The Inherent Absurdity of Barefoot Technology
Vibram, Vivo Barefoot, Softstar, and the other shoe companies making an honest attempt at creating a viable shoe alternative aren’t the only entities capitalizing off the nascent barefoot trend sweeping the nation (and I’m not referring to podiatrists, as much as they like to claim barefoot running will create thousands of new patients). Several shoemakers have taken the barefoot ball and run the opposite direction – down the path of more shoe and more meddling into how the foot works – claiming to have improved upon the near-perfection of the naked human foot with (get this) bulky odd-looking shoes that weigh more than traditional running shoes.
Foremost is MBT, or Masai Barefoot Technology. MBT makes the “anti-shoe,” which is actually an unsteady, unstable shoe with a squishy, conspicuous “rocker” sole. The sole appears to be about 2 or 3 inches thick, and the instability is actually a feature. Yes, the most popular backed-by-internally-funded-science example of barefoot technology is a shoe that forces its wearers to teeter around. Sure, you gain a few inches, but at what cost? Without having tried them (and I honestly don’t plan to), the very notion of simulating barefoot walking by wearing big clunky shoes perplexes and confuses me. Talk about digging a hole to put the ladder in to wash the basement windows! Same goes for MBT’s claim of “natural instability” being the key to “recreating the barefoot experience.” Just what is so natural about being unsteady on your feet? I always figured feet were there to anchor us to the floor and provide stability. In fact, it’s that haptic perception (actually feeling the ground) in our bare feet that gives the brain the signals it needs to distribute shock effectively – tossed out the window now with MBT.
Then there are Skechers Shape-Ups, which are pretty similar to the MBTs: “rocker” sole, big wedge of material under the heel to “promote natural walking,” deliberate instability. They tighten abs, firm butts, and destroy cellulite. Armed with the Skechers Shape-Ups, folks can “get fit without stepping in a gym.” I’ll agree that a gym isn’t necessary for fitness, but strapping on a pair of magic non-shoes and standing there, or walking around the mall hoping for artificial instability to kick in won’t do it.
Bosu ball addicts have successfully integrated balls into many facets of everyday life. At the gym, they do squats, deadlifts, and bicep curls while balancing precariously on bosu balls; at the office, they sit on large balance balls instead of chairs; at night, they wrap their bodies around massive rubber spheres instead of beds. Locomotion was their white whale, though. They tried attaching handles to balance balls for easy bouncing to and fro, but they looked a bit too much like female bonobos in estrus (go ahead and Google that). Well, Reebok’s new(ish) EasyTone line of shoes slays the whale. They’ve actually installed three miniature balance balls into the sole of each shoe (I’m not making this up), allowing wearers to recreate the natural, evolutionary sensation of walking on inflated rubber balls.
This revolutionary barefoot technology, according to its hawkers, compels the wearer to move. Walking and exercising become almost passive acts; the shoes apparently propel you down the street. All you’ve gotta do is be carried away on a couple of foot clouds. Heck, even standing at rest in these babies is a constant, imperceptibly effective workout for your entire body. Who needs to consciously work out anymore?
Maybe the absurdity of barefoot technology isn’t evident to everyone, though. Condemning a non-shoe that’s actually a shoe for claiming to recreate the barefoot experience seems “reasonable”, but it’s always good to back arguments up with empirical data. And all the barefoot tech peddlers claim to have research supporting their products, so it’s only fair that we on the “nay” side also use research.
The American Council on Exercise, a non-profit fitness certification organization, recently put the claims of MBT, Skechers, and Reebok to the test and released the results (PDF) to the public. It should be noted that though the ACE is a non-profit, their continued existence depends on the certification of trainers that would be out of a job if the shoemakers’ “get fit without trying” claims were true, so I can see where some hackles about bias could be raised. Regardless, let’s check out their findings.
ACE conducted two studies. The first subjected 12 active women to twelve 5-minute treadmill trials at varying intensities while wearing different shoes (MBTs, Skechers Shape-Ups, EasyTones, New Balance runners). Each woman tried each shoe three times: a 5-minute, 3 MPH walk at 0% grade; a 5-minute, 3.5 MPH walk at 0% grade; and a 5-minute, 3.5 MPH walk at 5% grade. Oxygen consumption, heart rate, perceived exertion rating (RPE), and caloric expenditure were all monitored.
