walking with bare foot vs. Shoes

It depends on the condition of your feet. When I was a lad, I enjoyed walking barefoot. There was a feeling of freedom about it, a lack of confinement. I could walk on gravel without thinking about it because the bottoms of my feet were toughened to the exercise.

Now, however, the situation is a bit different. If I am sitting on the rear deck without shoes, having a beer and for some reason or another I decide to walk across the lawn, I find that there are nasty little prickly things scattered throughout the grass which stab the bottom of my feet, giving me considerable pain. It is particularly bad when I walk anywhere near the three fir trees in our yard which drop their sharp little needles into the grass where they are hidden from view, but not hidden from the tenderness of my feet. And walking over gravel...forget it!

Inside the house, I still enjoy the freedom of walking barefoot. But even then, I occasionally find a sharp little piece of gravel lurking in the carpet which makes its presence known by digging in to the soft underside of my feet.

When I go to Hawaii, I love to walk barefoot in the sand, particularly the wet sand at the water's edge. It is quite firm and after a day of walking along the beach, you find that all of the callouses you may have had on your feet have disappeared. It is very invigorating.

Shoes are not a lot of fun to wear but in our society, there isn't much choice. You can't very well go to the office and greet clients barefoot. And during the winter with snow covering the ground, shoes and possibly overshoes are pretty much a necessity.

But now that I am retired, I may get back to the barefoot, carefree days of my childhood. I think I will enjoy that.

Shoes make me taller

The smell.

What is the difference between walking with bare feet and walking with shoes? For these two gals about 5 inches in height.

/Users/dave/Desktop/Ashley+Olsen+Mary+Kate+Olsen+Sign+Copies+Influence+-ATqrWOC83pl.jpg

So you have a picture of two gals in high heels stored on your user desktop! That doesn't help us see them. Click on the Camera in the toolbar, then navigate to the jpg and click submit.

If you are using Safari, you must download and install Firefox first - there is no toolbar, and therefore no camera, in Safari, which makes lots of things MUCH harder.

Okay... try this one... http://www.flickr.com/photos/iskeeter/2991250056/

Since my 'puter is running on OS X, I don't think Firefox will download.

That worked, although I had to cut and paste the URL. In Firefox you could make it a clickable link. (As I recall, it can be done in Safari, but it's considerably more work.)

Nice looking gals in dangerous shoes!

I have been using Firefox on OSX through several upgrades of each! I'm writing this with Firefox (Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.0.3) Gecko/2008092414 Firefox/3.0.3) on a MacBook Pro with OSX 10.5.2. I have downloaded the 10.5.4 combo update, but haven't installed it yet.

I don't really remember going barefoot as a child, yet I do remember getting shocked when I stepped on welding electrodes in a blacksmith shop. I also remember the forge, the anvil, the drop hammer, and the overhead shaft connected by belts to several other machines as well. This shop was several blocks from my home, so I must have walked barefoot all that distance from home. That was well over 50 years ago. I wish I could go back and thank that blacksmith for letting me watch, especially barefoot! when shoes came in widths, I used EEEs.

Today I rarely go from my bedroom to the bathroom without slippers, and to go outside barefoot is unthinkable. We keep our house in the 60's whenever possible - I'd have cold feet in minutes without some protection.

As a child, growing up in Hawaii, I did not wear shoes until the 6th grade--our feet were tough--- My friends and I would astonish tourists, by standing, barefoot, on the manhole covers in Waikiki, in the middle of summer---waiting for the lights to change---I would run from my house in the valley, to the beach-about 1 1/2 mile (maybe 12-15 years old), barefoot, some on soft lawns, and others on the street, and sidewalks, early in the morning, to get to beach before the sun came up, to go surfing before anyone else was in the water---never wore slippers until the 7th grade---shoes only for church---the feeling was incredible--the bursts of speed, the ability of the ankles to fully extend etc.---we even played basketball, barefoot, on asphalt courts, in the summer sun---but there was something called "peel-off"---when your calouses (?) got so thick, that they would literally "peel off", as they couldn't stay attached any longer--like losing a nail--but hey---we were young, strong and proud--now I am on the continent, my feet more tender than ever, and wishing I could go barefoot again---alas, building houses, and being in workshops with boats etc, doesn't make it all that possible--still i have certain memories, and maybe If I can retire, I might still get back there---thanks for the topic---as you all can see, a very close subject to my heart---aloha, C-Mac (as far as posture, I am certain that a lot of time barefoot makes a huge deal of difference--just my views)

Wow! What a youth you had. You have made me totally envious. Hawaii is my favorite sandbox, although I haven't been able to play in it very often. If it's not Eden, it's pretty close.

Yeah. This is the place a shoe salesman returned back because nobody wears shoe and there is no scope while the other was delighted because there was a hell lot of scope since nobody wears shoes.

YOU WILL END UP WITH A BAD NAIL FUNGUS IF YOU GO BARE FOOTED TO MUCH.

Going barefoot is using the old feet as they were designed to work. When sailing (in the warmth of the carribean) I have found bare feet vastly superior to wearing any kind of footware.

Conversely, when hiking anywhere, I would very much miss the comfort and support of the old Vasques. I can think of no factory or shop situation where bare feet wouldn't be uncomfortable and dangerous.

Interesting thought nzur.

