Walking Barefoot: Good or Bad? (& What to Do Instead)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2024
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In this episode, Farnham's leading over-50's physiotherapist, Will Harlow, reveals whether walking barefoot is good or bad and reveals a handy alternative to build strength and posture in the feet!
If you're suffering from nagging knee pain that hurts in the morning and stops you from walking as far as you'd like, you can take our free knee pain guide - which will give you 5 expert tips to put a stop to knee pain at home - by visiting here: ht-physio.co.uk/knee-pain-gui...
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Never thought about cushioning. I have walked barefoot for over 50 years at home. Both inside and out. I must have developed cushioning. The first 2 things I do when getting home is lose the shoes and lose the bra. 😊Walking on hot pavements will burn your feet. Even dogs feet will burn if they are walked on hot roads and pavements.
I do the same thing, I lose the shoes and the bra! Right now I am still working from home except for one day a week. So, most of my days are spent barefoot.
As I was watching this video, I was thinking about getting some barefoot shoes to wear in the office.
Usually I don't wear shoes. My bare feet are the best shoes in the world ! ☺
I don't have any health issues (except allergies 🤧).
For me, there was no transition period at all.
I started going barefoot from one day to the next after a lot of information. Living barefoot felt so natural to me that I gave away my traditional shoes six months later.
The only problem was finding really nice shoes for my wardrobe (gym, city walks, business, evening wear).
Two years later my dear husband followed my barefoot lifestyle.
He also started from day one and never went back.
His severe neck and back pain (spinal disc herniation), which he had for many years, has now almost completely disappeared. He is living barefoot for a year and a half now.
I’ve always had a problem finding comfortable shoes but as soon as I bought a pair of Vivobarefoot shoes from their shop, admittedly they have a thermo insole and are all terrain, I could stop wearing them as I felt such freedom in my whole body. My feet are so wide I can only wear the men’s, not so flattering. I recommend that brand and they have a trial period. I can now bend my toes. It’s also hard to walk in other boots now as they are not so flexible. I am 74 years old!
I’ve been going barefoot around the house for about 8 months and really love how it’s improved my balance. I recently bought a pair of Xero shoes, and like the barefoot feel, but they’re a bit too narrow for my wider foot. I had thought about trying men’s sizes, so I was glad to see your comment. I’d been looking at Vivo shoes and thinking of trying them, now I will!
@@dianekassmann8821 Look for "Groundies Universe", they are my favourites and are wonderful.
Thank you very much. Your point about walking on very hard modern surfaces is a good one.
I had a problem with ankle rolling. Even wearing heavy hiking boots with an ankle brace I'd still roll my ankle. Since adopting these minimalist shoes, that doesn't happen anymore. I can't believe it. What's happening is the foot/body/brain somehow senses my foot is in the proper position to bear weight before transferring my weight with each step. I've never rolled my ankle while wearing these. Despite doing long hikes in the woods, over rocks, roots, gullies, slopes, ice, snow, and constantly changing surfaces, I've never injured myself.
Excellent explanation on this subject, thank you. I bought your book a while ago, definitely worth the money and a good reference too.
Thank you so much for your support - have a great day
Excellent info. and good visuals.
Thank you!
I have vestiblur disorder and was advised by my neurological physiotherapist that it’s better for my balance issues to help me feel grounded.
That's good balanced advice, thank you.
You're welcome!
Thanks, great video. What do you think about foot shaped cushioned, zero drop and near zero drop road and trail running shoes. These aren’t minimalist barefoot shoes, but have many of the features with added cushioning and are also foot shaped (i.e. not pointed toe boxes) which may resolve some of the cons identified? Your thoughts on these types of shoes?
Thank you for the discussion with the pros and cons, and thanks a lot for the suggested exercise!
