Benefits of Barefoot Shoes
Flat Shoes Build Powerful Feet
When wearing a zero drop shoe, the ankle can sit in it's correct anatomical position. Your Achilles tendon and calf muscles are able to utilize their full range of motion, granting you greater power while removing tension from your ankle, knees, hips and back.
When no arch support is present, then the tissues of your feet like the plantar fascia are able to lengthen and shorten back and forth in during pronation and supination. This back and forth motion is critical for shock absorption, power generation and dynamic stability with every step we take.
If the toes are allowed to rest properly on the floor, then they can properly stretch and contract every moment we are on our feet. This allows them to increase our base of support and stretch our plantar fascia while walking, granting us useful elastic energy.
Proper Posture is Achieved
One of the greatest benefits of wearing flat shoes is that our posture is left unaffected, allowing our joints to align in their natural fashion. When our joints are stacked in their proper anatomical position, we are set ourselves up for a positive feedback loop of increased strength and mobility.
Thin Soles Increase Coordination
When the sole of a shoe is thin, ideally less than 7mm, we are able to receive proprioceptive feedback. This leads to an increase in balance over conventional footwear [5]. It also means our body can sense how firm the ground is, what angles we are contacting and if any small objects are underfoot. This allows the stabilizing muscles within and around our foot to synchronize quickly and effectively. When the muscles of the foot are functioning properly, then the ankle, knee, hip and are relieved from having deal with the ground reaction forces that the fine motor control that the foot was meant to deal with.
Flexibility Unlocks Free Energy
A piece of paper is easy to fold on its own, but a stack of 100 is nearly impossible. While not always a mutually exclusive relationship, it is often the case that the thinner the sole is, the more flexible it is. By having a flexible sole, our feet have to apply less effort to manipulate the shoe as we move. The most significant example are "pronation" and "supination." Pronation is the name of the motion of the foot's "open" position, and supination is when it is "closed". This opening and closing occurs in small degrees with every step, turn and change of position we make. When our footwear is flexible, these small changes can occur without any hinderance, preserving our foot's ability to react to changing environments.
One of the most important mechanisms in our foot is the stiffening of the arch during push off known as the Windlass Effect. When our toes are raised, they pull the plantar fascia forward. Since the plantar fascia is typically wound very tight, it will end up pulling the heel forward with it. The resulting effect is that the structure of our arch is pulled tightly together, rising higher and creating a stiff lever. This mechanism is truly utilized while we walk. Each step we take, our back foot's heel begins coming off the ground while the toes are still adjacent. This creates the same arch-stiffening effect as lifting the toes up into the air, creating a stiff lever that we can now push off of. When the shoe we are wearing is flexible enough, we can utilize this mechanism to the fullest, flexing and strengthening our arches with every step.
Wide Toes Are the Real Arch Support
The widest part of the human foot anatomically is meant to be from the hallux (big toe) to the 5th phalanx (pinkie toe). If you've ever witness a new-born baby's toes, this feature is immediately apparent. It is easy to observe natural toe spread when visiting places around the world that are not accustom to wearing conventional western shoes or flip flops. From the youngest to the oldest, everyone's feet in these population will be widest between their toes.
When a shoe allows for proper toe spread, the arches of the foot gain increase leverage through the toes. A very clear example of this is the abductor hallucis that begins in the calcaneus (heel bone) and ends on the inner side of the big toe. When this muscle is able to properly flex and stretch, it can keep the big toe properly aligned with the metatarsal below it. When paired with the proper firing of the flexor hallucis longus, the big toe can push down into the ground with exceptional force, which helps raise the medial arch off of the floor.
A wide toe spread also allows us to better counteract lateral forces trying to knock us off balance. When the toes are allowed to spread out sideways, the small muscles between the toes are able to gain leverage and prevent these sideways forces from traveling up the leg.
Light Weight for Easy Gait
When you use a shovel to dig a hole, you will instinctively hold the shovel closer to the scoop when the load is heavier. It's your automatic way of dealing with physics when using this classic kind of lever. Our foot is located at the very edge of the long lever that is our leg. If we add weight to the edge of that lever, the moment forces that the body has to generate to lift and place that leg increase and take a toll with every step. The main benefactors of lighter footwear are our hip flexors, which are responsible for lifting our leg off of the ground. The lighter footwear is, the less the body has to compensate for the added load.
Proper locomotion consists of us pushing one foot backwards into the ground while the other leg swings forward. When wearing shoes that are lightweight, the proportion of leg swing remains closer to that of the barefoot condition, not adding any unnecessary distance to each stride.
Secure = Care Free
When our footwear is properly attached to our feet, the muscles of our feet and ankles do not need to work overtime to keep the footwear attached. Paired together with adequate flexibility, properly secured footwear ensures that out feet and ankles are not limited or overworked while walking or running.
More to Read
Foot Care
Learn how to mobilize, coordinate and strengthen your feet to regain their proper functionality.
Benefits of Barefoot Shoes
Being barefoot is akin to a gloveless hand. Although in both conditions our limbs are exposed to the elements, the nimbleness and sensitivity to stimuli are unhindered, leaving our fine motor skills unabashed and able to provide their full range of advantages.
Detriments of Modern Shoes
Shoes as they are made in the market today are essentially casts. They limit range of motion in various ways while locking our foot into a compromised position. Here are some of the main issues that shoes present to our feet:
Transitioning to Barefoot Shoes
Walking barefoot after years of being shod can be a challenging process. Muscles and joints need to restrengthen and realign, and it doesn't just happen overnight. Here is how we recommend to begin and continue the process so that transitioning is as smooth and comfortable as possible.
Image Sources
ankle:OpenStax College, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Achilles tendon:J. Gordon Betts, Kelly A. Young, James A. Wise, Eddie Johnson, Brandon Poe, Dean H. Kruse, Oksana Korol, Jody E. Johnson, Mark Womble, Peter DeSaix, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
calf muscles:InjuryMap, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
feet:Public Domain
plantar fascia:InjuryMap, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
pronation:InjuryMap, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
joints:Laboratoires Servier, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
proprioceptive:Onearmer, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
muscles:Laboratoires Servier, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
foot:Public Domain
flexible:GuillemMedina, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
hallux:Personalo at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
5th phalanx:Sebastianpin, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
leverage:Public Domain
calcaneus:BodyParts3D is made by DBCLS., CC BY-SA 2.1 JP <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.1/jp/deed.en, via Wikimedia Commons
bone:Mikael Häggström, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
muscle:Laboratoires Servier, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
medial arch:DataBase Center for Life Science (DBCLS), CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
moment forces:Zoiros, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
hip flexors:InjuryMap, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
locomotion:Eadweard Muybridge, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
barefoot:Pure male feet, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons