spending most of my time barefoot/in flip-flops and having a light step, but there might be one.
@Maria Ah Same! I'm very tall and wear swishy nylon pants at work and I'm still always startling folks who didn't hear me coming!
Haha, I'm really glad I read a comment in its entirety before replying, because as soon as I started reading yours I immediately wanted to recommend Nicole Rudolph's channel! Her videos making historic footwear as well as the ones on the evolution of footwear fashion and construction techniques I think would be really interesting to anyone who found this video intriguing.
I never wear shoes at home unless necessary, and I have been told several times by the people downstairs that they can tell who is walking above them by the noise we make. Despite being heavier than anyone else by at least 100 pounds, they tell me I am the quietist one.
What really impressed me is the places he chose to educate us.
I am over 60 years old with a lot of pain in my joints due to Osteoarthritis. I have it in my feet as well so with Hallux rigidus in my feet I couldn' fit in any normal shoes anymore.
I started to wear barefoot shoes which was a relief. About a year after the operation on my feet I could've used normal shoes again but it felt awful.
That was 4 years ago and I haven't been wearing normal shoes ever since.
Often people ask me about my barefoot shoes and I can only praise them. For me (and this is a personal opinion) they changed so much to the better. My pain is reduced all over (even my back is better), I am more agile and I am able to walk for hours with my dog again.
I always used to have cold feet. Not any more even if I wear my thinnest barefoot shoes in winter because the feet are not confined to a small space and since they move around in the shoes they are warm.
The shape of my feet has changed. They look wider and the toes aren't pressed against each other anymore. And the soles of my feet are very resilient against gravel, stones etc.
For me barefoot shoes are a live changer.
PS: My soles are mainly worn out under my forefoot so I guess I am a "forefoot striker" 🦶🏻 •‿•
For me I work outside and have an extremely active job. I use to cry after work every day because my feet would hurt so bad. I tried so many different styles of shoes and finally tried bear foot. And I get barely any pain in my feet anymore. Any pain that I have is bearable. I'll never change shoes.
Any recommendations?
@@sez9660 Saguaro. Good quality and affordable. I don't know whether you get them in your country.
I'm looking forward to trying them. I've been wearing Docs for decades for the orthopedic benefit, but since 2020, have hardly gone out in winter; in summer, I wear reef sandals, so practically barefoot. Hoping the transition will be smooooth.
@@sez9660 Yes Saguaro. Apart from one pair (Freiluftkind) mine are all from Saguaro.
When I watch informative videos, I speed them up. You, my sir, brought me back to normal speed. Way to have a completely information packed and decently long video! This was awesome!
Hehe! I knew there’d be someone out there that appreciated the pace!
Great info. Been using barefoot style footwear for almost two years now. I have found that focusing more on where you land in relation to the rest of your body is more important than which part of your foot you land on. Not over striding seems to play a big role in efficiency of gait as well as reduction of injury.
Agreed. The most important thing is to land under the hip and not to pverstride. Simple ques instead of trying to decipher the mechanics of the foot and gait cycle, I find are helpful
YES, walking barefoot in bad terrain most of my life, you can land on your blade, heel, ball, etc but its strength and flexibility on your ankles that helps.
Makes sense. Locking your knee before the heel strike is possibly more efficient, but it's a bad move if you're walking on rough or hazardous ground and need to adjust your weight quickly. If you don't overstride, you probably won't lock your knee.
@@TBButtSmoothy Personally I can't/don't heelstrike at all when barefoot. If you place your foot on something hard or sharp there's no way to adjust and pivot the weight compared to striking with the front of the foot where I can easily re-adjust if I step on something unintentionally
For about 8 years I've been using a longboard to get to work. I'm only standing and balancing on my left foot using the right leg to push. When I got my first barefoot shoes it took some time to get used to them but only for my right foot. My right foot hurt a lot when I used them too much but my left foot never was a problem since it had the necessary muscles from balancing on the board.
Problem is that I can't really use my barefoot shoes on the board but I love them so much that I switched to a bike ^^
I tinkered with this and switched years ago.
I duct taped the soles of my old classic runners to see where the action was. Decided to literally just go barefoot based on what I saw. All heel strikes.
Increased speed, endurance, knee problems disappeared
And I just plain enjoyed the experience of running that much more due to the new tactile feedback. I ended up going with Merrill trail glove shoe. Best move ever.
A D V E R T I S M E N T
@@brentschmogbert lmaoo
I agree. I put on Vapor Gloves back in 2018 and practically never took them off. Much improved running form and speed, patellar tendinitis a thing of the past. And they relatively cheap although not very durable. Love em.
My two pair of Merrell Trail Gloves brutally fell apart from week one. Horrible glue job in China. Fabric frayed to pieces. Horrible manufactured shoe. They did not care either. The shoe store did nothing either. Five Fingers by Vibram is just as bad. Looking at Luna, Earth Runner and Shamma. Very caring folks.
During the pandemic I had nothing better to do, so trained for marathon. Got my ACL torn in the progress. Specialists explained, that my leg muscles grew unevenly, upper part being weak, while lower grew too much. That put stress on my ligamemts till they eventually gave up.
As a recovery effort I tried barefoot shoes. First for walking, than started running. For me, the progress felt very real. And the upper muscles were aching (meaning they started working). Year later I finally finished my first marathon. So I think I owe this to barefoot shoes and my trauma was mostly due standard cushioned running shoes.
The problem I have with them - every pair I tried was bad quality, expensive, absurdly long shipping and they seems to have some kink with shoe laces? Vivobarefoots I've owned have some weird lacing mechanism and wayyyy too long shoe laces. Now I have Feelgrounds with normal mechanism, but still wayyyyy too long shoe laces. Still in search for a decent brand which could make simple shoes 😄
Haven't tried their runners, but I really like Lems boots.
As for the shoe laces, couldn't you just cut them off if they're too long? :)
@@UpSideDownABCD for Feelgrounds maybe an option to cut. Maybe even easier buying separate shoe laces 🙂for Vivobarefoot, they had some custom mechanism and cannot be trimmed or changed
"Joe nimble" running shoes
I really like xero shoes. Or if you want to get really nerdy, look up Anya's Reviews, she's reviewed just about every barefoot shoe on the market, in depth, and has a lot of resources on how to find a great fit.