You're welcome :)
@@HT-Physio my name is Chetan I really enjoyed watching 👀 your video on benefits of walking 🚶 barefeet I love ❤ and enjoy being in my barefeet I do weight machines at gymnasium in my barefeet complerty I feel great 👍 you have given such great advice ready appreciate rhst I have exmelety very very ticklish barefeet I love being tickled I am gay I am ticklish from head to toe aspeasloy on my barefeet nice to meet you
Such an information and interesting video thank you God bless!
I enjoyed your video. Very educational
Amazing exercise for strengthening the feet..thank you for sharing
You're welcome
Very good points my friend!
Thank you!
I've been wearing a pair of Xero minimalist Trail Runners for 2 years. Got 'em at REI. I wear them as daily kick around sneakers and for hikes of 2 - 4 miles. 1st day, my shins and lower legs were pretty sore. Within a few days. I adapted so well that I removed the inner cushion liner. Making them nearly the same as barefoot. These have no heel, no support, and are maybe a couple of millimeters thick? Basically the same as ballet slippers despite looking like normal sneakers.
I used vibram 5 fingers for around 2009. I have extra wide hobbit type feet. The vibram was very comfortable and natural, as I run with a forefoot strike. I don’t wear them anymore but I walk with a weight vest 30-90 minutes every morning barefoot. I also do all of my strength training barefoot. I only wear socks in colder weather when I have shoes on. My feet don’t feel right with socks on. I’m 53 now, and, don’t have any lower back, hip, knee or ankle issues.
As ever Will a really well explained video and practical help.
At the end of your video you stated that 89% haven't subscribed. May I offer an observation? Here goes... On another channel I subscribe to the presenter said he had spoken to people through the comments section and many thought that subscribing meant paying to follow him. As he put it TH-cam use the wrong language. He just mentioned that to clarify to folks who are not TH-cam savy that subscribing involves no financial commitment. May be it will help?
Hi there - thanks so much for your great comment, I'll definitely take that on board for my future videos!
Very interesting 🥿👠👟🥾👣🩴🏃♂️you covered good and bad choices. Thank you. 3:30 pm in Chula Vista, California.
Hi Will! Thanks for good advice about feet. I was born with club feet and after many ops eventually i can walk - but its my way of compensating for the problem. Now im 77 and have to visit my physio every 3 month to refresh my bad habits - i have much pain if i dont wear the correct shoes and walk barefoot on tiles. I do daily exercises for my hips and thighs - strength and stretch. Can you recommend anything i can do further? I live in Cape Town, SAfrica. Lovely to follow your channel. Thanks.
Good stuff thanks 👍 is there any correlation between foot/ toe strength and falls risk?
Thanks another interesting and informative video.
You're welcome
Excellent advice😊
Thank you!
Nicely done. Thankyou
You're welcome
New to your channel and finding good help. Thank you.
Always happy to help!
Well done; thank you.
You're welcome
I like the look of the towel exercise
Thank you for the video.
I have long term knee pain (& your video's have helped)
So do you recommend Barefoot trainers or should invest in wide toe box max cushion Nikes?
I'm also a nurse too, so I'm on my feet all day. I'm 42, go to gym twice a week
Good sensible advice.
Thank you!
As someone who walks in minimalist shoes the one thing that I disagree with is the hardness of ground humans evolved to walk on, like the hard pan deserts in Africa or look at the stony ground in Grecce where messengers ran back and forth between cities.
I started wearing barefoot shoes because I developed plantar fasciitis. Barefoot shoes are RECOMMENDED for plantar fasciitis because the weight is distributed to the entire foot rather then striking the ground with your heel
Many thanks for a very good video Will. I was advised by my Neurologist several years ago that even walking barefoot on grass for a little while would help with the epilepsy. Apparently it ‘grounds’ epilepsy sufferers and therefore helps lessen the amount of seizures because it takes more electric out of the body. Thanks a lot
Have you been offered any evidence. The 'electric' of seizures is generated in the brain cells themselves
You're welcome - and thank you for sharing, that's really interesting to hear!
Thank you so much for the great video and advice. I have bunions. It runs in my family but I think wearing tight shoes, when I was in my twenties and thirties, certainly didn’t help. I can see the result now. Didn’t know walking barefoot can help. I will definitely try the exercises you mentioned.
