barefoot living

We are big into barefoot living: we are barefoot in our office, barefoot at home, and barefoot outside or usually wearing barefoot (or minimalist) shoes, hiking boots, or sandals. We even became affiliate partners for our favorite barefoot shoe company, VIVOBAREFOOT because we use and recommend their products so often. If you are interested in buying their products you can use OUR LINK.

But why barefoot? 

VIVOBAREFOOT has some great information on this HERE

Here’s our thoughts. The premise might seem contradictory to some people, especially those who have been told by other practitioners that they need orthotics, or need to wear more comfortable athletic shoes because they have high or low arches, or narrow feet, or bunions, etc.. While some peoples feet might not be functioning as well as others, we (and this barefoot movement philosophy) think that’s an adaptation of the feet trying to conform to the traditional shoes they been wearing, not because of their genetics or just because they’re feet were made ‘wrong’. We think traditional shoes and poor mechanics can lead to a lot of pain, lack of mobility and loss of function later down the road. Most shoes today prioritize style over comfort, and even those that advertise themselves as more comfortable have too much cushion or arch support. Although this might sounds necessary, all of this cushion and artificial support interferes with the proprioception (or spatial and movement awareness) that the feet should receive through the ground. The feet need all this proprioceptive information to understand what type of ground you’re walking on, if the ground is stable or not, if it’s hard or spongy, if it’s rugged and uneven or smooth - all of this info then allows the body to adapt appropriately for that surface. 

Many people ask us “Isn’t the lack of cushion going to be harder for the knees and hips?”

With the proprioceptive information through the feet, the body can better engage the legs, core, and rest of the body in the walking or running movement. Over time we think it leads to smoother and more fluid walking mechanics and less jarring weight distribution through the hips, knees and feet so that the legs get stronger over time, instead of degenerating over time. 

That being said, there’s often a transition period for the body to get used to walking without as much cushion. A lot of people get used to walking very hard on traditional shoes, so switching to barefoot can be uncomfortable until the body learns to walk in a manner meant for being barefoot. 

All feet are going to look a little different, but we believe that the feet can heal and adapt, just like the rest of the body! This often looks like the toe spaces widening, and maybe the entire foot widening or lengthening. In fact we’ve seen this transformation in ourselves and in many of our friends. We started our barefoot journey by wearing toe spacers at home to encourage our feet to open up because they were used to being crammed inside narrow shoes. We also set aside our regular shoes and started wearing wide, thin minimalist shoes whenever we were out and about. We noticed quick changes, even in the first month or two - some days our feet were a little sore/tired because all of the intrinsic feet muscles were working harder than they were used to, and other days we noticed our feet and ankles were more stable and lasted longer throughout what would’ve been an uncomfortably long day on our feet. Regardless of a high or low arch, we think the muscles of the feet are supposed to be the ones supporting these arches, we don’t think we should rely on a crutch such as an orthotic. Our barefoot shoes quickly became our most comfortable shoes - it was more apparent from the discomfort just from a day of wearing our old sneakers. 

We think it’s important to look at how we are treating our feet when considering the cause of things like plantar fasciitis, bunions, tight calves, tight hamstring or hip flexors, pelvic/low back pain, and instability. With our philosophy that the entire body is one connected system of harmoniously working pieces we even think the feet should be a top concern when trying to maximize healing of any area of the body, and to optimize nervous system and body functionality and performance.