Intentional Stress Challenge: Barefoot Training

Footwear is overrated and can even be detrimental to your foot health in many environments.

High tech shoes, low tech feet.

-Ido Portal

Do me a favor, if you’re sitting in the comfort of your home or even outside around your house as you read this and have shoes, slippers, or even socks on, take those stupid things off!

Let’s get this out of the way. The creation of footwear was extremely beneficial for humans. Shoes allowed our species to traverse difficult or unsafe landscapes while reducing risk of getting scraped, burned, or injured in any other way. Further evolution of footwear involved both protection and support of the foot and ankle which can be beneficial when there is a pre-existing injury, structural abnormality, or to use during extreme exertion like certain athletics or persistence hunting. Footwear can and should be worn in many modern situations from a hygiene, safety, and performance perspective. Shoes, however, like most innovative technologies, have produced many unintended consequences. They have “evolved” from low profile sandals, that only had a thin sole between the foot and ground, into fancy casts that incase the entire foot with thick soles. Shoes have become more of a way to either make a fashion statement or maintain comfort. Unfortunately, this, like any persistent pursuit of comfort, comes at a cost. 

Regardless of physical activity, chronic shoe use can cause the feet to become flatter and weaker. For many, the soles of our feet have become so sensitive walking outside on any surface without protection is unbearable. Even socks compress the toes inward and prevent full foot functionality. You’ll hear people and medical professionals attribute imbalance and various lower extremity issues on issues relating to ankle, knee, and hip mobility or strength of the calves and thighs without addressing the feet. That would be like a baseball pitcher wearing a boxing glove on his throwing hand and blaming inaccuracy on his wrists and elbows. Shoes can be limiting.

Our ability to stand upright and perform any physical feat starts with the feet. Humans evolved to systemically use all of our anatomy as one unit. Weak or unused regions of our body have to rely on nearby muscle groups and joints to pick up the slack. Weak ankles are a risk factor for knee injury. Limited range of motion in the knees puts more strain on the hips and lower back. Preventing full contribution from the feet unfortunately puts the rest of our lower body at risk for instability, structural stress, and injury. The pursuit of comfort has allowed the feet to become a liability rather than a strength. Thankfully, the foot’s nerves, muscles, tendons, and ligaments can be conditioned like any other part of the body. Intention and consistency can reverse foot flatness and weakness rather than buying expensive arches, special shoes, and ankle braces that only prolong the underlying problem of weak feet.