Recently in a
podcast with BarefootMoe, I referred to my barefoot activities as my “barefoot
experiment” and this raised the question “so does that mean
you're going to go back to wearing shoes again?”.
Well, I don't really have a quick
answer to that, so if you'll “bare” with me a moment, I'll try
and explain what I mean.
As I started going barefoot more often
a few summers ago, I was impressed with the changes not only in my
feet, but in my whole body. By the end of that first summer, people
were complimenting me on losing weight (which I hadn't), and asked
how often I was working out (I wasn't). The only thing I was doing
differently was walking without shoes. I wasn't really walking more
that I had before, just differently. As I thought about the changes
in my body, I realised that the main thing that had changed was my
posture. Even my jaw, with tmj problems and a slight overbite
started shifting. This has all led me to believe that one of the
easiest ways to promote good posture in the human skeleton might just
be to go barefoot.
My ongoing internal exploration into
the changes happening within my body is my “barefoot experiment”.
Add to that, all the things I've read about the foot, and the
biomechanics of proper walking and running gait have led me to talk
more and more with my patients about the potential benefits of
spending more time unshod. I now get requests on a fairly regular
basis to teach a formal course on barefoot walking. Given my
inquisitive nature and the lack of research into barefoot walking
(there's lots on running!), I've started to conceptually put together
an experiment to track and measure structural changes to the foot
over the course of several weeks (I'm struggling currently with the
worst of my ADHD tendencies, and one of my plans as I improve is to
make this a reality rather than just an idea. More on that in
another post!).
Now that I've investigated and
abandoned many of the myths associated with wearing shoes, it would
be tough to go back again. That being said, I'm a bit of a wimp when
it comes to nature, and I will wear shoes when the weather's bad. My
partner has very strong feeling about the hygiene and social deviance
of being in public without shoes, so I also need to be sensitive to
her needs too.
Ultimately, I'm in the “shoes are
tools” camp. They aren't necessarily evil in and of themselves,
and when used properly can be beneficial. I'm also not convinced
that “anyone can go barefoot”. There may be a threshold of
dysfunction that once passed could make rehabilitation of the foot
and ankle impractical if not actually impossible. As going barefoot
becomes a trend, people are diving in without going through a
potentially lengthy adaptive/rehabilitative process and ending up badly
injured “proving” that going barefoot is bad. If people start
going barefoot in the winter here in Canada, it wouldn't be long
before cases of frostbite starting happening and the barefoot
movement would be blamed for them losing their toes.
And that's why it's an “experiment”
for me. Finding out when it's appropriate. When it isn't. When
it's beneficial, and when it's harmful. When to discard social convention, and when to go with the flow. It's a constant process of
learning and adapting. What foot pathologies and weaknesses preclude
going without shoes for more than a few minutes at a time? How long
does it take for the foot of average person to be strong enough to go
barefoot safely? Does it matter how old they are?
I had the advantage of having been a
martial arts practitioner for most of my life. I've always worked
out barefoot. I'm also old enough that when I was a child, shoes
just didn't have all of the orthopaedic support that even dollar
store shoes have now. My feet started this experiment with a head
start. I was also very ill internally when I started and just didn't
have the capacity to walk for more than 20 minutes at a time, so it
was very hard for me to overdo it. I've also never worn shoes at
home. Even when I was young, slippers were only for cold days in the
winter. We took our shoes off at the door to keep from tracking dirt
inside.
Perhaps it makes me seem a bit
half-assed about the barefoot lifestyle, but I just don't see it as
an all or nothing scenario. Because it bothers people to see someone
in public barefoot, I'll often wear footwear for no better reason
than to avoid conflict. It's not out of fear, it's just that I don't
always have the energy to argue. And I do think that people have the
right to run their businesses as they wish (well, to a point...
Years ago, someone called me a Libertarian based on this perspective.
It sounded good until I actually looked it up. Hell no! Whatever I
am politically, it isn't that!), and it's just good manners to wear
shoes if a store or restaurant owner requires it.
Ultimately I don't think I'll ever
think of myself as engaging in a lifestyle change. It's just not
that central to my basic self. But learning certainly is! So rather
than living a barefoot lifestyle, I engage in a barefoot experiment
to enhance my life. And who knows? If I learn enough, and teach
enough and experiment enough, maybe I can help others enhance their
lives by doing nothing more than taking their shoes off.