Oh yeah bare foot is bliss and the best way to learn how to walk since I deplore crowds shoeless is the order of the day.

I lived in Hawaii a while and bare foot is great but I took to wearing Korean combat boots because the sand at most beaches is fairly course. Walking on lava rock and skipping about the tide pools or hiking the mountain trials and cliffs is Korean combat boot area.

Smell is no trouble, take combat boots into shower with you make'em squeaky clean

Indian famous Painter Mr.Hussain whose paintings are sold @ Million $ each never wears shoes.Once he was driven out of a club which had a dress code.

Well we weren't born with shoes or clothes- neither are so-called lower animals- but they don't need shoes or clothes- so why should we?. An experiment was done some years ago in Australia- a team of fully equipped soldiers with all equipment was matched to a team of Aborigines with only natural equipment- the goal was to traverse from point A to Point B thru wild bush( a long distance)- the abos won by days!.

My family naturally has narrow feet. Or at least I did till I got old, gray, fat, and my feet were soft from not being barefoot :) ... so wide they went.

I suspect, if you stay with bare feet, you can stay that way untill society tells you: you must change ... and you feet would stay healthy. It would be interesting to ask a podiatrist this question!

Once grown, my feet have gone from 10 1/2 B, to 11 (wide), at least that is the label on the last shoes I purchased. I assume that means D width or so.

I think the issue of whether wearing shoes in childhood is a valid question. I believe that wearing of shoes deforms the feet. I rarely went shoeless during my youth, and almost always had my shoes fitted by a salesman and checked on one of the x-ray machines in the stores in the '40's and '50's. By age 30, my feet were severely deformed and I had to wear wide shoes (EEE to EEEE was typical). Subsequently, I have had to have extreme podiatric surgery to correct my feet.

Like many of you, as a kid I rarely wore shoes.

Today I usually get away with thongs (Flip Flops?).

Around here people normally take their shoes off at the front door, walking inside in socks or bare feet.

I notice banana farmers don't wear shoes or boots in the mud after rain. Apparently the mud pulls the soles off the boots. Bare feet are much better.

Bare feet are generally much more comfortable, unless the yard is full of prickles!

As kids we didn't wear shoes when we could get away with it. Pealing the road tar off the bottoms of our feet and through the snow until mom would catch us.

This summer some of my cousins grandkids were riding a electric ATV and the little one in the back was dragging his bare foot through the crushed rock (sharp gravel)3/4" minus. I watch him leave a inch deep furrow for about 200 feet. He was not even paying attention, not a care in the world at about 4 to 5 years old. My foot hurts just thinking about it.

As kids we were told that running around in bare feet, you could get hook worms. Every year or so we were given worming medicine anyway.

Brad

We wear shoes because people sell them. Look at horses. Does somebody go out and shoe the mustangs? Are there farriers dotted around the African plains to shoe the herds of zebra? Once you shoe your horse, it needs shoes, if you don't it doesn't

If you toughen your feet, they are tough. If you wear shoes, because it is correct, your feet get soft and you need shoes. So shoes are the end result of shoe salesmen.

Simon

Hello saddlechariot,

We shoe our Kieger Mustangs for riding and if their pasture does not have enough rock to keep their hoofs ground down properly. Most of the non ridden stock is left un shod. We ride on some of the steepest ground in America (Wallowa mountains and Hell's Canyon over by Hat Point). I have usually rode in the late fall and Ice Shoes are a must.

The only other time we shoe a horse is when something is wrong like a split in a hoof.

I did see my uncle shoe a wild stalion in our herd. Had him on his back in a ditch with all 4 feet tide up. Never bothered to ask him why. For that much dangerious work he had to have a very good reason. I think that one would kill you if he could.

Brad

Hello UV, as they say "the exception proves the rule" which actually comes from the old proof houses for guns, where you stuffed them with an overcharge of powder to test or "prove" them. Not suggesting you do that to your horses. Back to my point, quite agree with shoes for definite problems with hooves, and although I have never used ice shoes, I have tried my pony without shoes, on ice, and I assure you barefoot is not a solution.

My problemis with all the horses that do not a lot and are shod unneccessarily. I work my little Henry really hard, but after a lay off I give his feet time to toughen up. I rasp his feet myself but get his feet checked over by an expert every so often to see they are still in shape.

What are Kieger Mustangs, I'm fascinated?

Simon

Hello saddlechariot:

Sorry I spelled it German style Kiger Mustangs. The Kiger Mesteño Association or KMA has been conserving the Kiger Mustangs for 20 years. My family was involved in it.

I've been around horses all my life. Kigers are the first I ever seen hunt coyotes. Very smart. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiger_Mustang

Brad

HI, They change how you walk. ... for roughly a thousand years: the battle of shoes versus feet. There's a great article in NY Mag on foot vs shoe. _____________________________________________________________________ Natural Spin Dance International is a fast growing dance product supplier based in Toronto, Canada, we provide all your needs in dancesports. Since our beginning, the principle elements of our company have been focused on our service and delivery of quality products with affordable prices. for more Details  [url=http://www.naturalspindancewear.com/] Latest Shoes [url]

Pain? so much junk on the streets these days that feet woul be cut open by the debris

I always enjoyed going barefoot as a kid and still do as an adult...except when I step in a "land mine" one of my dogs has left me in the yard.