A note on toes widening out - I have been in barefoot shoes for about 2 years, and my feet actually expanded to where I needed to get a half size bigger shoe. My toes have spread wider too.
10 year Vibram 5finger convert here. Took 18mths for the acute heel , Achilles and calf pain to settle and I could start running 10klm comfortably. Wear them everywhere esp bush and trail walking, as well as rock scrambling up mountains and at the beach. I stopped rolling my ankles and was just far more agile on my feet. When I walk, I prefer the grass along side a path as the heel strike from walking isn't pleasant, but running I don't mind on concrete.
The longer the walk / run. the more a cushioned sole would be luxurious, but my walking / hiking is generally under 10klm
The upsides I feel def outweigh the downsides. Stronger feet, calves, ankles, knees etc
And I love the 'cat' like feel of going over any terrain. With hiking over rocky ground I feel far more stable
I've not noticed any wider associated issues. I do think my posture is better by default
Downside is the undersole doesn't last that long. I'm probably churning through a pair every 6mths ($200AUS each) - need to find a way to resole them
Overall, 10years down and nearly 60 im a life long convert simply because they are a joy to wear, i can run 10klm now (dodgey knees), I love quick rocky trail descents - rock hopping, and will stump up for a new pair every 6mths. $400 a year is still a very reasonable cost for such a dramatic increase in life quality.
BUT the issue is that it takes 18mths of commitment to attune to the Vibram way.
Another downside is that it feels disgusting when my toes touch each other in normal shoes. The toes were meant to be separated 😆
I've been in Vibram Five Fingers exclusively since about 2010. What struck me the most about the transition was the way the shape of my foot changed. I went from fallen arches back to the high arches I had when I was younger. Also, my foot became thicker. I also noticed that for the first couple of years, I experienced a noticeable "pins and needles" sensation during my first few steps in the morning as the muscles broke loose and really activated. Over time that subsided. I think the biggest hurdle, and what accounts for much of the injury associated with barefoot shoes, was the muscle atrophy in my feet from wearing conventional footware. The entire shock absorption structure of the foot is disengaged when wearing heel lifted padded shoes. There's a period where the muscles of the feet have to play catchup with the muscle conditioning of the rest of your body and it's pretty easy to injure your feet until that happens. It's made a real difference in my hips and knees and I feel like those joints specifically are aging slow because wear and tear is now more evenly distrubted through my legs.
Good to hear that the pins and needles in the first steps go away. I get that too, and I was worried it was a sign of a developing injury
I did the same. Everything was great, until I started to develop medial knee pain due to the lack of cushion. Switched to Altras. Now I use a lower stack Altra to run in, and a thicker stack Altra to walk in.
@@SerafinaTorgul Altras are great! I love my Lone peak 4 pair!
Have you ever tried other barefoot brands or always vibram?
Any comments fro others about recovering from ankle sprain and chronic tendinitis and which walking shoes are beneficial ( or NOT bebeficial)?
Love this video. An accident at 60, lead to a BK amputation. Over a short period of time I had my Prosthetist’s take the heel rise out of my prosthetic foot. I soon learned that walking bare foot or with flat - no shoes, my gait, legs and hips were much better. Moccasins and a recent purchase of bare foot shoes have been a game changer. I get lectured often about my choice, but it’s my choice. In May I will be 73, I am high activity and so happy my body lead me to bare foot. Always wondered about the up tilt on (especially athletic shoes). Even as a teen I was more comfortable in flat profile active ware. Soccer comes to mind. Ha!
10 year trail runner here. I switched to wide toe box 2 years in, it made a massive difference and caused MANY injuries because I switched immediately and never looked back. I had to adjust everything in my form from my joints mostly. My ankles and knees would hit at angles that were "new" to them after years of not having a big toe out balancing where it should be. My tendons would feel like they were always being pulled on at weak points I had never used. Its similar to someone who never trains stabilizers and tries lifting heavy. It took 1 full year of knee and ankle injuries before I began running the way my body should be, without even a shin splint to account for. I can now say that even when I wear closed toe shoes the big toe goes back to its spot after 1 run and stays there. I've grown muscle groups in my calves I didn't even know were there, my feet grew thick meaty muscles connecting under my big toe and My ankle/knee has never been stronger/resilient. Have not had an injury in 5 years(10-15 mile trail runs every other day) and I truly believe its from the stability gained with just my big toe properly being placed for balance. I will say if you smoke a joint before your run in the woods, your gonna be in tune with your body as well.
Funny thing, I've been running barefoot for years already and I am not able to run in shoes anymore
👍 😂😂😂✨
I run very thin flat shoes on trails (Golden Gate trail run half marathon the last weekend) but thick well cushioned shoes on training runs on concrete pavement in the neighborhood. Concrete is dangerous, people. I injured my foot almost fracture once when the shoes got old and the sole wears out.
I grew up playing outside barefoot a lot and I always end up with massive holes worn into my shoes where the big toe is supposed to be. Wondered if it was a problem or not. Nice to see it can't be tamed lol.
This. All of this. SO MUCH THIS.😊
I had Purthese disease as a child. It causes the ball joint of the femur to dissolve. after a couple of years it grows back. However, in that time my posture and muscle and tendon shape had changed, causing me to heel strike heavily and turn my right foot out when i walked. ( it was my right hip joint). this caused a longterm pain in my right knee and lots of footwear with completely worn out heels only!
I found that being extra conscious in my walking and turning my toes back to parallel on both feet cured it.
Whilst walking barefoot I noticed that it is natural to be more aware and tend to feel the feet moving and compensating for the terrain, even to the point of softening and slightly lifting the part of foot above a sharp chipping! So id say that being sensible and more sensitive is whats more important here than whether barefoot shoes are good or bad.
I have done a mix of barefoot walking and wearing conventional shoes my whole life. I used to spend entire summers running around barefoot. It was never intentional for the sake of my health like much of the barefoot movement over the last couple of decades emphasizes. I was just a wild child, even into my teens.