While all values increased across the board in response to increased work intensity, no significant differences were found in response to the different shoes. They all performed about equally.
The second study had a similar initial set-up – 12 active women, the same four shoe choices, the same 12 treadmill trials at the same intensities – but a different focus. Instead of measuring exercise output, this study examined specific muscular responses. Electrodes were hooked up to measure EMG activity in the gastrocnemius (or calf muscle), the rectus femoris (quadriceps muscle), the biceps femoris, the gluteus maxiumus, the erector spinae (back muscles), and the rectus abdominus (abs). An initial test was run to determine the EMG in response to a maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC); the study would use EMG recordings from the treadmill trials and compare them to the MVIC EMG.
There was no significant difference in muscle EMG activity across different shoe types. EMG activity increased in response to the increasing intensity of the treadmill trials, as is to be expected. ACE’s ultimate conclusion follows thusly: “There is simply no evidence to support the claims that these shoes will help wearers exercise more intensely, burn more calories or improve muscle strength and tone.”
The shoe companies counter with their own internally-funded studies. Here are Skechers’, Reebok’s, and MBT’s research.
All parties obviously set out to prove their point. ACE may have a dog in the fight, however convoluted it might be, and they ran a fairly limited study (small sample size, short duration), while the shoe companies have the obvious objective to sell more shoes and justify it by funding their own research. I’m immediately skeptical of industry-funded research that also happens to support the industry’s product, but that’s completely natural.
My take? I just find it all absurd, to be honest; a battle over which is the lesser of two evils. It’s like those studies purporting to show the benefits of “healthy” whole grains by pitting them against refined, processed grains. Or the study that showed ankle taping provides better ankle stability in people who wear athletic footwear, while completely glossing over the fact that athletes wearing no shoes and no tape performed best and evinced the highest level of foot position awareness (the key determinant in susceptibility to ankle sprains). Neither choice is optimal.
The standard running shoe (New Balance) performed similarly to the fancy barefoot tech. What can we glean from this? What does this say about the necessity of any footwear, let alone barefoot technology? You’ve got two bare feet at your disposal, and I think people should begin learning how to use them before giving up and relying on “barefoot technology” to save them.
Have you tried MBTs or copy cat barefoot/toning shoes? Share your thoughts in the comment board. Grok on!
Photo Credit: MBT
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
But Mark, what about the “extra benefits”? About a year ago (before I’d ever heard of paleo/Primal) a friend posted a picture of the Sketchers on facebook saying that she was going to get some. Somebody else called them “B.C.S.” because the shoes were so repulsive that they would qualify as Birth Control Shoes.
MBTs are crap. Period.
I tried the MBT Shoes some years ago and they are stiff. You can’t walk normally. It’s true, the muscles have to work harder (the wrong way) and this will strengthen some muscles. It is like weightlifting with bad technique: you will gain strength but you pay the price later.
Shoes as exercise tools? PLEEEEZE gimme a break! Toning? Last time I checked it was squats, lunges, sprints and a clean diet.
I like Puma h street sneakers or Asics Tai Chi for walking or exercise outdoors. Minimal footwear is best. They strengthen my muscles in a better way. I have to use foot muscles more than in cushioned running shoes with footbed. Running (almost) barefoot gives you a a smooth gait because you can’t trample like an elephant on stampede without cushioned soles. You have to use muscle elasticity as it is supposed to be. Those cushioned wobble board shoes – like high tech running shoes- disturb biomechanics and proprioception. Poor knee joints, poor hip joints. Where’s my ankle mobility, my hip joint mobility?
What’s the use of walking in a wobble board the whole day? Is this “natural movement”? Well – if you are living on a surfboard …..
Shoes can’t improve bad biomechanics, only awareness can – and the help of a good coach or physiotherapist.
Mike T Nelson has a nice post about shoes
“Barefoot Training, Vibram Five Fingers and the Evils of Strength Sucking Modern Shoes”
http://extremehumanperformance.com/blog/barefoot-training-vibram-five-fingers-and-the-evils-of-strength-sucking-modern-shoes/
Nelson: ” The MBTs are actually VERY stiff and I feel promote an unnatural gait. They even had me walk backwards at one point with them on so that my body could adjust to the wacky shoes. What? I need to learn how to walk again? That sounds like a bad idea.
