Footwear, orthodics, posture etc~

When I was working I often thought about shoes and posture, how people go about spending who knows how much on shoes and orthotics. What I'm not sure about is, will going barefoot negatively affect my posture and back? I can't really ask a doctor because they'll usually just say to go buy expensive footwear.

 

I'm not a medical expert but I don't think you have to worry too much about it. You'll adapt to whatever you put your body through often enough. The only thing I could think that would be something to think about is whether you work long days standing up all the time. In that case, I can see how your back and/or posture might be impacted - but not necesarrily more or less than if you wore shoes. There's the argument that shoes help ease the pressure gravity exerts on your entire body by providing that little extra cushion...but I'm sure there is just as much anecdotal evidence to point to being barefoot being of great benefit to the whole body, even under that amount of stress.

Orthotics are around because there are a certain amount of people who have a great deal of back/joint/foot pain, and changing the way they stand is a solution. I've always kind of looked at them as covering up the symptoms, not really addressing the problem.

If you're having to stand around alot, and you have that kind of pain, you'd probably be willing to spend whatever it takes to get a little relief from that pain.

I think there are too many variables to say definitively that going barefoot will not affect your posture, but I DO think that you'd have to be undergoing some pretty extreme stresses to your body for that to be the case. I actually think it's more likely that on average, going barefoot would improve one's posture, as we are walking more naturally (or at least as naturally as one can in a paved world).

 

Humanity went barefoot for HOW many centuries??? I can't imagine it'll hurt you much.

 

Spending too much time in any one position will irritate the human body... this is why we roll in our sleep. However, as far as posture goes, I think being barefoot is much more conducive, provided your feet aren't already too screwed up from shoes (i.e. high heels, boots)

 

not to over simplify, barefoot is natural, shod isn't. also we weren't meant to stand in one spot for long periods. Hope you find another job other than RS.

peace out,
bob