Something I've noticed is that I have different striking patterns when walking in different footwear. In "normal shoes," I heel-to-toe roll or step down flat. When I'm in minimal shoes I do a mix of the ball of my foot and midsole. When I'm barefoot, I strike with the ball of my foot which requires me to step with a gate that is more like reaching forward with my legs. My weight almost exclusively sits in the ball of my foot while walking barefoot.
When I'm barefoot, depending on my walking speed, I will do this sort of toe to mid-foot roll where I strike with the ball of my foot, let the weight shift to mid-foot, then back into the heel as I step.
Side notes, I've noticed that I am significantly quieter when navigating hardwood floors compared to almost everyone I've ever known. (I'm neurodivergent and loud walking sounds annoy me. So I have a hard time not hyper-focusing on how loud people are when they walk.) I'm also a parkour athlete and do a lot of jumping. I'm known for having strong legs and great landings. Growing up, I played basketball and was always told I had naturally excellent footwork. IDK if those last two relate to how I've walked my whole life or if they are correlated at all, but I just thought they were interesting observations in this context.
Your description of different foot striking patterns is the exact same for me. Although I'm not neurodivergent, I do get bothered by people stomping around. I grew up on hardwood floors and naturally adapted my gait-just seems rude and actually inefficient not to.
I hate when people stomp around like that. I've always walked very quietly, but occasionally I'll stomp around just so people know I'm there and don't run into me. I scare people all the time with how quietly I approach.
I'm autistic and people very rarely hear me approaching, I just walk that quietly on most surfaces. I haven't paid attention to how I walk though and shoe wise I wear whatever is comfortable for me for the time being. Sometimes I prefer very supportive and built up shoes like Timberland or similar, other times I may prefer Crocs or Birkenstock type slippers, and now for a while I've been wearing my Converse a fair bit. All down to how my feet feels at the time and what type of sensory input I can handle
and@@ReyOfLight
you need to get used to barefoot first to understand it
I got awful ingrown toenails as a teenager, I think I had to have the procedure done where they cut off the edge of your big toe’s nail five different times. I realized that my toes are wider and shorter than average for my shoe size, so I switched to wearing shoes with wider toe boxes and my problems disappeared.
I haven’t gotten any barefoot/minimalist shoes yet, but I’m definitely considering making the switch, just because they’re the easiest shoes to find that have very wide toe boxes.
Had the same problem as a teenager. Doctors and my parents didn't even think that it could be caused by tight and narrow shoes. Our society is dumb. 6 procedures due to such and obvious reason. And I as a kid listened to the grown-ups.. Didn't occur to me either. Started wearing wider shoes and no issues. Lesson learned.
What shoes did you have that had a wide toe box?
Same here dunno what caused it. But I got that same surgery just as many times to the point I would hide the hurt so I wouldn't have to do it again. I go to Hawaii and I got such a different treatment, they let me fall asleep while they did it and they put a ointment on the nail that stopped it from growing there anymore so I have a slightly smaller nail
do you have shoe recommendations ? i have also had this problem since i was a kid, grandma got me the surgery once when the cuts they made got infected and my mom wouldnt take me to the doctor but they still grow like this
@@anonalienn I have wide feet and recently tried on a few different walking shoes - Keen shoes and boots seemed to be the widest (but not cheap and not fashion shoes).
Historically the toe box of pointed shoes was just as big as the toe box of e.g. a squared shoe. The pointed part started after the toebox, resulting in rather long, pointy shoes which don't press your toes together. Another important thing to consider is that shoes were made from leather which gradually shaped around your food with time, resulting in a perfectly fitting shoe and the sole was made from leather, so it basically behaved like a barefoot shoe's sole. Most modern shoes have neither of those features, but there are still companies making shoes in that style and they are so comfortable and don't look like shit like all those barefoot shoes (sry but I think they're dead ugly)
Yep, I agree. I've stopped wearing heels but am always creative in buying boots/sneakers/ballet flats that have enough space for my toes to wiggle inside but have a normal looking front shape. I always go for leather or stretchy fabrics. Barefoot shoes are just not my aesthetics. And just by doing this, my feet are also shaped with toes wide apart.
If you think barefoot shoes are "ugly" because they're not pointy then perhaps you need to have a think about what kinds of fashion ideas have been ingrained in your mind.
@@Vousie I don't mind square/round toebox. I particularly mind the shape of a barefoot one.
@@martinar.5722 What they're calling "barefoot shoes" are the ones that we see in the video - square toeboxes. Not what I, at any rate initially thought, which is those shoes that have individual pockets for each toes, which do look rather strange.
@@Vousie Nobody said shoes which are not pointy are ugly, there are ample styles of beatiful shoes. I just have not seen a single barefoot shoe style I think pretty, no matter whether they have seperated toes or not. Maybe you could consider not judging people based on a single comment on RUclips?
I use barefoot toe shoes for beach running. I also wear ankle and knee braces to prevent injuries - and my running socks add a bit of foot and ankle compression. You should look into quality bracing for your knees and ankles if you begin to wear minimalist shoes and are going to do anything intense. In my case there are a lot of partly anticipated twists and turns and lateral movements associated with beach running.
It’s definitely something you have to ease into. Running on hard surfaces with my toe shoes is not a good idea, but I’m at the stage where walking on hard surfaces around town for most of the day is no problem. You also have to think more about metal grates and other similar features where you could get your toes jammed. It’s definitely a more gentle walking style. I like the tactile feeling of different surfaces beneath my feet.
I’m about 3 years in and wear a thin insole when I know I’m going to be speed walking on concrete all day at work. I think the zero drop and toe spread are the most important elements. Prolonged intuition and being able to feel changes in surfaces seem to be a beneficial aspect of barefoot shoes. Great video and great information.
That makes sense. I've always preferred to go barefoot, and when I did have to wear shoes I would opt for flat, thin-soled shoes, but when I started working in a warehouse store (miles and miles of walking on solid concrete) I had to switch to shoes with more support. Still hated them, but sadly we're really not built for standing and walking on such hard surfaces all day.
One thing that's really important in the long term is that we train our feet to be used to getting squished together in shoes that are usually not wide enough. That means most people don't really notice anymore when their shoes are too tight. In a lot of cases that leads to bunions on one or both sides of your feet.
Also, when we get older, we don't notice when we need shoes one or even two sizes bigger. Feet get bigger during your life.