If you refuse to do mobility work and continue to have stiff feet, they may be an option for you, but this is like putting a helmet on so that you can keep beating your head against the wall.”
Head against the wall. Yes I do that reading the marketing sermon from Reebok, Sketchers and MBT.
But their marketing is not adressed to athletes but at people who have pain because they move badly. They are meant as therapeutic device. And most people actually need a trainer to walk correctly in MBTs. So you can start a business: MBT Coach. No kidding.
A physiotherapist told me: for folks with good coordination the shoes may be ok, for people with suboptimal movement patterns they are dangerous.
Watch this:
A Pose Coach on MBT Shoes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgXxISPIqdQ&feature=channel
Reebok Easy Tone Shoes: Fad Alert!
http://www.businesspundit.com/reebok-easytone-shoes-promise-to-tone-your-butt-fad-alert/
The barefoot professor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrnj-7YKZE
I’ve had a pair of the Sketchers for a year now, and if I have any long distance walking to do or standing all day, those are the only shoes I’ll wear.
I’ve tried to do standing jobs like tradeshows in flat shoes and I paid for it with knee, hip and back pain for days afterwards.
IMHO, for some of us there is a time for bare feet and a time for thin soled shoes and a time for thick soled shoes. Just need to listen to your body and do what’s best for the situation. And have alternatives when called for.
I’ve noticed that almost all of the people posting here who love the MBT-type shoes all say they are great for standing–nurses, people on their feet all day.
I think for tourism-type all-day walking and standing on the job, the thick cushion and instability activating leg muscles would feel good.
I always thought of myself as a walker, but I put my VFFs on for the first time, and I just wanted to RUN…
I tried MBT’s, which I regret because even at clearance prices those things are absurdly expensive. They made things worse for me with my multiple joint and balance issues. I suppose they might be good for certain people, but I don’t know who that would be. I’m embarrassed to admit I tried them. It was a total case of falling for a gimmick.
On the other hand, I LOVE my first pair of SoftStars and expect to make a habit of them. I like the grounded feeling from greater sensing of the surface I’m walking on. I think they make me more stable and improve my walking mechanics, too. The key thing I wanted them for was the natural materials against the foot. They are great on that count, too. I am one of those people whose skin blisters and peels from any vinyl foam. That stuff is in 99% of shoes anymore. Even drugstore inserts like Dr Scholl’s are made of that stuff now.
I have not tried any of the footwear mentioned above, but you don’t mention Fit Flop. I have a pair of these and I love them. Like walking on air.
http://www.fitflop.com/
All in all we’re just thrusting way too many unnecessary technology onto ourselves. Who’d of ever thunk that walking or running had to get so complicated???
Although I do run with Vibrams on, I usually walk barefoot at parks. I hate getting attention in general, but when people watch me ‘being crazy’ it sometimes irks me. I want to say to them, ‘quit sitting on ura ss and MOVE!’
Hello,
As much as I love MDA and agree with you on most things, I think you missed the point behind MBT shoes — or it could be that their advertising is now more for toning and exercise than when I found them a few years back and they centered on providing a more natural walk.
No argument that barefoot on natural ground is best. Unfortunately, we don’t always have that option in our vocations. My wife’s a nurse, and we’re avid walkers and hikers. She has been combatting work-related hip and knee issues for years since she was a CNA. When going barefoot or in soft mocs outside on trails, sand, and regular ground, she has no issues.
During and after her shifts at the hospital (often reaching 9+ miles on the pedometer), or after an extended hike or walk on “improved” paths, her knees and hips pain her quite a bit. Soft mocs, airsoles, and similar “comfort” technology didn’t help, nor did physical therapy and kinesthetic/motion tracking; her gait and flexion were within the physiotherapist’s normal range of motion. I’d come across MBT shoes and read their claims about providing an unstable base to prompt our bodies to move more naturally. I bought her a pair for work.
By the end of the first week she was in love with them. She said she felt like she was “walking normally again.” After three months, I bought her another pair for when we’re travelling and exploring new towns and cities.
It’s been about three years now and there’s no sign of the hip and knee pain returning during her shifts.
How are they for toning and exercise? No idea. Not what we tried them for, and not disputing you on that. For allowing a more natural gait across a hard flat surface? I disagree; MBT shoes work like a charm.
