Should You Be Running Barefoot?

It's like a lot of sports footware, you don't get owt' for now't.
Studs and spikes give more grip, but put terrible strain on the joints. Football (soccer) players exert huge forces as they twist and turn, the shoes aren't needed to actually kick the ball at all!
Maybe that's why the Brazillians who learn to play on the beach are so good, they learn to do it without the studs and probably have better balance as a result.
Del

We did not drop out of the trees 2 million years ago with Nikes on our feat.

Neither did we hit the ground with asphalt and concrete under our soles.

Barefoot is fine if the ground is clear of obstacles (i.e., rocks, glass, and trash) and not made of asphalt and concrete. Nothing is nicer than a nice beach for me. However almost everyone today runs on asphalt and concrete, so shoes are a must. Asphalt and concrete functionally has zero energy absorption and that energy must be dissipated somewhere, so your tissue and bones end up with the job. This leads to excessive wear on joints.

Shoes also do something that no surface, regardless of how barefoot friendly the ground is, can do and that is correct for physical defects in the feet. Like anything, that can be over sold, but for many it is a means to give them freedom to enjoy running with less likelihood of injury and pain.

However, most of us have more callouses on our butt than we do on our soles.

Nothing better for a run than a sandy beach! Better than a sunny beach for sure!

Unfortunately I don't often get that opportunity so I am stuck with using shoes.

We had to wait a couple of million years for Bill Bowerman to be born!

Do these count as the best of both worlds?

But nobody makes the socks. ;-)

Not quite true...Injinji makes socks to fit vibrams.

I was joking. ;-)

I just did a blog on my personal product review of vibrams. I absolutely adore them. They simulate bare feet while protecting your feet. I would agree that these are the best of both worlds. A lot of other product reviews that I have read just gush about how much the person loves the fit and feel. Definitely a worthy investment IMO.

They are rather like moccasins.

They are too weird!

Prior to my children coming into the world I used to be quite active in a number of sports, one of which was running. I am also quite interested in natural health, so one day I thought about how shoes affect my running and I decided to run barefoot. It was not easy at first (especially on the sidewalk as AH commented). However, after a week or so I found it quite enjoyable and noticed an improvement in my stride and time. I also gradually drifted away from the harder surfaces (asphalt and concrete) to grass. This was not much of a problem in my neighborhood as there is a grassy section between the street and the sidewalk which my neighbors generally keep well maintained (i.e. no glass, rocks, etc.).

The biggest problems I found were large stones in the grass deep enough not to be visible, or sprinkler heads and holes in the ground with grass grown over them (created either by animals such as armadillos or by busted sprinklers).

Hi Tardis,

You are in Tampa, Florida? If yes, use the beach for your barefoot runnings and enjoy it, Gil.

Gil,

Tampa is not on the beach. Besides I actually live on the outskirts of Tampa to the East so it takes me an hour to drive to a beach area. I grew up in Melbourne, FL and would frequently run on the beach. It's the best place (surface, scenery, etc) to run in my opinion.

At this stage in my life I don't do much running anymore....maybe that will change when the kids are wee bit older and less interested in my time....or able to keep pace with me when I run.

Hi Jaxy,

After my opinion, running barefoot is the best. Herbert Elliot, olympic champion from the 50s trained barefoot on beaches. Sand surfaces create muscle development, stability, and get easier to perform on other surfaces. We did at that time to become like Elliot with some success but we don't have a coach as a maniac.

People can compare this type of training to shoe wared and conclude what's best for them, Gil.

Our feet get accustomed to the surface we walk/run on whether it is barefooted or with shoes. If you went barefooted all your life and never wore shoes, your feet would naturally conform to the surface. Wearing shoes for the first time would destroy the foot's conformation. Your feet will always hurt whenever you change from shoes to barefoot and back. It's not possible to go witout shoes in todays living. The ideal shoe would be one that conforms your foot the same as walking on sand, but even that is variable. Sand comes in many different densities and walking/running on different sand densities will affect the feet differently.

