The Pros and Cons of Going Barefoot | Okabashi (2024)

FAQs

The Pros and Cons of Going Barefoot | Okabashi? ›

While you may build strength in your feet without shoes, you are also without the benefits they offer. Every step you take sends a shock through your body. Without the cushion of the right footwear, these shocks can do damage to sensitive joints over time.

“Walking barefoot strengthens the foot muscles, and therefore stronger muscles help promote better posture and balance of the entire body,” says podiatrist Miguel Cunha, DPM, founder of Gotham Footcare. Your balance also gets better due to improved proprioception (the ability to know where your body is in space).

Being barefoot sharpens the homunculus of the foot in the brain and lays the foundation for better balance and improved motor control through the increased information intake and subsequent brain growth.

Walking barefoot at home for an extended amount of time can result in the development of foot deformities, this is from the imbalances in pressure that happen when you walk barefoot. Wearing socks at home alleviates this as it provides a cushion effect to improve your balance, when walking.

You might step on a foreign object like glass, dirt or debris, cut yourself or wind up with scrape or blister that can get infected, she noted. Keep in mind that infections can thrive in places where lots of people are walking. Athlete's foot or nail fungus is another hazard of going barefoot, Priesand said.

Going barefoot makes existing problems worse

You may also exacerbate heel spurs, bony growths caused by built-up calcium deposits that often compress nearby nerves. And if you have a neuroma, a pinched nerve in the ball of your foot, walking without shoes can be excruciating.

Barefoot walking can increase the risk of cuts and infections, such as plantar warts or athlete's foot. If you walk barefoot, avoid public sidewalks or locker rooms and stay on soft, gentle surfaces. For older adults or those with diabetic neuropathy, minimalist footwear might be a better option than walking barefoot.

Putting pressure on your feet by walking around barefoot for weeks or months can cause them to become inflamed, which can lead to serious problems. Many of Parthasarathy's patients who work from home, for example, have metatarsalgia, which is inflammation that causes pain at the ball of the foot.

Take off your shoes and socks, head outside and feel the effects of grounding right away. Studies show that just 30 minutes of grounding barefoot can heal pain, reduce inflammation and improve quality of sleep.

The art of being barefoot to pick up electrons from the bare earth, often described as Earthing or grounding, is said to reduce inflammation, prevent and treat chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, and produce measurable differences in white blood cells and cytokines. Being barefoot can even reduce pain levels.

Is it better to wear slippers or go barefoot? ›

For many, the cumulative time spent barefoot has caused an increase in foot pain or discomfort as they go about their day. Wearing supportive slippers inside the house is often about more than just pure comfort. Foot specialists often recommend them over barefoot at home to prevent discomfort and injury.

A number of shoes are not made out of breathable material which, coupled with a lack of socks, keeps moisture on the foot and can make you more susceptible to foot ailments like athlete's foot or toenail fungus. Generally speaking, wearing socks with your shoes is a good idea.

Walking barefoot enables increased forefoot spreading under load and habitual barefoot walkers have anatomically wider feet. Spatial-temporal differences including, reduced step/stride length and increased cadence, are observed when barefoot.

Because of the lack of heel cushioning, minimalist shoes have been associated with an increased incidence of heel (calcaneal) fractures, especially in high arched, rigid foot types.

Our feet are naturally arched, and even though many generations before us walked barefoot, we should avoid it. Walking barefoot on hard surfaces causes our foot to collapse which can lead to a tremendous amount of stress not only to the foot but to the rest of the body too.

Some of the other benefits of walking barefoot include: Better control over the positioning of your foot as it hits the ground. Improvements in balance and body awareness which has been known to aid in pain relief.

Hard floors are bad for your feet

It's a common and expected practice in some cultures; others do it because they're grossed out by tracking dirt and germs inside. But for people without strong feelings on the subject, and whose home doubles as their office, indoor shoes are a good idea.

Evidence exists that the use of footwear can influence the foot and arch morphology^6,7,8,9. Individuals that have been barefoot almost all their lives (habitually barefoot) seem to have wider feet^{4, 8}, as well as fewer foot and toe deformities^{4, 9, 10}.

Some of the Health benefits that Barefoot shoes can provide are improvement of body posture & balance, more significant calories being burnt while exercising, developing a more natural gait and a great degree of movement in the ankle & foot.