Quite a few years back I wore a lot of MBT’s and thought it was the way to go (you learn to upgrade all the time and do what you think is best at the time!!). In those days I was quite flush (hence 4 different pairs of MBT’s) and also specialized in MRT (Muscle Release Technique) for repetitive use injuries and felt that all the info on them made sense.
So I gave them a real good testing and was careful to increase wearing them slowly etc and after quite a long time I realized I was having hip, back and leg pain that I had never experienced before. This was not the good muscles being used kinda of thing, it was pain.
I stopped wearing them completely and would never wear them again.
I then wore earth shoes for a while until I found this wonderful site, thank you Mark. I now wear vibrams and soft star. I especially love the soft star as they are so easy to take off and on if you want to go barefoot and do some sprints. They are also yummy and fun – especially designing your own.
My next purchase will be a pair of their boots for the winter.
Awesome post as usual. Thank you for all you do.
Tons of my co-workers wear those sketchers rocker shoes LOL. And then they asked me “how can you walk around in those thin soled shoes all day?!” So I tried to explain, but I don’t think they got it
I wear Vivobarefoots to work and around town, but at home I tend to go barefoot. I was always like that, even as a kid I hated shoes, so thankfully I did something right and have super-strong feet now! YAY being barefoot! 
I agree with how absurd this is. I’ve tried it and it’s not comfortable at all.
I have tried the Reetones, and don’t like them. Admittedly they do seem seem to activate greater muscle/energy use in some way – walking just seems more challenging, not unstable at all, more like walking on wet sand, simply harder work which I guess is their selling point. But they feel clunky and not particularly comfortable, and I don’t like the restrictive feeling – it tires me out rather than giving me more spring in my step. I don’t know how the hell anyone could wear them all day long!
But then again, I know several people who absolutely love them and swear by them. Horses for courses. Just not my thing.
I spoke with an 80+yearold gentleman with a history of falls at the gym where I work who was wearing a pair of the Sketchers approved by his therapist. The poor man had to lean on the wall in order to stand while we spoke. Have the majority lost their good sense?
What happened to the regular moccasins you used to be able to get (usually marketed as slippers), the ones made out of a single piece of sheepskin with a separate piece of leather for the tongue? All the SLIPPERS I see in the stores nowadays have rubber soles, and they’re supposed to be for wearing indoors! My grandfather and I had pairs of the plain soleless ones when I was little, but I haven’t been able to find them since.
Try L. L. Bean: http://www.llbean.com/
and Orvis: http://www.orvis.com
For that matter, Zappos and Amazon.
Search the web for “softsole moccasins”. Minnetonka manufactures quite a few styles, but you can also find a good many better quality ones from independent shoemakers’ websites.
I did not have the time to read all of these great comments – NOR – read & digested your post completely.
But with that said, I used to run 3-milers in bare feet when I was a 15-year old.
Man! I used to run so fast w/o shoes!!
Whoopie!!!
If you can – go for it in bare feet!!! I do EVERY time I have the opp!!
Grok on!!!!!!!
My wife bought a pair of the easytones, despite my best efforts to dissuade her. The fat salesgirl who recommended them would obviously know better than her personal trainer husband.
Myself, I do all my running barefoot now and use Chucks for most day-to-day stuff.
Great post! I cannot believe how absurd some of these “new and improved” shoes are. I have been a bit of a klutz all my life, and buying my first pair of V-Fives was the best thing I ever did. Suddenly I was light on my feet and walked and ran with ease! Now, when I have to wear “regular” shoes (such as for winter, as I live in CO), I find myself tripping all over the place. Not fun!
And all the people I have seen wearing those silly Skechers Shape-Ups have been overweight, and obviously out of shape, so I wasn’t sold on the ‘quick fitness without exercise’ bit.
This is so dumb. It’s the same logic behind all the informercials touting “new and improved, effortlessly simple solutions” that actually end up being five degrees removed from the simplicity they’re trying to emulate. Anyone remember The Hawaii Chair (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9_amg-Aos4)? That sh*t was WACK.
I think the difference between the obviously silly concept of the Hawaii Chair and something like “barefoot toning shoes” is that, as you said, it sounds like some kind of technological breakthrough. People who want fitness without effort will say, “Hey, this takes an asset I already have – feet – and allows me to utilize that asset to lose weight! Holy Moly, what an idea!”