You're more than welcome
Thankyou I find all your exercises very helpful now I am going to do the foot exercise with the towel .
You're welcome
Thank you very much...will try walking bare foot now n then..Blessings to you Will Harlow 😊
Have a great day!
I've been at aerobics classes when I literally had to remove my trainers because the constant pounding in the shoes was unbearable. The leader would scold me, but I couldn't continue the class in the "all purpose" trainers. When I'm at home I NEVER wear shoes around the house and only wear slippers when it's too cold for just socks. I'll even remove my shoes when driving long distances, as my feet swell up from the cramped conditions.
Our ancestors walked on all kinds of ground. Hard and soft, rough and smooth, flat and steep, cold and hot, wet and dry, grippy and slippery.
We are capable of finding walking styles that will allow us to walk on almost all those surfaces, we have the potential, but we need daily training in short, increasing units to get there.
The best age in life to learn this is as a young child, so the best decision for parents is not even getting their children used to shoes.
But it's possible to get yourself used at any age, you just need to be more cautious and systematic, the older you are when you start.
There are some hard limitations: Frost, some extremely hot surfaces, broken glass, thorns or other things that hurt us when we step on them.
That's also why the most important thing when walking barefoot is to watch where you step, it's also an exercise in concentration.
The video mentions the cushioned fat pads under the soles, it seems like these also get built up in regular exercise.
I also observed that my arches became higher (so don't believe the nonsense of "collapsing arches without support"). I'm walking barefoot constantly for numerous years.
lv your videos, any help on pain on front thighs till knee
I made the switch to barefoot shoes about 6 years ago. It does limit fashion choices but I really don’t care. My feet feel amazing.
That's great to hear
I'm on my sixth month of barefoot. Here are my findings.
Very strong feet, ankles, calves and overall kinetic chain. The muscle on the arch becomes robust. Walking over horizontal thin ridges hurts at first, but after around a month you don't even think about it. Calf muscles grow as they are used more, the flatter your feet are to the ground. I fractured my C5 neck vertabrae back in 2008, causing all sorts of stiffness, pain, depleted range of movement and many a night tossing and turning. This has improved so much it's almost back to before it was injured. The pain from my neck down my shoulder was a constant toll on my life every day for around sixteen years, and now it's vanished! Vastly improved balance and reaction times. This shocked me a lot. After around three months my spacial awareness was sound and the small muscles in your feet and ankles start firing faster, to constantly correct balance. Using these small muscles over and over will tire your feet to start with, but they improve fast and eventually become an auto response. The feedback loop to your brain is used much more. The soles of your feet become tougher, like soft leather. This takes a while to build up, as at the start you will get the odd piece of glass or thorn in them. Just pull it out and keep focused. Eventually, glass and similar sharp objects become more tolerable, less painful, and then the latter stages will allow you to completely walk on these. They may stick into you, but they don't reach to the live skin level. Walking on hot surfaces becomes more tolerable (I burnt my feet on dark smooth slate once on one of the hottest days of the year last summer, painful) Improved sleep at night. I can't explain this to be honest, but you will nod off faster. It's really good for racing thoughts, because maybe concentrating in the day on your walking I think takes the mind away from worry and stress. This also has a sedative effect, resulting in a calmer mind and being less reactive or hostile even. Emotions are more balanced. Toenail fungus and athlete's foot diminish as the feet aren't trapped in a sweaty shoe, providing pathogens with a nice comfortable home. If you suffer from either of these like I did, I would suggest dry weather only, with the exception of the sea and sand. The minerals really helps fight it. There's something else I cannot really explain either. You develop a sixth sense of other people's movement and emotions. Maybe it's because you don't want to be trodden on with a high heel or something, so you will learn to react. Also, blind corners become instinctive in the sense you will know if someone is coming round the corner, so you will let them pass. You can get a really good judgement on how a person is feeling, even if you've just met them for the first time. It's one of our core instincts that I feel have been lost over the decades. Finally, from a scientific standpoint there is unequivocal evidence of the body dumping positive electrons back into the negatively charged earth when barefoot. This has the effect of blood cells flowing freely through our arteries and repelling each other, rather than clumping together and forming mini clots. This has been proven to heal people with certain conditions, and there is some evidence it can reduce blood pressure long term. I highly recommend people research this and see for yourselves, it's truly remarkable and a huge game changer.
