How going barefoot improves health

Search

// you’re reading...

Why Barefoot

How going barefoot improves health

By Al Gauthier ⋅ January 7, 2009 ⋅

How going barefoot improves health

Ensuring healthy development of the feet during childhood:The flat feet of little children have to form the proper arches on growing up. This is greatly assisted by going barefoot, which helps to avoid flat feet an other deformities with all their life-long consequences: mainly damage of the back, the knees and the hips. It is well-known, that barefooting ethnic groups have very healthy feet.

Regeneration of feet damage due to unsuited footwear:Unnatural ideals of beauty seduce many people to force their feet into narrow shoes, which causes various deformities. But part of this damage due to fashion can be reversed regardless of age (the webmaster’s own experience!). Even at an advanced age going barefoot strengthens dozens of muscles, tendons and joints and restores the natural beauty of healthy feet:

well-shaped and suntanned feet with smooth skin and straight toes, without corns, hammer toes, nodes, calluses at the wrong places,
well-shaped legs due to a gentle and natural training of all muscles,
the elegance of a natural motion without excess weight on the feet.
Above all, blisters are unlikely to develop on bare feet, and you are spared inflammations of ingrown nails.

Prevention of trouble with the intervertebral discs:

Going barefoot has the potential to protect the intervertebral discs from deformation and slipping. As no shoes block the reflexes of the soles, going barefoot restores the natural mode of motion. Thus impacts are reduced, the unevenness of the ground is automatically compensated for and damage of the intervertabral discs becomes unlikely. You can easily avoid deterioration of the discs due to hard heel impacts in shoes!

Note that a rough path is the ideal training ground to correct for those dystrophies of the feet that damage the knees and cause dorsal pain! A barefoot person automatically shifts the body weight to the outer edges of the feet, where the skin is less sensitive to stones etc., and thus actively compensates for flat feet.

There is another, more indirect beneficial effect of barefooting to the intervertebral discs: they are only nourished by motion (like a sponge), for they do not contain blood vessels. Unshoed feet perfectly adapt to the unevenness of the ground and thus cause motions of the spine that compress and relax the discs — and well-nourished discs will stay in shape longer without causing pain!

Note that dorsal pain costs billions of dollars per year, whereas bare feet are free!

against varicose veins:

Going barefoot is commonly recommended to prevent vein problems, for the proper motion of the unrestricted foot assists the leg muscles in pumping blood back to the heart.

preventing the common cold:

Moderate exposure to chill stimulates the production of body warmth and the power of resistance. Sometimes fifteen barefoot minutes on a pleasantly cool and moist lawn or even a one minute’s joyful “snow dance” are sufficient to have wonderfully warm feet the whole night long! Do not be afraid of snow: for a short time it feels much better than cold water!

All who have had these good experiences, will recognize that any danger of kidney and bladder trouble due to barefoot walking is pure fiction!

preventing athletes foot:

Dermatophytes of the skin and nails can only establish themselves on the constantly moist skin inside shoes. Dry skin, however, is not susceptible to such attacks! Therefore, exposing the skin to the air and contact with a natural soil hamper the survival of these uninvited guests.

Original Here

Buy Vibram FiveFingers at these quality online retailers:

___________________________________________________________________________

About Living Barefoot Reviews:

As you read our reviews, please keep in mind that our reviewers review shoes in terms of their suitability for those looking to find the highest quality minimalist shoe products. All reviews are as factual as possible. In an effort to be transparent and ethical, we will point out any defects found, even if these do not affect the usability of the product. Not all defects will be present in final production shoes as we are sometimes offered “seconds” or pre-release products in an effort to provide you with reviews in a timely manor. In the event that serious issues are found with a review sample we will give every opportunity for the manufacturer to replace to explain the review samples before the final review is released. We never accept payments for reviews. We do not guarantee a good review for any products sent to us. We do not review products that do not claim to be minimalist or “barefoot like” unless we receive a significant number of requests from readers or listeners.

Should you have any questions about our review process or would like your product reviewed on our site, please do not hesitate to contact us using our contact page.

___________________________________________________________________________

Featured Interview: Christopher McDougall – Author of Born to Run

Listen HERE

Christopher McDougall is a well-spoken, humble man who has through the popularity of his book brought about some of the biggest changes in the perception of feet and running in recent years. Join us in learning about how this talented author wrote his book, discovered his feet, and how he feels about barefooting and running. This interview should not be missed.

We Talk about:

- Chris’s recent appearance at the TED Conference

- Thoughts on Interviews In General

- His first exposure to barefoot running

- How he came to find the Tarahumara while on assignment for the New York Times.

- He thoughts on his influence over barefoot running and ultra running

- How he struggled with writing Born to Run

- This thoughts on minimalist shoes

- And much more!

To learn more about Christopher McDougall visit his website: http://chrismcdougall.com

Buy His Book: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
Download the Audible Audiobook

Find “Living Barefoot” in iTunes and download it onto your iPod / iPhone or listen online

___________________________________________________________________________

Keep Yourself Connected:

Subscribe to our Twitter Feed, Listen to or download our Podcasts, subscribe to our RSS feed, or Subscribe to our email updates.

___________________________________________________________________________

Recent Minimalist Shoe Reviews:

Stay updated by being notified when we release a new reviews. Subscribe Here.

___________________________________________________________________________

Give us your support!

As Living Barefoot continues to grow our costs keep increasing. In order to cover the many costs necessary to provide our readers and listeners with the great quality reviews and content on Living Barefoot we would like to request your help.

If you like what we are doing, we are asking for a tiny contribution to show your support. We guarantee you won’t notice the missing contribution, but if enough people participate, it can be a significant contribution to help continue to innovate and bring you great reviews, news, and personalities through the Living Barefoot Show.

What will we do in return? We’ll continue to offer you great free news, reviews, and guest interviews on our show. We will also decrease the amount of advertising on our site as subscriptions increase.

Donate as little as $1 monthly. The subscription will simply deduct $1 from your bank or credit card monthly. You can cancel the automatic withdrawal at any time. You won’t notice $1, but we will!

Discussion

One comment for “How going barefoot improves health”

Facebook comments:

WOW, AWESOME(: I started going barefoot on the treadmill, and I’ve been able to go further,at higher speed and LAST longer, than I EVER could in my whole 3 yrs doing cardio in my runners. ALSO I noticed all the sudden my calves are smaller,they used to be SO bulky and kinda tender,plus I have AWFULL vericose veins and always felt uncomfortable when I crossed my legs. Now though I think going barefoot has helped alot, not only have my THIGHTS slimmed down alot and my calves, I notice even with my vericose veins it doesnt feel uncomfortable to cross my legs. Anyways I’m considering going barefoot 24/7 oneday. I’ve been doing it around the house for now. Also I have a hunch it might make me feel more balanced…lol. I have eye problems and abit hearing impaired,so oviously I sometimes have trouble balancing and tend to occasinaly trip over my own feet@_@. I can already feel it somehow is improveing that becuase of a more connection to the ground.

Posted by Nikki k | January 9, 2011, 19:58