barefooting for health, the *graphical* evidence

this should be the first image to show when demonstrating the adverse effects of a life spent in shoes. above, common western feet that managed to survive to shoes; below, "natural", wide, healthy feet. the fact that they look weird to most people is the germ of a very deep truth, that what we call a normal, acceptable situation is just what we got accustomed to , usually by the work of an external pressure (law. religion. parents. education. country. social conventions. work. commercials friends. TV. political parties and propaganda.). and this applies to everything. it is the fundamental teaching of hippiedom.




want to see again the infamous lotus foot, very appreciated by many here and the visual proof of how bad can a foot get screwed up by constrictive shoes ? enjoy.

 

I can see your point. But the lotus foot was mainly done in China in the nineteenth century, when woman wanted to keep their feet as small as possible. So they bound them from a very young age and would not take this off.

So, it is a little different from the average person, where average shoes, for average amounts of the day.

 

The lotus foot is indeed very different to 'the average person, wearing average shoes, for average amounts of the day', but I think you can't go around the fact that shoes do have a very negative effect on the strength of the foot and on the positioning of the back and knees. And I'm not even saying anything about bacteria and germs who *love* dark, moist environments (well, now I did say something about it )

btw: nice pictures, Jagerhans

 

Well it can depend on what shoes you wear. If you are going to wear silly shoes that are not the shape of your foot, then yes they will have a negative effect.

 

So.....you're saying we shouldn't wear shoes? I would support that, except my feet get cold and I'm a pansy. I do enjoy taking my shoes off though, and I do it anytime I get the chance. I like to drive barefoot. I like to take my shoes off on planes. Pretty much any time I don't think I'm going anywhere for a while. I always wanted to just go barefoot so much that my feet become tough. When you wear shoes your whole life they become sensitive.

 

But if you walk a long time barefoot, you almost won't find any that fit; your feet get to broad...I do have that problem. Now I make my own moccasins, so I don't have a lot of trouble, but I can imagine people who need presentable shoes having some trouble to find any that fit if you're barefootin' for a while...
Anyway, I do agree with your point.

Iniminie - still thinking it is possible to live without shoes...

 

A female friend of mine had very broad feet, but that was just her feet. People come in all shapes and sizes

Of course it is possible to live without shoes, just as it is possible to wear them without doing vast amounts of damage to your feet.

 

@ TipsyGipsy: Ok, got your point and I do agree

Great to have these discussions with people that understand you! (or am I getting wooly here?):window:

 

I like being able to walk without getting stitches. or to ride my bike. or to skate. If you don't wear shoes that's cool, but unless you never leave your yard, most places you live, you're going to need shoes sometimes for legitimate reasons. Just pouting because of the mans narrow shoes doesn't do much about that.

No offence or anything, but you're coming off as a bit high and mighty... in some situations, it's true, shoes are less healthy... but the general pretense of this thread is obnoxious... Not to mention that it's preaching to the quire. No one who hates bare feet is going to be convinced by you, your bare feet, or bare foot pictures, just like no one who dislikes weed will be convinced by me, my joint, or my filing cabnets of evidence that marijuana kicks ass in a multitude of ways.

And first image? if you mean you're presenting the first evidence ever seen that wearing constricting shoes is bad for your feet, I think you're a bit late...

 

Well I am in favour of shoes and barefoot, so I don't know

 

I think you got me wrong there. I never intended to convince anybody of my lifestyle. I gave that up some time ago. I just was saying what I thought about shoes.
I think it was neither the intention of Jagerhans to convince anyone.
And as for the 'legitimate reasons': I think the choice is always up to you, but you have to accept the consequences of your choices, and that is what I do.

 

Ok, well I was just saying, that while of course you're right, and shoes CAN hurt your feet, that does not mean that they can't be just fine for you, and quite necissary.

 

well my point was that I have never seen people with feet like those below ('aborignial', untampered feet), but I am very accustomed to various degrees of shoes induced deformities, like mine or lets' talk about the mother of my friend that after a life in stupid constricting shoes now spends much time barefoot at home with her hideously deformed feet. now, being accustomed to deformity and regarding the 'real thing' as weird, well...is weird. yes, feet widen and toughen up with barefooting but they never regain that 'fan' shape . i placed the lotus foot image just to emphasize: picture 1 and 3 are different degrees of the same woe, not phenomena that are qualitatively differing, and the first one demonstrates that it is not even necessary to wear 'iron shoes' 24/7 to obtain a malformed foot, just ordinary western life in classical western shoes.

 

Okay, I'm confused. In favor of both shoes and bare feet?? I have several pairs of shoes, about half of which are flip-flops. If the situation permits, which is almost always unless it's a work event, I'm barefoot when it's warm. In the winter I'll put on whatever it takes to keep my feet warm. The flip-flops are for going someplace when it's warm and I don't want to risk being hassled. That rarely happens, but sometimes I'm just not in the mood to challenge the system (e.g., nicer restaurant, doctor's appointment, etc.).

 

Well if you prefer barefoot pretty much all of the time, then good on you. But not eveyone will be barefoot every single day.

 

Those last words are what we object to - shoes are not necessary for some people and shouldn't be forced upon them by others.

 

No one said anything about forcing shoes.

For example: I have a new pair of redwings steel toes. $270. I'm going to be spending the summer teaching blacksmithing as part of the metalworking boyscout merit badge. Boots are quite necessary, I dare you to try your hand at the forge without em.... I double dare you

So yeah.... Shoes are very necessary. Maybe you don't need them, so don't wear them, but they're still quite important for a number of things.

 

like safety helmets. sometimes they're useful but that's no good reason for wearing them all day long until your hair falls off. it is not that shoes're useless, only the habit of staying shod when it is not necessary, or even when shoes are detrimental, has gone really way too far. i never advocated working barefoot in heavy industry and in very hostile environments , say in puddles of chemicals. my point was, and is, that shoes have trespassed their natural status of safety protections to become a must of civilization like wigs and neckties , just worse because only mr. Mackey (m'kay) got his head permanently malformed by his necktie . now everyone i know has feet that have been transformed by shoes and suffering for a whole lifetime spent in constrictive footwear. if the temperature is not too harsh, if you are not performing dangerous tasks involving risks for your feet, why being shod ? in fact rural communities were communities of barefooters, from march to october and it was common sense that in the summer you're supposed to be unshod because it is so damn hot! it is a subculture vanishing, folks. still 15 years ago i was digging potatoes in fields with aged peasants, some of which normally barefoot while operating a power hoe , now it looks like shoes won the battle , young people in vineyards (this is the place of origin of some of the best wines of the world, like the famous sassicaia ) are all shod . our societies since the eighties are slipping in increasing control and social pressure, did you notice ? times get tough and people wants to be reassured so they search refuge in rules and power, because rules allow you to stop thinking and just stick to obedience.

 

Double :iagree:

 

yesterday i was visiting friends and i noticed the feet of a certain old lady, she had open shoes and i couldn't refrain from observing that her second toe from the left foot was so deformed that it wasn't on a row together with the remaining toes - it was over them, almost surely as a result of constricting feet into unreasonably narrow-pointed shoes over long periods. her right foot wasn't in much better conditions having hallux valgus and other woes. if the reason of that was aesthetic the result clearly isn't... i wondered what makes people so fond of willingly deforming themselves. i guess that under the the appropriate stimulus and if you take'em early, people can be induced into doing nearly everything.