wery interesting tema, im wolking a lot barefoot and ower asfalt as well but wile a have to compensate with a beter biomecaniks and the food partecipate more i feal confort to my lombar spine (L4 ernia) as well
Never liked walking barefoot [apart from the beach] outside due to cleanliness reasons...easy to get cuts and then infections.
Round the house/garden yes.
Remember your audience is international. Here in NZ most kids grow up rarely wearing shoes over summer and lots of adults don't wear them at home or wear jandals (flip flops) so their bodies have developed a bit differently to people in the UK.
Here in NZ it’s also polite to take your shoes off before you enter someone’s home so barefoot indoors is normal for us.
The Americans are even worse - they get outraged seeing people walking around without shoes. I try to go bare feet as much as possible as my feet are rubbish and even well fitting shoes still give support rather than letting the muscles doing what they are designed too
When we lived in Whangarei, I had to buy new shoes every month, as my boy always lost them or they got mixed up outside the classroom (they had to take them off). Now we're in the deep South, the shoes stay on! I've been dabbling with Merril Trail Gloves. I prefer 0 rise 😊
one of the things people who suddenly take to walking barefoot is they do not change their gait, they are used to walking heel to toe, where as most habitual barefooters land on pad of their feet. this helps cushion the joints.
Now I feel better. I have thin padding at the bottom of my feet. That why I have hard time going barefooted. Thank you!
Unless my feet are cold indoors i've always been barefoot; outdoors is different(i dont remember my caveman days ;) but wearing comfortable, airy foot protection just seems sensible ... The exercise given here is great - thanks for this.
nb i think ur right to ditch the Heels, Will :)
I have been barefoot shoes for many year. I used to walk "heel strike, roll to the toe, and push off" . Now I walk more like an ancient American Indian. I land on my heel pad instead of the strike on back of the heel. I always feel that I am walking OVER the ground, and not ON the ground. It's more of a gliding stride.
Hello
I found you a couple of months ago and have incorporated a lot of your exercises in my morning routine
which I do to loosen everything up and to use specific muscles that I'm not really aware of using during
the day, the whole routine lasts 20 mins or so usually after a warm shower mainly stretching to get everything
moving. I'm 76 I play golf a couple of times a week (9 holes walking with an electric trolley) which in the summer
is great, fresh air and exercise also enjoy cycling with my wife have done since we retired (12 yrs) and living in
North Devon we use the Tarka Trail which is great usually 15/ 20 k at a time and really enjoy it.
I've noticed recently I was getting a bit wobbly when walking on flat paving anything that is really flat, don't
notice it on grass, bought a pair of walking trainers with more support round the ankles and I seem to be
steadying up a bit.
We've recently moved on to electric bikes, to keep our son happy as he's bothered about one or both of
us having a heart attack riding up a steep incline , which we have a lot of.
So thanks for your tutorials I've found them very helpful and will continue to follow you, we have an
exercise bike at home which comes in handy in the winter and as we won't be going out so much
during the winter but wondering whether a walking machine may be more beneficial.
Thanks for all the advice, very good.
Thanks so much for your detailed comment I'm so glad you've found my content useful. Have a great day
Good advice, but as a Nurse working with seniors I would add that if you suffer from diabetes, walking barefoot is a huge risk that should be considered.
As a senior with type 2 diabetes I understand the risks. I do walk barefoot but my diabetes is well controlled with diet and my a1c is 5.3. I have excellent circulation and no peripheral nerve pain. I also do foot exercises. It makes a difference. There are also standing mats and stimulating shoe inserts that can benefit people who cannot be barefoot.