So longterm that means, I have a LOT of older (and someone not so old) patients that have actual injuries from their shoes - e.g. blisters or other kinds of wounds that get infected - which doesn't sound like much but imagine being diabetic and not noticing these wounds (since your nerve endings are dead), keeping on wearing these too tight shoes and then those infections getting really serious.
Like amputations serious.
And there are LOADS of people like that. The right shoes might not be a cure all but it might this problem a lot less common.
The main reason I got intrigued by this topic at all was that I've always noticed myself doing things differently when walking on socks in the house or when walking in shoes outside: Walking is the same. But the second I'd 'hop' around or sprint as a kid I'd run heelstrike in shoes but toes-first when on socks or barefoot. So a part of my brain always prefers doing one or the other depending on what I'm wearing.
If your foot muscles are conditioned for barefoot walking (meaning walking with no shoes) wearing a shoe that protects the sole of your foot will allow you to walk faster than you would barefoot because it’s protected from laceration, being forced to walk slower actually protects the tendons and ligaments and small underdeveloped muscles in your foot from injury when first conditioning, basically if your going to go barefoot, before you buy a pair of barefoot shoes train yourself to be able to walk a few miles while completely barefoot, it will force your movement to be correct before you move fast while in a barefoot shoe, overuse injuries happen much easier when your feet aren’t trained, remember they are small muscles that you have probably never worked out and they build slower than you might want, stick with it
I have always been a lover of walking barefoot. About 13 years ago I became a yoga teacher and since the job allowed for it, I started to wear shoes less and less. My toes definitely splay out, the front of my foot becoming slightly wider. Because of the practice of yoga as well though; There's a lot of balancing and finding stability through a conscious awareness of the way your feet splay, etc. My feet were definitely stronger! During COVID my studio closed though, and I started walking more (with normal tekkies) as well as wearing slippers a lot (it was a rough time!). My feet changed again, and it was not good. Before COVID, I merrily had theories about the way my feet changed, but it became an accidental experiment as I realised how my feet had changed and set out to consciously strengthen them again. Barefeet RULE! (Have not worn the shoes, although I love a thin soled shoe)
Walking barefoot leaves you at risk to parasites…. Hookworms enter the soles of your feet and work their way to your intestines and eventually to your brain
You should see the feet of natives in the rainforest, their feet are wild lol
Former furoshiki user here. They worked well because I could move around outdoors the same way I moved indoors. Fit was also better due to the compliance. Stopped using them after post-concussion symptoms made footfalls painful.
Sorry to hear about the accident there - I will check those out.
@Ben Vallack No worries, I've been getting better. My old first revision pair developed a few holes, and I don't have enough wear on the second to judge durability. It won't have the ankle support you mentioned but that's a plus for me.
furoshikis are leaving not enough space for toes.
I keep hearing that walking barefoot is linked to toe striking, but for me, it's the opposite. When I started to spend my summers mostly barefoot as a teenager, I quickly adapted heel striking in order to avoid injuries. When walking on gravel, twigs or on a mountain trail, I didn't have to pay as much attention if it was my heel that hit a sharp object first. My toes and balls on the other hand were way too sensitive, no matter the calluses I gained. Now I'm almost thirty and apparently, my partner can hear me coming a mile off.
Ugh, is this why my husband stomps around? It's so distractingly loud, man. I'm glad we have a one-story house.
Yes, much of what the barefoot community says is complete BS. A lot of it is based on a study that found that habitually unshod Kenyans mostly forefoot strike. Except that many of the subjects of the study were running a sub-5:00 mile! How the hell are you supposed to heelstrike while running 1:15 laps around a track??
@@imnotlettingyouseemynamehuh interesting. I go barefoot unless it's required to wear shoes or just smart to wear em like boots with ankle support for airsoft. Doing a little testing during my walking I keep my feet mostly perpendicular to the ground rasing my toes slightly mid stride. Landing flat on the ground settling my toes down with everything shortly after impact. For running I lead with my fore foot with it becoming more exaggerated as I get towards sprinting speed. At full sprint the back of my foot doesn't quite touch the ground. Not a runner but do walk and hike a lot barefoot.
The only time I don't wear my barefoot shoes are: any time I'm doing work that requires steel toes for saftey, skateboarding, mountain biking, and dirtbiking. I don't run, i walk deliberately, I walk mostly on non paved surfaces since the times I'm out and about on pavement without my car I'm either on a bike or skateboard. Most of the reason I like barefoot shoes is comfort and not health reasons, I'm really picky about how shoes feel on my feet and growing up being out in the woods a lot I've walked barefoot enough to where it's comfortable but getting a blackberry thorn in the heel is a major bummer so I just need enough padding to keep thorns and broken glass from cutting me feet and keeping them cleaner when walking in the mud.
I really appreciate this video. I have been running around barefoot since I was a little kid. I HATED wearing shoes so when I heard about the barefoot shoe movement I was pretty excited. It was always so weird about people saying that once you move to barefoot you were supposed to never walk/run on your heel because that clearly never made sense. to me
So I started wearing barefoot shoes in 2012, I didnt know why at the time but they seemed to have a calming effect on me, so i've been wearing them ever since. Jump to last year and I was diagnosed with ADHD. I think the proprioceptive feedback from my feet gives my hyperactive brain something additional to focus on, sort of like stimming in a way I guess.
So yeah, they can help ADHD in my experience.
If you are from the states, i would say you don't have ADHD, just to much sugar in a body that is very energic and don't need much sugar at all.
@@RogueSecret I'm British, and I'm a qualified nutritionist. I know how to eat in a biologically appropriate fashion. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder, though the effects of an improper diet could mirror some of the traits of ADHD but certainly not all of them.
@@RogueSecret you got that diagnosis from a RUclips comment?😵💫
@@RogueSecret 😂😂😂
I have ADHD too and am looking into them because I can't stand having my toes squashed
I loved this, and I also think that it's worth adding that most natural environments are full of hills, therefore forcing you to walk more on the ends of your feet. Flatland enviroments also tend to have mounds and overall rugged terrain that requires more careful footing to traverse quickly and effectively, so I'd say that it's more efficient than heel striking myself, going by what's natural. Just thought I'd add my two cents there✌️👍
Added to this is that in uneven (natural) terrain you typically shorten your stride significantly and that makes a toe strike much more ergonomic. The way we walk with long strides on flat surfaces naturally makes the heel the lowest part of the foot and the part that touches down first.
