Comments on: Shoes are Ruining Our Feet

By: su.wei

su.wei — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:55:40 +0000

there’s a guy up here in Fairbanks AK that walks around barefoot all year long. even in winter where the temperatures are -20 to -50F for 5 months. i bet his feet are healthy.

my keens are nice, i can feel everything i walk on.

By: escapenguin

escapenguin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:25:15 +0000

I have two pairs of Vivo Barefoot Aquas. They were very expensive, and the sole wears out faster than I’d like, but they are extremely comfortable once you get used to them. You don’t realize how busted your gait is until you put a pair on and wear them for the first time. My posture is better now too.

I’m sure everyone’s mileage will vary… a lot of people just can’t get used to wearing a shoe without a heel and give up. I adjusted after an hour or so. If you have “bad” feet, they’re probably not for you though I’ve heard some have toughed that out and been the better for it.

By: fsmarch

fsmarch — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:09:36 +0000

Men’s shoes are bad enough, but I am often amazed at the silly things that women wear on their feet. How do you even walk with high heels?

I like wearing sneakers.

By: Jacques

Jacques — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:48:56 +0000

flip flops are just evil, I would rather walk all summer in combat boots than have to suffer the frustration of clinging onto a pair of flip flops.

We always went barefoot in the summer when I was a kid, I don’t think kids go barefoot anymore, not in my neighbourhood anyway.

Why am I being accused of posting comments to quickly?

By: Barbwire

Barbwire — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:06:51 +0000

When my girls were little, the doctor told me to let them go barefoot as much as possible. His reason was that the high-top baby shoes made for weak ankles, but at least my kids had the advantage of bare-footin’ more than most of their generation.

By: stacyj

stacyj — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:58:23 +0000

*laugh* Woohoo, Lindsay, we’ll have to start our own foot anti-fetish club! We may be few in number but heck, surely we can stamp out barefootedness and flip-flops with our own “properly-shod” feet

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:57:12 +0000

When I broke my ankle a few years back, I spent a couple months on crutches and my foot wouldn’t fit into a shoe for three months. My foot shed the calluses it had and ended up as smooth as a baby’s butt. That is until it healed up and was able to get back into a shoe.

By: Sondra

Sondra — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:52:28 +0000

I used to go barefoot all the time when I was younger, but now it’s shoes every day :\ Check out http://runningbarefoot.org/ for more barefoot-craziness

By: Alannah

Alannah — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:30:14 +0000

To save my feet from the horror of shoes, I’ve decided to hand walk everywhere. I need to know, tho, should I wear gloves?

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:07:16 +0000

stacyj: I feel the same way! Feet are way gross, and I HATE flip-flops, both wearing them and seeing them. Who knew there was another like me?

By: rachell

rachell — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:31:03 +0000

i wear my chacos when i’m feeling like a hippy. which is fairly often, especially because the weather isn’t gross anymore.

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:54:36 +0000

Keudy, when I was in the galapagos, our guide would walk around barefoot on the incredibly sharp and rough lava rock. By the end of the trip though, I completely destroyed a pair of high end new balance sneakers walking on the stuff.

By: matt

matt — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:36:15 +0000

Clothes are also ruining our bodies. Get naked, people!

By: Keudy

Keudy — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:53:14 +0000

Personally, I’d like to avoid hookworm and getting my feet cut by glass and metal.

By: J of The Sandhills

J of The Sandhills — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:44:32 +0000

the most comfortable shoes i ever had were combat boots..
thick soles and perfect arch support for me.

By: Ali S.

Ali S. — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:57:15 +0000

I enjoy shoes too, however, I always make it a habit to not wear shoes or socks at home.

By: Scooter

Scooter — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:55:40 +0000

They are called Moccasins people, native Americans wore them, they are very comfortable and almost feel like you are barefoot. The world feels really different with only a single piece of leather between you and the ground.

By: stacyj

stacyj — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:30:53 +0000

I realize this is just my own little ‘issue,’ but - ugh - there’s something about feet I find incredibly off-putting, I think I suffer from the opposite of a foot fetish … horrible flapping knobbly things with their calluses and sweat and thick skin and toe-hair - UGHH! Again, I know it’s just my little issue - I’m not saying ‘feet are gross’ so much as I’m saying ‘-I- find feet gross’ - but man oh days, am I ever glad modern society encourages those things to be more or less concealed most of the time (and don’t even get me STARTED on flip-flops ;))

By: LMstuff

LMstuff — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:57:24 +0000

I like my shoes too! But enjoy running on the beach without them. I have really uncomfortable pairs and super comfortable ones. One thing I just can’t figure out why women go through so much pair to wear high heels and cowgirl boots. My girlfriend used to wear cowgirl boots quite a bit and her feet were sore just after a couple hundred feet! She would complain at night how sore they were. No she were comfortable sneakers most of the time.

By: Oomi

Oomi — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:46:52 +0000

95% of the time I’m barefoot.
4% of the time I’m wearing flip-flops or sandals.
1% of the time I’m wearing shoes.

By: Christophe

Christophe — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:57:01 +0000

The other day I stepped on something bad and smelly. I was glad I had shoes
yeaah go shoes!

By: sparge

sparge — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:57:35 +0000

So: without shoes, our feet get dirty, callused, scratched, punctured, frostbitten, infected, etc. With shoes we might develop chronic skeletal problems. Sounds like a wash to me.

Maybe it’s just that I’m so used to wearing them, but I find that I walk differently when I go barefoot, I go slower and end up with more muscle soreness. Unless I’m sitting or lying down, I always prefer to wear shoes.

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:23:07 +0000

I tore the soles off of a pair of old sandals I had laying around (they were falling off already). Without the soles (just the pad part), I found walking around a lot more comfortable.

I might get a pair of those five fingers types, even if they look ridiculous, just to work out in the yard.

By: l'elk!

l'elk! — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:08:46 +0000

a friend of mine always wears split-toe ninja boots or whatever the formal name for them is in japan. really easy on the feet. feels like you’re barefoot. good for running, climbing and flipping out and killing people.

By: Benny Lava

Benny Lava — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:00:42 +0000

Cavemen also had no sense of style. Feet be damned; give me a sexy pair of heels any day over those hideous ballet slippers.

By: raymond

raymond — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:00:39 +0000

I, too, own a pair of vibrams and I can’t get enough of them. The only downside is that after a while they do hurt but I talking like 9 hours of running around and being on your feet the whole time.

By: Thespian24601

Thespian24601 — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:21:23 +0000

Tim- where would I be able to acquire said shoes? I love walkin barefoot, but I can’t do it everywhere on campus. If they would let me, I would walk barefoot all the time. It’s just so much more comfortable.

By: bean

bean — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:07:08 +0000

DrJones-
Thong sandals or flip-flops are famous for causing damage to the arches of our feet, as are shoes with no padding like Chuck Taylors.

It’s stupid to compare just the feet of Ice Age men to our feet, because the rest of our bodies are fundamentally different. We are all much taller, putting more of our weight directly down onto our feet. Our ancestors did not walk as upright as we do.

By: yudonomi

yudonomi — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:59:39 +0000

More evidence that we should all (still) be wearing Converse Chuck Taylor high tops. Those things have no padding at all.

By: cuimhne

cuimhne — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:51:43 +0000

I wonder what these scientists think of MBTs? I have a pair and wear them most days. They’re supposed to simulate walking barefoot on soft ground.