Why Barefoot Walking is How We Were Meant To Walk and Barefoot Running is How We Were Meant to Run
As many of you know, I’ve been struggling with a bad case of Jumper’s Knee for a long time now which is finally starting to heal well, after multiple treatments of prolotherapy and platelet rich plasma therapy. One of the things that has been extremely frustrating with the injury is that not only have I been unable to run without pain, for awhile I couldn’t even walk without pain!
[This video really amazes me by showing just how much we're capable of doing without wearing shoes.]
The walking pain was becoming really frustrating, when one time while walking around barefoot, I noticed that I wasn’t in pain. I then went outside barefoot to go for a walk, and in the first time in a long time…I walked for over a mile barefoot without pain! I had already done some research on the importance of barefoot walking before this, but I couldn’t believe how true it was. I was so impressed that I have since added barefoot walking to my daily routine of physical therapy.
Here’s some really interesting research showing the superiority of walking barefoot done by the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia (if you read up until the end of this post you’ll hear a funny story about an Australian I used to be friends with):
“The Australian researchers studied 40 patients with medial knee OA using 3-dimensional gait analysis to measure peak knee adduction moment, which is an indicator of medial knee joint load. The joint load was compared with patients walking barefoot versus wearing their usual shoes. Joint load was also measured in 20 patients while walking with a cane in the contralateral hand to the affected knee versus while walking unaided.”
“The analysis showed that wearing shoes significantly increased medial knee joint load by 7.4% compared with walking barefoot (mean knee adduction moment 3.77 vs 3.49, P <.001) and that using a cane decreased medial knee loading by about 10% (mean knee adduction moment 3.38 vs 3.76, P = .001). The latter finding suggests that early use of a cane “has the potential to reduce the risk of disease progression in knee OA,” the authors wrote.” (http://www.mskreport.com/articles.cfm?articleID=2980)
Essentially, the study is discussing knee osteoarthritis (OA), but what’s important to us here is that they’re noting that the pressure on the joint is less walking barefoot than with shoes. While the article doesn’t discuss in detail why that is, from what I’ve read elsewhere the reasoning is pretty straightforward.
Basically, your feet contain a lot of nerves, which are there to make sure you can feel the ground and don’t pound your joints too hard. When you wear heavily padded sneakers, you don’t feel the nerves and you don’t worry about how you’re running or walking, causing you to come down too hard and with bad form onto your feet. The end result being that shoes are a lot worse for you than barefoot walking or barefoot running.
To sum it up, we were made to walk barefoot, not with shoes. So if you’re in a place where there aren’t dangerous objects littered on the ground (if you have a beach or some grass you can walk on that’s the best), try taking some time to walk barefoot and enjoy the benefits of walking with a natural gait! Here’s a guide on how to run barefoot which can be applied to walking as well.
Next post is how to remove pesky thorns from your feet…just joking!
So, what do YOU think about barefoot running and barefoot walking?
P.S. Alright, alright, I’ll tell you the story about an Australian I used to be friends with. A few years back, I used to be friends with this Australian guy. I would always joke around with him that he used to wrestle crocodiles back when he was a kid and he would always tell me that not all Australians live in the wild and a lot of them even live in cities.
Anyway, one day this guy came across a donkey and for whatever reason decided to get really close to it…and the donkey bit him really hard and I’m pretty sure it was bad enough that he got a scar from the bite. After that happened, I asked him how he felt about the whole ordeal and he responded, “It’s just a donkey mate”. Point of the story? All Australians wrestle crocodiles when they’re little, and their first words are “That’s not a knife…THAT’S a knife.”
August 18th, 2009 at 7:00 am
I have a buddy who struggled with knee pain (patella femoral) for a few years. He’s tried barefoot running for the last 6 months and been pain-free. Next step for him is Vibram Five Fingers. Might be worth checking out.
August 18th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I’ve heard a lot about the Vibram Five Fingers…but do you retain toe mobility when you wear them? And do they really protect your feet?
-Rafi
August 18th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I just got back from a hill run w/ the vibram fives. Oh baby!! These are the greatest thing ever invented!!
August 18th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Richard – Awesome, I guess I’ll really have to look into them now!
-Rafi
August 18th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
This was really insightful. I practice martial arts barefoot sometimes (stance training mostly), but mostly for universal balance. Where do you run barefoot? How do you avoid different pieces of metal and glass on the ground that can cause injury when you run? Or am I putting too much thought into it?….LOL
August 19th, 2009 at 3:49 am
Rahim – The best place to run barefoot is on the beach or a clean park. If I’m not in a city and I feel that roads are clean I’ll sometimes go for a walk barefoot on the street while keeping a constant eye on what’s on the ground…but I wouldn’t recommend it! And no, you’re not putting too much thought into it, but the trick is just to find a place where there aren’t glass shards littered on the ground.
-Rafi