Good point!
I have a naturally wide feet and started sport, that have a lot of tip toeing in ti, so they got even wider. As a woman it's even harder to find shoes that are not to tight for me, and I also value a good look. So I ordered barefoot shoes for summer to try it out. It was the best idea ever, they are my favourite and now I got 2 more pairs for fall. I actually got some insoles for foot pain (that is not barefoot shoes related), and barefoot shoes are the only ones that the insoles fit in. So I have a bit of padding there actually. But I hope we will have both of the worlds some day, especially the wide toebox should be a standard.
I have never used barefoot shoes but 20 years ago I switched to barefoot running on a treadmill and when I am running outside I am wearing sport shoes with an extremely flat sole profile. This switch was initially (the first 6 months) difficult and painful (especially for my calves) but on the long run avoiding heel striking has made a huge positive difference for me. I never experienced again pain in my joints (especially my knees) and my foot stability has improved massively what helped me to prevent the frequent injuries which I had with conventional sport shoes. When I am walking I am still a heel striker but not longer so hard then before. A negative side-effect was that my feet size increased so that many shoes didn't fit longer after a few years.
Thanks for this video 👍👍
I first learned about barefootshoes 3 months ago, after walking barefoot for about 9/10 months out of the year for a little over 4 years now. I'm not really a hiker, so what I walk most on is hard surfaces. (I do always have a pair of flipflops with me, in case I need to use a public restroom, visit a petrolstation etc.)
I'm now looking at barefootshoes for those 2/3 months a year I can't walk barefoot (for long periods) because of the low temperatures (in dry weather I switch to flipflops if it's getting close to freezing, in wet weather around 12°C).
I do my best to avoid any heelstrike, but about 50 years of walking on regular shoes isn't that easy to shake. 😉 But as I literally hear a healstrike in my head, it's quickly corrected.
I'm now experimenting with landing mainly on the front of my foot (what did you call that 🤔), because that's how in my opinion you get the maximum out of the natural shockabsorption of your feet. But without any further adjustments that shortens my strides. I've tried several adjustments - the people in my neighbourhood must think I started working for the Ministry of Silly Walks 😂 .
So it's still an ongoing process and I love it. ❤
@ZZZP-SchoolNL I tore my meniscus in my right knee TKD sparing a couple of decades and to attempt to heal without surgery and while the swelling went down I walked backwards around our circular neighborhood every day. I had neighbors come out and ask me what I was doing. Still makes me smile! No surgery but 20 years later injured same knee doing a race called the Bolder Boulder. Lots of hiking steps, walks w loved ones, runs, and time outdoors in between.
@@chopwood2995 I hope you can recover from your latest injury without surgery as well. Much better for your overall health. And much more fun for the neighbourhood 😆
(Great story, thanks for sharing 🤗)
Barefoot running godfather Barefoot Ken Bob teaches landing on the whole foot at once, and bending the knees a lot - more than you think. He describes the knees as our body's natural shock absorbers. He actually takes people straight over to gravel when teaching them for the first time, so they understand how light they should move, and how much they should bend their knees. He also invites people to imagine they are sneaking up on someone from behind, again to illustrate proper lightness and knee bending.
@@BlueGorillaInTheMistvid anywhere?
@@sez9660 Can't post links, but search his name on RUclips, you'll find some stuff
When I first started wearing barefoot shoes, I did a lot of research into the pros and cons. I eventually decided I didn't care though because the way barefoot shoes made me feel was reason enough. It's like going from having cinder blocks on your feet to nothingness. I also love being able to feel the ground beneath my feet.
The transition was difficult when it came to the calf soreness but never once could i imagine going back to traditional shoes and I still can't.
I understand everyone is going to have different experiences but for me, personally, barefoot shoes are a total no-brainer!
Same here
You got any recommendations? I'm looking to get into it considering I spend most of my time with no shoes but it's not really socially acceptable and my job requires a protective shoe
I discovered an unexpected yet effective training method through VR gaming and fitness. Over two years ago, I started playing Beat Saber to get in shape, always opting to play barefoot. Initially, my movements were limited, maintaining a wide fighter's stance. However, as I continued, I began to bounce on the balls of my feet, and this activity eventually evolved into full forefoot jumping and dancing, reminiscent of jumping rope but to the beat of my favorite tunes.
Interestingly, I use my heels more for maintaining balance rather than for taking impact. I began with just about 20 minutes of gameplay, and as I grew more accustomed to the activity, I increased it to nearly 2 hours. It's important to note that I have a history of athletic injuries from my military service, suffer from high arches, and have experienced stress fractures and shin splints from running in traditional shoes, even with orthotics. Remarkably, since switching to this barefoot VR gaming method, I haven't encountered a single issue. This approach not only keeps me physically active but also aligns perfectly with my body’s limitations and strengths, providing a safe, enjoyable, and effective workout regimen.
I Walk for over 20 years barefoot and I’m slightly amused about the „barefoot shoe trend“…
I had never again issues like fungi, smell, cornea, I never hurt my feets that much that I couldn’t walk further and I’m pretty sure most of the glances I earn are in envy ( because my foots are healthy and well shaped ) and in admiration and almost every chat about it starts with „I love to try it but I don’t dare…“
Super interesting video! I often hear people warn about calf muscle pain when first switching to barefoot shoes. I actually never experienced that. I started wearing barefoot shoes about 6 years ago, and at the time knew very little about them. Nobody told me to be careful and give my calf muscles time to adapt. I just put them on, was amazed at how much better my feet were feeling in them compared to traditional shoes, and pretty much switched from one day to the next. I had zero issues with it, even though my calves are pretty tight and stretching them is really difficult for me. So this actually might not be an issue for everyone when switching to barefoot shoes!
Get a "half dome foam roller" for easy calf stretching (from the teachings of biomechanist Katy Bowman... check her books).
Also look up the "gravity drop" exercise by legendary therapist Pete Egoscue - another good one.
