3 Surprising Reasons Why You Should Ditch Normal Shoes and Start Wearing Barefoot Shoes (Backed by Science)

Barefoot shoes are fascinating.

It’s a piece of cloth covering your feet.

I got into it without really knowing the benefits. That’s why I took this past week to dive into the science behind it.

And let me say… It is surprising for 2 reasons:

There’s very little about it
The little that exists is convincing enough (for me)

The goal here is to go over the studies that had an impact on me.

In the end, it’s up to you to decide what to do.

What do our ancestors have to say about shoes?

“WTF is this sh*t?”

We’ve been walking and running barefoot for 4 million years. Then around 45,000 years ago humans made some progress in the shoe industry. They invented sandals.

Then in 1970s the footwear industry was revolutionized. Shoes with cushioned heels and stiff soles became mainstream.

But that was only 50 years ago. It’s nothing compared to how long humans have existed. As this article on barefoot running says:

From an evolutionary perspective, barefoot running is as natural as barefoot walking or, for that matter, doing anything else our hunter-gatherer ancestors did, such as nursing infants. Therefore, it is incorrect to consider barefoot running a fad or even intrinsically dangerous.

And you don’t even need to go as far as 4 million years ago. Back in 1905 there was a study already pointing out how our feet should look like:

The front of your foot should be wide. So that when you’re walking, your weight is distributed among your toes. Not like the conventional shoes you wear.

OK. So walking barefoot (or with barefoot shoes) is healthier than what you do now.

What about running?

Well… Some papers say it’s good. Others say it’s bad. There’s no consensus.

One thing to keep in mind though is that despite decades of research and advanced shoe designs, people still get hurt running. Of course, this can be due to many reasons, like:

Running by itself causes injuries. So you can expect a lot of people getting hurt
Our lack of flexibility from sitting 8 hours a day in front of the computer. And another 8 in front of a mobile.
The very hard surfaces we have, like concrete, asphalt, etc. The impact is greater on your body than compared to dirt or grass.
People have no idea what they’re doing and go too Fast & Furious.

As this study says:

how one runs probably is more important than what is on one’s feet, but what is on one’s feet may affect how one runs.

No one knows if barefoot running is safe or not. You’re gonna have to experiment by yourself.

But regarding walking, I’ve been doing that for 2 years on barefoot shoes. My experience has been great (and safe) so far.

Pointed shoes crush your toes

I’ve worn shoes every day from 2015 to 2021.

All of them looked like this:

Image created by Midjourney. the author has the provenance and copyright: fancy shoes view from above

Do you see how narrow they get at the front?

That’s the problem.

In 2021 I started to step on my pinky toe whenever I walked.

It was one of those sharp pains, like someone was pinching me with all their might.

“Why is this happening?”

I waited 3 weeks before doing anything about it. Then I started to read about feet. And why this was happening. And the culprit was clear.

My shoes were deforming my feet. And had been for years.

You see, your feet are supposed to be like your hands. Your fingers don’t naturally touch your other fingers. Your toes shouldn’t either. But given how fashion screwed everything, we now have toes that have no room to breathe.

The solution?

Barefoot shoes.

I was already seeing results after only 4 months. My pinky toe stopped hurting. My toes were spreading. My feet got stronger.

And I was lucky I stopped wearing shoes before I developed bunions.

Because even though bunions can be caused by other factors, this study found there’s a strong correlation between a narrow toe box (like the image above) and bunions (a.k.a. hallux valgus). The narrower the toe box, the more expressive the bunions. This makes sense since the body can adapt to anything we throw at it (including pointed shoes).

They also found a relationship with age. People wearing modern shoes between the ages of 20 and 39 years old seem to have a higher risk of developing bunions.

You might be asking “Why do I care about all this?”

Your feet give you stability. It distributes your weight across the area of your feet:

higher area = more stability
Narrow area = sh*ttier stability.

Conventional shoes narrow that area. But the solution is simple. Just wear shoes with a wider toe box!

And in case you’re thinking this is a new issue, this study found people with bunions in medieval England (14th-15th centuries)!

This happened precisely when people started wearing shoes with pointed toes. And as a result of medieval FOMO, people with bunions “were significantly more likely to have a fracture that likely resulted from a fall than were individuals without [bunions]”.

The reason is the same as above. Lower feet area brings a higher chance of fracture. And that’s a problem if you’re in the 1500s without health insurance.

Stop crushing your toes every single day. Give your feet some room to breathe.

Cushioned shoes nudge you to heel strike. And that’s bad

During a work trip to New York in 2015, I was walking around the city wearing shoes.

They have no cushion. But because I was used to walking on cushioned heels, I didn’t adapt. I continued to heel-strike. After 5 days I couldn’t walk properly. My knees were destroyed. My situation only improved when I bought sneakers with (you guessed it) loads of cushion. And because I was in so much pain, the guy at the store convinced me to get cushioned insoles as well.

Back then I thought it was bad genetics. Or, according to Google, a terminal illness.

But the answer was much simpler. It was the shoes I was wearing + the way I was walking.

Because ever since getting barefoot shoes, I never got any knee pain like that again. Even walking for 2 years on hard surfaces.

Yes, I still heel-strike when walking. But it’s much gentler than what I was doing in 2015. Because without the cushion to avoid the pain, you quickly adapt.

And that’s what this study found out. But for running.

When you heel-strike while running, you create 3x more impact on your body. Because when you heel-strike there’s a peak in force when you touch the ground with your heels. Then another when you press your foot against the ground. And for barefoot runners this doesn’t exist. Because the toes touch the ground first. Then the heels. This creates a sort of spring action to soften the impact.

And a living structure like your feet and legs are no match for conventional shoes. It’s probably why there isn’t much evidence that running shoes prevent running-related injuries.

Despite 50+ years of research into running shoes.

But again… Not enough evidence to be certain.

Why are barefoot shoes great?

It’s very arrogant to think that humans can design shoes that work better than your own feet.

Not gonna happen.

Back to the main question, here are some benefits you’ll get from wearing barefoot shoes:

Stronger foot. The problem with conventional shoes is that they make your feet lazy and weak. And walking barefoot makes them stronger. And that’s good because strong feet are linked to increased stability, balance, and reduced risk of falls.
Better foot sensory. When you wear normal shoes, you can’t feel the ground. It’s like wearing 3 pairs of sunglasses at night. Combined with weak feet, you have a higher risk of falling. When you walk barefoot, you create a muscle-mind connection, same as when you go to the gym. This probably explains why this study shows barefoot shoes provide more stability for older people, reducing the risk of falling.
Less foot deformity. Barefoot shoes deform your feet less because they are shaped in the format of your feet. Not the other way around like normal shoes. This avoids you developing bunions or any other misalignments of your toes. And we’ve known this for a long time.

Now that I got you thinking about wearing barefoot shoes, don’t go full-blast

Same with my diet, I went full blast from day one.

My feet were sore for 3 weeks straight from all the barefoot walking.

It was expected.

I didn’t train my feet for over 2 decades. Then suddenly I was putting them to work.

It’s like going to the gym for the first time. You won’t start to bench press 200 lbs in your first week. You’ll start with just the bar. Then move your way up.

So my suggestion is to start slow.

You will get injured if you don’t give your body time to adapt.