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Can something that feels as good as going barefoot also be good for you? (Yes!)
Most of us kick off our shoes when we get home from work or an outing. It just feels good. Well, as Daniel Howell points out in this timely guide to barefooting, it feels good because it is good for us.
Research shows that going barefoot strengthens our feet, makes them more flexible and improves body alignment. Why, then, are we buying shoes for infants who can't yet walk? Wearing high heels that hurt with every step? Spending hundreds of $$ on running and hiking shoes? Some of us are following social conventions or fashion trends. Most of us think we're protecting our feet and keeping them clean.
Not so, says Dr. Howell. An expert on human anatomy, he explains how shoes can:
upset natural weight distribution overload joints decrease foot flexibility reduce shock absorbtion of the arch cause bunions and in-grown toenails
Put your best-bare-foot forward Howell offers practical tips--and 50 good reasons--for easing into a barefoot lifestyle. He describes the best shoes to wear (if we must) but strongly encourages us to try going barefoot and to feel the life-changing health benefits.
With barefoot hiking and running clubs springing up all over and the recent success of minimalist footwear, the time for bare feet is here. Whether you want to create more barefoot time for you and your family or go bare 24/7, The Barefoot Book will help you every free and natural step of the way.
Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xi
A Note From the Author xii
Introduction 1
1 Normal, but Not Natural 5
Normalizing the Unnatural 8
Disfiguring Our Feet 11
The Shoe Incubator 13
Shoe = Cast 16
2 Living Barefoot 17
Jaenelle 18
Vivian 19
Susie 20
Judy 21
Cheri 22
Glenn 23
John 24
Steve 24
Dr. Robyn Hughes 25
You 26
3 How Your Foot Works 27
Step-by-Step 27
The Foot Bone's Connected to the 28
Your Arches 32
The Soft Structures of Your Feet 35
The Skin of Your Feet 37
The First Line of Defense 40
Irritability 41
The Role of Touch in Your Feet 42
4 What Your Shoes Are Doing to You 44
Basic Shoe Construction 45
Shoes Change the Way We Stand, Walk, Run, and Feel the Ground 49
A Few of My Not Favorite Things 62
5 Don't Walk a Mile in These Shoes 68
High-Heeled Sex Appeal 69
The Effects of High Heels on the Foot 71
The Effects of High Heels on the Knee 72
The Effects of High Heels on the Spine 73
High Heels Affect the Way You Walk 74
Men's Work and Dress Shoes 75
6 Growing Up in Shoes 77
Growing Deformed 78
Miniature Adult Shoes 9
Overloaded 1
"Shoddy" Education 82
The Bottom Line 85
7 Walking, Hiking, and Running Barefoot 87
Walking Barefoot 87
Running Barefoot 89
Getting Started Running Barefoot 97
Hiking Barefoot 98
Tips for Healthy Hiking Feet 101
8 What to Wear When You Can't Go Bare 105
Minimalist Shoes 105
The Fuss about Flip-Flops 112
9 Getting Out There: Putting Your Best (Bare) Foot Forward 114
Hurdles 117
A Note to Business Owners and Managers 119
What to Do about Work 121
10 Mythbusters 123
Myth #1 "No Bare Feet by Order of the Health Department" 123
Myth #2 Bare Feet Are Prohibited by OSHA 124
Myth #3 Bare Feet Present a Liability to Businesses 125
Myth #4 It's Illegal to Be Barefoot in Public 128
Myth #5 It's Illegal to Drive Barefoot 129
Myth #6 Going Barefoot Is Dangerous-Cuts and Punctures 130
Myth #7 Going, Barefoot Is Dangerous-Germs and Parasites 131
11 Final Thoughts 134
Appendix: Lawsuits Resulting from Shoes or Bare Feet 136
Endnotes 141
Resources 150
Index 151
dgrichmond
Posted September 7, 2011
This book is a great complement to other books on barefoot running or walking. For anyone growing up in highly developed countries over the last 50 years, the whole notion of going barefoot a significant amount of time seems like a hopeless fantasy. The author does a great job of reminding the readers that this is actually a relatively recent phenomenon and makes a compelling case why the kind of shoes we wear and the amount of time we spend in them is not as healthy a practice as we think and are pressured to believe.
The best parts of the book are probably the chapters which deal with the biomechanics of walking, how our feet are supposed to walk, how walking is modified by shoes and the damage caused by modern shoe features such as elevated heels, rigid soles and cramped toe boxes.
The book is not without its flaws. His passion for the topic occasionally produces blind spots and overstatements. His assertion that there would be "fewer wars and less crime if we all went barefoot" seemed rather naive and overlooked a lot of human history. History has plenty of examples of barefoot warriors, and the recent news stories concerning "barefoot bandit" Colton Harris-Moore would seem to make Howell's assertion look a bit silly.
I was also rather disappointed in the chapter on minimalist shoes, particularly in the author's rather negative treatment of the Terra Plana VivoBarefoot line. I've been using the VivoBarefoot Dharmas for work, the Evo IIs for exercise and the Alexander sandals for casual wear. Although not without their flaws, I would recommend all three of them. I felt the author's disdainful review, which was remarkably brief, gives a misleading impression that focuses on the negatives rather than the positives. The most glaring aspect of this review is that the author failed to praise Terra Plana for being one of the only minimalist shoe companies producing shoes (such as the Dharmas and others) designed to blend in with a corporate work environment.
The disconnect is widened later in the book when the author discusses situations where shoes are unavoidable. Howell refers the reader back to his chapter on minimalist shoes. Again, however, the only shoes he covered in that chapter which are going to fit into msot corporate environments are made by Terra Plana, to which he gave short shrift in his review. Granted, a lot has changed in the last two years, but even at the time of the book's writing, Terra Plana had some good products out that could have been unmentioned.
The book is shorter than it looks. A lot of the pages are taken up by end notes, figures and text boxes. The electronic version has quite a few flaws, at least on the Simple Touch, including a number of missing first letters, split words and an index which isn't linked to anything. It may look better on the Nook Color.
Overall, however, this is a good book with useful information.
sam_r
Posted March 28, 2011
Great read full of scientific but easy to read reasons to go barefoot. Also, filled with insight into going barefoot without driving away family/friends. When I read the book I was already into barefooting but this just solidified my passion and gave me more scientific arguments to use when people bash my barefoot ways.
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Posted April 9, 2011
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Overview
Can something that feels as good as going barefoot also be good for you? (Yes!)
Most of us kick off our shoes when we get home from work or an outing. It just feels good. Well, as Daniel Howell points out in this timely guide to barefooting, it feels good because it is good for us.
Research shows that going barefoot strengthens our feet, makes them more flexible and improves body alignment. Why, then, are we buying shoes for infants who can't ...