To add my anecdotes: I have been wearing a particular type of zero-drop, wide toe box, minimal cushion shoes for about 8 years. I got used to it after about 6 months. Now? Every time I wear conventional shoes with padding, and a raised heel, my feet are in agony. My I feel like I have no control. No connection to the ground. Like I'm always fighting with the shoe for stability.
It's a question of adaptation. It seems like many healthy, able bodied children and adults would benefit from transitioning to zero drop, wide toe box shoes, with minimal support or padding beyond a strong sole. There are certain lines of work that don't agree with this, but most people don't have those kinds of footwear needs.
I just don't wear shoes unless I have to. And when I do, flip flops. My toes are so wide cause no shoes ever so shoes hurt
i can agree. i tried my old shoes and they feel like hard pieces of plastic on my feet or something.
Here’s the thing.
I am someone who did not wear shoes pretty much ever my whole life except church on Sunday mornings until i was in college. Not because I didn’t have shoes, but because I didn’t want to wear them (was homeschooled, so that’s why it was an option) Then after college i went right back to only wearing shoes when i had to. Now, 7 years later, i have actually had to START wearing shoes because the wear and tear on my feet is so significant. My arches are beginning to cave in, i can feel it ever time i step. When i fet up in the morning my whole foot feels like it’s stepping on daggers as it hits to floor in the morning.
Beginning to wear shoes has helped some, the cushion is the only thing standing between me and limping around everywhere, but the shape truly is abominable. I have having to cram my feet in those things. My toe spread is obviously pretty well developed after a life of shoeless living and trying to put my foot into most shoes causes nerve pain on my big toe. Not sure what to do at this point. I hurt if i wear them, i hurt if i don’t and I’m on my feet most of the day doing housework and taking care of my kids.
Thanks, fascinating video. One thing you don’t mention but that has occurred to me might be important (having been experimenting with barefoot shoes for the last few years) is that any shoe, even barefoot ones, reduce the sensory input you get from the *skin* on the sole of your foot. When completely barefoot, you get feedback from your skin as to the substrate you’re walking on a few milliseconds before putting your weight down - at least when walking. Which allows you to adjust foot position, weight distribution etc and so avoid landing heavily or stepping on a sharp stone. For example if you’re walking barefoot on a lawn then you feel the touch of the grass just before your foot touches the actual ground (however hard or soft the latter may be). I find that even in barefoot shoes I sometimes land unexpectedly hard on my heel on uneven ground and I wonder if this lack of feedback from the skin (just before impact) might be the reason.
Barefoot running godfather Barefoot Ken Bob compares learning to walk or run with shoes on to learning to play the piano with earplugs in for this very reason.
As someone who recently transitioned to barefoot shoes, when completely barefoot I have always landed on the front. When using shoes and walking for exercise, the heel strike seems to happen more naturally. Of course,I also transition to light bouncy front landing steps now that I have better leg spring. Before I would do really hard heel landing speedwalks which wrecked my knees if prolonged.
I've been running with a pair if vivobarefoot shoes for about 18 months now, and although I certainly had to ease myself into it to avoid injury, once my feet and calves built a little bit of strength it felt absolutely fantastic. It just feels a whole lot more efficient and I can run longer distances without hitting a wall. I enter this almost zen like flow that I never experienced with traditional cushioned running shoes. If anyone is thinking of transitioning to barefoot running I would definitely recommend doing a couch to 5k program, even if you are already a regular distance runner. Just give your muscles and tendons time to adapt.
I can also attest to the quality of vivobarefoot shoes, as that one pair has lasted me 18 months and they're still in great condition. I would be lucky to get a year out of regular cushioned shoes in the past.
What model do you own?
Yeah I think people who immediately run in them are weird. I just did farmer walks, going up stairs, walking backwards with the weights.
Doing that strengthens the hell outta your toes, ankle, and all those things that normal shoes support.
After that I've never had a problem running in them. It doesn't even feel different.
I just did this all in grass or my house with no shoes.
I just bought my first pair of these minimalist shoes a month or so ago and the very first thing I noticed was the mid-foot strike that my gait naturally adopted. It's a very strange sensation after wearing traditional shoes for a long time and reminded me a lot of something I'd seen somewhere about soft-soled medieval shoes and how people commonly walked toe first when wearing them. I haven't run in mine yet, and I'm honestly a little leery of doing so, but I have noticed a distinct reduction in planar fascitis heel pain since wearing the new shoes.
I think barefooting and wearing minimal shoes made my feet flat. I noticed that shoes with a heel gave me knee pain when I was 18, so I did some research online and went down the barefoot rabbit hole. the thing is after 7 years of wearing mostly minimal shoes, my shoe size went from a 14 to a 16. Now there are no minimal shoes in my size, the best I can do short of custom shoes is converse. this could have been partly from me still growing, but my feet do seem flat and I am 2 sizes bigger than my dad who is my height. also the wide toebox can be a problem if you are doing sports where you need to do sharp turns running because your feet will slide around. still, I do enjoy going barefoot, it feels good even on concrete. I used to walk barefoot much more and I could walk on broken glass because I had thick calluses on the bottom of my feet.
I have no experience with barefoot shoes but during covid I basically spent 2 years at home and stopped wearing pointed and constraining shoes. I was 18 found myself at 20 with none of my shoes fitting anymore. I went from a UK 8 to a UK 10 which is over the standard for women's shoes (Im a 6 feet tall girl). I guess we will never know if its the barefoot thing or we were just still growing
Just heard from a podiatrist in Arizona who says feet are naturally wider here from people wearing sandals so often.
It's probably not that your feet are flat, but more so that the metatarsal bones have spread out and gotten used to more space. Did your feet get bigger or is that the size they should have always been? 🤔
I bet they got wider without getting any flatter. I don't see how or why they could have become flatter.
Several years ago I bought a pair of NB minimus shoes before studying abroad in Italy. I've always loved walking but began walking several miles a day in Italy, eventually jogging and running. While the minimus aren't barefoot, they are not far off, and I can remember how comfortable I got sprinting through the countryside. It was slow progress, but clearly made an impact. Once I got back to the states, I went back to standard shoes, and it was only recently that I remember how much I loved those shoes. Makes me want to go barefoot!
@Karl with a K how interesting! I’d love to read those studies.
