The Advance of Bare Feet

I see another in the line of exciting stories about barefootedness! This one, from New York Magazine, is crisply titled "You Walk Wrong."

It suggests that wearing shoes throws off one's whole stride, such that we bring all manner of foot and joint problems upon ourselves by tromping gracelessly (or even gracefully) about.

It seems that when you put more padding between your foot and the ground, you tend to step harder, as if something about our sense of balance requires a certain amount of impact in order to maintain equilibrium. (There's an interesting tidbit about gymnasts, who apparently, if given softer mats, land harder on them.)

So, the more we try to protect our feet, the more we tend to abuse them in order to make up for that missing contact with the trod-upon surface. We might all be a lot better off if we never wore shoes at all.

This is interesting, and I'm all for more barefootedness in general, the ickiness of walking around on city streets notwithstanding, except for one thing that springs instantly to mind:

What about the snow and the bitter, bitter cold? What about the ice-slicked streets that freeze your little toes right off? Surely we need some protection from the weather, if not the hard and filthy ground!

Nevertheless, I'm intrigued by some shoes described in the article, that try to put no more than a thin coating between foot and street...something to keep the dirt off, but still let you feel the ground, and let the foot move more naturally.

I have a dislike/hate relationship with shoes for the most part (they never fit!), so I can't help but wonder if next to no shoes could be the answer. If I get around to trying some (although I bet they won't fit!), I'll be sure to keep my legions of followers updated.

The article was pointed out to me by Sheril Kirshenbaum at The Intersection, though more for its clever illustrations than its content.
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