Agreed. I am 75 and have walked barefoot inside the house and garden since my early 20s. (But not when digging the garden😂).
But occasionally bang against furniture like a bed leg that someone has carelessly left in my way. I suspect this could be a serious risk for people with diabetes or other conditions that can lead to bruising.
I am verging on Pre Diabetes, why is barefoot risky for Diabetes? Please elaborate on your concern.
@@Tekytekdiabetes causes blood circulation problems in the feet, a small cut or abrasion heals slowly and poorly. Eventually things can get bad enough to need amputation of feet and lower legs. Look up diabetes foot injuries pictures.
I believe going barefoot generally refers to wearing zero drop “barefoot” shoes so there would be no added risk for skin injury.
In my case, walking barefoot 🦶🏻🦶🏻is 💯% good, being natural.
In fact "Going barefoot is the gentlest way of walking and can symbolise a way of living - being authentic, vulnerable, sensitive to our surroundings.
It’s the feeling of enjoying warm sand beneath our toes, or carefully making our way over sharp rocks in the darkness.
It’s a way of living that has the lightest impact, removing the barrier between us and nature".- Adele Coombs, “Barefoot Dreaming” ☺❗
Is walking bear foot bad if you are prone to sciatica
I remember as a child my beloved mom had us ( my sister and I ) wait until we were older to wear shoes! She was all about our health and education! I think she was ahead of her time. I thank her for what she chose to do ! I also thank you Will for your incredible knowledge and helpful videos!! ❤️
Many parents let their children go barefoot part of the time but only in controlled environments: at home, in the garden, at the playground or pool. It seems though that children can get used to a lot of surfaces and comfortably walk barefoot in the city or cross country with just a bit of exercise.
This was in the 60’s!! 😊
@@edwardizhonig204 some things work in every era!
Can walking barefoot all day @ home cause back pain on my left side ? I thank you . Have a Merry Christmas .
If I had carpeting in my house, I would be barefoot more often. I’m always in ortho sandals or shoes. I do have wide toes too. 😊
I can't do "barefoot shoes" they feel weird, being shoeless or wearing something with a 6mm cushion and a 1mm drop works fine.
You do not land on your heels when barefoot walking.
It's done wonders for me
what about walking on the sand by the shoreline?
Could you please tell me if flip flops good for bunions?
I walk barefoot 24/7 at home and I have hard tile floors. What I do have is FALLEN ARCHES. I was a cheerleader for 6 years, hence the no arch now. I'm 55, female. Barefoot for me good or not? 😮😮😮😮
Look up an exercise called short foot.
@@curious, there are exercises that can fix fallen arches-there many here on YT! ❤
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Good
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Earthing - walking barefoot on grass, mud, sand or in the sea water is absolutely brilliant to receive negative ions from Earth.
You know climate change is real just look at Will’s tan. It is the end of October and a man who lives outside of London is still tan. Good on you Will Harlow.
Walking barefoot is natural. It’s how we evolved. However, we now are heavier and walk and run on concrete for the most part. We need to take this into account.
Bunions have been observed in tribal people who don’t wear shoes so shoes can’t be blamed completely but they don’t help.
As someone who's lost much of the fat pad under the balls of my feet, barefoot is not for me.
There are cushions designed just for the ball of the foot. Would that help?
@cathybrown4102 I've seen ones for putting in shoes but I really don't think that, at my age, the potential benefit (of walking barefoot when I'm in the house) outweighs the messing around.🤔
@@cassieoz1702 I also have the ones that go in the shoe. I was thinking about the ones that go over your toes and are on the bottom of the foot
@cathybrown4102 that's what I thought but I'm still to be convinced that there's material benefit in trying this. I'm 65, a farmer and my house is small. I don't spend much time anywhere that I could barefoot walk anyway
How about walking in flip flops??
Zero rise, with a bit of cushion - perfect I reckon 😊
Wow. The trolls are here