You a bot bro?
Oh no! You caught me 😅
I tried barefoot walking for the first time last weekend. I had to take my boots off for wading and as it was so muddy I kept going for a few miles barefoot. It was so much easier, my blisters took a break and I wasn't worried about slipping in the mud, getting water in my boots etc. It was freeing! However, another thing to talk about that wasn't mentioned.... Swimmer's Itch and other great things you pick up outdoors. If you are doing this in the wild you need to prepare for parasites and other things, ticks, leeches etc
yeah see I'm good off of that based on the last part alone. I don't care how better it makes me walk. The shoe was invented for a reason. And I intend to continue exploiting said reason
He isn’t saying not to wear shoes at all, that’s why there are these shoes called barefoot shoes, so you can have the benefits while still having protection!
Definitely don't start barefoot in rough terrain or hot pavement. Train on sidewalk, mild conditions, etc. Your feet will get harder over time and you won't worry about the things you mentioned last.
@@rachelriverasoundhealer true but I don't think shoes were going to protect me when wading in knee deep water XD It was a very specific scenario to be sure but it needs to be mentioned.
@@jaywhite9397 which is why “barefoot” shoes were invented. Lol
Very comprehensive, great. However, What I have been missing in the discussion from both sides is the role of all the other joints for impact modulation. The way we use our hips for example, makes a huge difference in the way our feet strike the ground, if you do a correct hip figure 8, and you lift your legs from the hip they actually absorb already a big part of the impact, but if you just lift them up straight by bending from the knee and put them straight down which a lot of modern people seem to do, only our foot absorbs all the stride power. It’s easy to spot, when someone basically falls onto their front foot, they are not using their hips correctly. Someone that does use their hips has a more pronounced hip movement and a general appearance of “gliding“ over the ground. Granted, you cannot really translate that into running, but I would say that walking is the most common form for movement for any person and it would have a big impact to change to barefoot shoes with correct movement patterns when walking, that alone would have a huge impact on many peoples health . That’s why I would like to see a more comprehensive approach to gait that includes whole body movement and doesn’t just look at the feet.
I recall in a book I read a while ago that foot striking was described in two ways besides heel to toe. The first was on the pads of the foot, per usual, the second was from the outside of the foot, rolling forward to pad of the foot. It is not as drastic as you might think, and basically constitutes what you were doing at (6:06) It has a very similar effect to rolling, but it carries less momentum and reduces your impact. It's also great for running in boots, or flat footed shoes.
Another thing he to keep in mind, is that when you walk barefoot you usually keep your weight centered rather than throwing it forwards, to avoid stepping on sharp things, you also reduce impact.
When I was a soldier, I switched from the regular issued boots to "barefoot" boots that came with a warning against rucking in them. Years and years of knee and hip pain skyrocketed for a couple of weeks, along with muscle failure and exhaustion in my entire posterior chain. After a month, my posture was better, my gait had changed, my calves were much larger and stronger, and my soldiers could no longer tell where I was purely by the sound of my footfalls. I wore those boots until our uniforms changed and nobody had started making barefoot boots in the new color yet. Switching back to what the army says is best for you resulted in stress fractures in my legs, one of which never healed. As a civilian, I've found that barefoot shoes are only uncomfortable when the ground is hot, wearing work boots is exhausting, and in cowboy boots my feet are miserable but I have excellent posture.
I started wearing Vibram FiveFingers in 2012. No going back to "normal" shoes for me. I do have some Vivos too. I used to have flat feet (hypermobility), but using the muscles of the foot and calf has strengthened them and I have the natural arch shape now. No foot injuries from running in three years (I started Couch to 5K in lockdown) except for an ankle sprain from overdoing things in the second month. I'll be running a half marathon distance this afternoon. I've run nearly 50km already this week.
Yesterday morning after parkrun I was in Lidl and one of the assistants was commenting how creepy my toe shoes looked. Mostly however I get The Question: "Are those things comfy?"
Amazing to read cheers
Haha i also love my 5 fingers and usually get the same question
"Are those comfy"
And in the winter
"Are those warm?"
Am in same boat I enjoy the convos about my fivefingers
grew up with horribly flat feet, been wearing minimalist shoes for 4 years, somewhat obsessive about foot wear, foot strength etc because it's been so hard for me to avoid injuries when running, but didn't connect hypermobility to my foot problems until reading your comment - thanks!
@@Guessmynameification Do you know of any natural shoes that I could wear at work that offer more protection?
i never switched to barefoot shoes and i don't particuarly want to but one of the first things i noticed when i started hearing about barefoot shoes was that they're kind of wrong about not heelstriking when walking barefoot. i mean, obviously it depends. but i lived in apartments with hardwood or marble flooring my entire childhood and walked around barefoot in my home and i always heel striked. as a kid i was also super into not wearing shoes because i found them annoying and restrictive and i pretty much heel striked on any surface while walking barefoot. if i wanted to go faster i would switch to toe walking, but for walking speeds heel striking IS natural, even on hard surfaces. you just end up having more bend in your knees to compensate and switch to a forefoot strike at slower speeds than on a soft surface. also, i genuinely spent 90% of my life barefoot at that time but it still didn't stop me from developing overpronation due to weakness. i would literally go to school and take my shoes off and then walk around my school holding my shoes in my hand, but it didn't make my feet any stronger.
what kind of shoes you're picking just depends on what you'll be doing in them. padding for our feet is not inherently unnatural. narrow toe boxes are not a problem for some people. instead of touting barefoot shoes as the solution to all your problems, the barefoot community needs to present them as one choice that could potentially help with some things. because that's what they are. i also think there need to be more in-between options. like you should be able to get foot shaped shoes that are heavily padded. for some people they want the heavy padding but not the narrow toe box. same goes for solving the elevated heel issue but keeping the padding and having an even level of elevation for the whole shoe.
I trained with someone who taught me about being barefoot and it really makes my life better. I just got some really minimal shoes and it's so much better for me. My feet were in bad shape but as I wear minimal shoes and get barefoot more often, some of my pain issues are going away and my feet are super strong so I can walk on anything like rocks as long as they are not super sharp.
@Karl with a K It has everything to do with shoes IF you spend a majority of time in them. It's like having a cast on or a corset for many hours a day. Muscles will naturally atrophy when they have no room to move around and create stability.