Shoes on your feet produce more stress on your foot and weight placement is different from running barefoot. Therefore wearing shoes will tire you out faster.

There is a tribe in Mexico where the people run everywhere. They have record runs of running three days straight and over 400 miles non stop. That kind of blows away our marathon runners doesn't it. Fact of the matter is the human body is made for running. We can actually run down a deer if we were in shape. We don't run as often because we don't need to anymore.

I'm an avid Mountain Runner and run almost everyday. There are some shoes out there which offer a barefoot-like experience without having to abandon tread and protection. Of course the Vibram's are one, but also Inov-8 is a company whose shoe design is based on barefoot running. Even the Taruhumara used Huaraches (running sandal) in their amazing feats of endurance (pun intended).

http://www.invisibleshoe.com/

I think modern, man-made surfaces combined with an ever cushier shoe has destroyed the bio-mechanics of our natural stride. As a mountain runner I am, as often as not, running off-trail. These surfaces require forefoot strikes and nimble steps. Anyone interested in this subject should check out "Born To Run". The book is about, essentially, the Taruhumara of Mexico and ultra-marathon running. He relates some very interesting studies which indicate that our main evolutionary advantage is our capacity to run very long distances. This allowed us to "persistent" hunt; the capacity to run down game by exhausting them. If you g**gle the term there is a David Attenbrough episode on a group in Africa who still persistence hunt. Also, the book "Running after Antelope" is, partially, about the authors attempts to run down pronghorn antelope.

http://borntorun.org/

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/05/barefoot-running-michael-sandler/

We can't forget to mention that the Taruhumara tribe drank a lot of beer before heading out on their daily runs.

Yup, corn beer and rattlesnake tequila. My routine exactly.

I used to love to run barefoot as a teenager, especially on the football field during track practice as it relieved one of the dreaded and very painful "shin splints".

But some of the biggest problems of running or walking bare foot is stepping on trash, rusty nails, glass and the like. Additionally, from a Medical standpoint by going barefoot you can contract the nasty Tetanus infection (if not treated can become fatal) and even the Athlete's Foot fungus. So whens the last time you had a Tetanus booster shot? Myself, I bet it's been over 15 years ago. I'd bet most of the population, even in this country, haven't received a Tetanus booster in quite some time. I seems to me that when visiting the Doctor for whatever reason that if you don't ask for a vacination then you probablty won't get it nor will the doctor ask you if you need one. Those days are long gone with "manage medical care" and time constraints placed on doctor's appointments. It's a sad commentary on our present medical system. Sorry, I digressed somewhat...

There's pros and Cons to everything in life, or nearly so, and that includes going barefoot in the great outdoors or the communal shower and locker room.....choose your poison folks!

The Urban environment demands good shoes or boots, and so does the rural or wilderness environment. Southerners who went barefoot were prone to the parasite known as hookworm. This parasitic infection sapped their energy giving them a reputation as slow and stupid.

You need foot protection. Do not walk around without foot protection.

I myself mostly always wear boots. I've not yet bought a pair of great combat boots which are designed for regular travel, and running, but when I can, I will.

People do look silly naked with nothing but their boots on, but I'd run naked of clothes before I'd run without foot protection.

For those who are interested, I have posted a new blog: How to Ease Into Barefoot Running

I'm still not much for going barefoot. Heard a show where doctors were talking about feet, and one doctor told of a case he'd had where a woman was simply wearing sandals in Central Park and got a massive and dangerous infection that required 3 months of heavy antibiotics to defeat.

Ran into a diver who was wearing those toed foot coverings, shoes, and he did say he liked them.

From what I hear, sandals can have tons of nasty bacteria on them that can make you all kinds of sick if you get a cut on your foot and the bacteria makes its way in. Completely barefoot (sans shoes) may be less of an option for those running on hard and sometimes treacherous surfaces (glass, anyone?), but for those still interested, there are minimalist shoes out there.