I'm a person that just feel asleep during this and will keep this bookmarked as a bedtime strory
Brilliant!
I do that with iceberg videos; and when I used to keep autoplay on, I’d wake up in the middle of the night and it would be a documentary about the Romanovs. Every night, the Romanovs! 🤷♀️
And this is exactly why I subscribed!!
I got into barefoot runners 5 years ago and did a lot of research, books, articles and lots and lots of videos. But even then I was completely unaware of the heel strike while walking, it's almost as if the people who wrote this stuff wanted to erase heelstrikes from existence..
Thank you for all your hard work and research into this and every topic you touch on. I am very greatful to be a little bit more knowledgeable
Thanks so much - comments like this make it all worth while, honestly.
I watch other videos, and they say you still need to land on forefoot/ midfoot while walking...which is almost impossible to me, or it looks weird
@@slavasss2189 yeah I agree - I think people take it further than they need to!
My understanding is that heel striking on hard ground is still bad for you, even if you're wearing cushioned shoes. You're just less aware of it, because instead of feeling all the impact in your heels, it's being transferred to your knees, hips, and back.
When I heel strike my knee pain comes back. Maybe heel striking is good for some people but for me switching to a mid to front foot strike made a big difference. Honestly, I think a lot of the stuff depends on your body. We try to make a one-size-fits-all solution but that’s not really how people work. So if heel striking feels better for you then do it.
Small world Ben!!!! I was researching Vevo, whacked on a bunch of videos in the background whilst working and the second I heard your voice and immediately thought: IT'S VALLACK!!!! You're looking well - keep up the great work!
Hah! You too Simon! You've got some really interesting vids on your channel - I'll check them out. Ms Richardson would be proud.
@@BenVallack she is I think - I’ve got her old job at the college!!
Also one thing to note is some people may not transition to minimalist shoe/ barefoot running as easily as others. For example I have very high arches, supinated feet, and piss tight calves. I got into running with minimalist footwear and quickly started to have peroneal pain. So if you have tight and rigid calves and feet like I do you should also stretch your calves, Achilles, and massage your plantar fascia frequently to get your elasticity back so you can properly absorb the shock of running without conventional footwear. This is what my pediatrist recommended and it worked for me.
I have the same feet which led to the same peroneal pain. Any specific stretches you wouldn't mind sharing? Thanks! It's all so frustrating.
@@jamiep3606 Look up the ACT health calf stretches PDF and I'd do those 3 plus one where you basically do a single leg standing calf raise but without the raise; you just relax. I was prescribed those stretches but I'd also do the combat stretch which I found is a good way to stretch the achilles. As for the plantar fascia massage, just look it up there's only one common way to do it manually but I also found a lacrosse ball works well. I was told 2 sets of each stretch for 30 sec. or so 3 times a day at least. I also was advised to do some excercises along with these stretches though if you'd like to know. But please note I was prescribed this because I had it bad. My dorsiflexion was about 15* off from what's considered normal and the pain was to the point where I couldn't even run a 1/4 mile.
I think you shouldn't run at all at first when switching to barefoot shoes
I’m a vintage viewer and switching to barefoot, actually Vibram with all toes separated, full ninja, has transformed my knee health. I can feel how much stronger my feet are and how much more mindful I am when walking. I can’t recommend them enough. I’m a gardener and constantly walking on prickly ground and plant debris, the vibram soles are very effective at protecting me. Thanks for your very thorough exploration of the subject 🙏
For those with plantar fasciitis or heal spurs I think I have found a great combo of shoes and supports that have worked perfect for me. I had a lot of problems with my heals hurting a lot worse when I was getting out of the Army. I got back from Afghanistan about 6 months before I officially got out of the Army. On my vacation to Japan after getting back I had a hard time walking and had to sit down a lot do to foot pain.
I tried running on the weekends in barefoot five toe shoes to help my feet get stronger, and it made my feet worse. When I was doing my exit physical for the VA I found out that I had a heal spur.
I tried everything, but then thru trial and error I discovered a combo that works well. I can run several times a week, and work a warehouse manager job requiring me to stand most the day. My feet almost never hurt now. I use adrenaline brooks shoes. But I get the wide so my feet can spread out more. I also use both loops at the top of the laces to help them fit snugly to my ankles. I then got the Kroger brand plantar fasciitis half length heal inserts. Not the full length ones. The ones I get are the blue cheap gel ones. I put the heal inserts underneath my shoe insert that way they stay in place where I don’t half to worry about adjusting them every time I use them. I have found that the inserts can be used for much longer and outlast several pairs of shoes despite being cheep Kroger brand ones.
My shoes start to pronate or warp to the side after a few months so I have to change my shoes out ever three to four months if working out a few times a week. I only do mile and a half runs or 20 minutes on the elliptical plus weights. With plantar fasciitis inserts in shoes that already are recommended for people with plantar fasciitis your probably only get about 2/3 the mileage out of them.
If they start to warp over to the side a little it does not effect me that much. But I typically buy three or four pairs of the same shoe at a time so I always have at least one pair that is brand new I can compare them to as they warp gradually over time. But I think swapping them out every three months with moderate exercise would work fairly well too.
But all in all I found that this is a great combination between these philosophies as I am able to land more on the front of my foot when running because of the extra space for my toes while also having more heal support when I am walking. I typically only ware tennis shoes but I use the same inserts on the rare occasions I ware more fancy shoes.
I've had a very similar experience to you. I developed Plantar Fasciitis and fallen arches (from not wearing shoes with arch support, contrary to what a lot of people seems to say about that strengthening your foot naturally). I've found some firm shoes with arch support that make it so that my foot fascia doesn't flex too much and cause me pain, but got them in a wide so that my toes have plenty of room to splay and be comfortable. I've experienced a very clear benefit!
Damn, how much are you spending on shoes every year?
@@witeshadea few hundred but at least my feet don't hurt and I am still able to go for sub 9 minute mile pace runs at age 40.
@@witeshadewould not be able to do that without the right shoe and insert.
Been wearing barefoot shoes for over 6 years after being told the way I was walking was leading to my knee hip and back problems. It has been a game changer.