There are always going to be people out there who embrace the latest iteration of snake oil, and this fad, like others, will hopefully fade soon enough. In the meantime, Sketchers and MBT (does it bother anyone else that they’re referencing a group of African tribesmen who wouldn’t be caught dead in shoes like these?) are going to make a lot of money off of people who very likely will not get very fit — that is, unless they chuck their gigantic shoes in the trash and go barefoot.
no vibrams..no minimal sho..i have been running totally barefoot for 6 months…all my injuries healed..i even do my sprints on grass and can run on rock terrain with a heavy backpack..it is even easier than with the shoes..go barefoottt:)
Just thought I’d share this RL True story for people who love their shoes,
One of the best jobs I ever had was packing parachutes, at a commercial drop zone.
Now, you want to talk about a full-body workout,… lol.
We were mostly packing the tandem chutes (designed to bring down two people) and this involved a lot of jumping up onto and off of
the packing table – a long carpet-covered platform – to get these great beasts folded, smushed, & packed in a tiny bag, just the right
way. You have to work barefoot – any shoe might damage the parachute; they tell me this is a bad thing.
Our tables were set on gravel; the hangar, about 50 yards away, was connected by a path of 2″-3″ rounded river rocks.
When I started, just walking barefoot, unencumbered, out to the hangar was torture.
In a week or two after starting, hefting 3 or 4 packed tandems (they weigh about 45 lbs each) and taking them out to the hangar,
barefoot, over those river rocks, was no big deal. Given the chance, feet are as smart, and tougher than, hands. They have to be.
Right?
I have 4 pairs of Vibrams. KSO, KSO trek, sprint and the Biklia. they are all I wear. I wear the Treks for anything that needs a professional appeal as the Kangaroo leather top gives it that better look. I recently wore the Treks while climbing Mt Shasta in june and more recently Mt Hood 3 weeks ago. I was on snow, ice axe in hand about 50% of the time. They did great! (although….my 2nd and 3rd toe on my left foot took about a week to get full feeling back :p).
I have gone from walking flat footed all my life to having an arch now. My stability has increased, I run way better and overall I’m very satisfied. (took awhile to stop stubbing my right pinkie toe though :p)
please excuse the grammatical errors. Its late
I have a pair of the masai-shoes and haven’t used them a lot because I’m afraid of falling og twisting my ankle, which I am wont to do.
But still: Whenever I wear them, I definitely use another set of muscles and especially use more core muscles to balance myself and keep upright. To keep your balance in the masai shoes, you have to walk and stand very straight, so it IS a kind of training tool.
My thoughts exactly with this post. I am a physical therapist, and I see more foot problems that are “cured” with orthotics, etc…..and now I’m seeing referrals from doctors to fit people with MBT’s?? I have to bite my tongue on this issue, as to not scare people off. I have been sliding barefoot exercises into my treatments, and people get better rather quickly. Go figure. I am so disgusted with this new shoe rave that’s swept the general public with all of this “scientific evidence.” I’ve yet to see a convincing article! For now, when patients ask about these shoes, I’m using this post as my new reference for them to read. Thanks Mark!
It would seem to me from reading these threads that MBT type shoes may have a place in the world and that is in the podiatrist’s office and NOT the gym. They may help some people with foot abnormalities relieve pain, but to use a shoe as a substitute for exercise is ridiculous. I can also see how wearing them for walking vice running would make a significant difference in their usefulness. The biomechanics of a run and a walk are just that different. So IMHO, buy the NOATS, MBTs, DANSKO’s that look like street shoes and use them for that – not deadlifting, Fran, or a 5K.
I sit here writing this after having surgery 6 weeks ago to reattach some ligaments and rebraid my pereonous longus and brevis tendons. So I am rocking along with a “walking boot” for the next 4-6 weeks. You can imagine my angst about shoes.
My ‘wellness officer’ at work has a serious foot problem, she’s been limping for months. While walking together the other day, she told me she was wearing her son’s (oversized for her) 8 year old running shoes. “I can’t believe how long they last! He wore these in high school!”
I train TKD twice a week, and workout at home barefoot. Nothing feels more natural, and it feels so good to ditch my shoes after a long day at the office!
I tried Nike Free first, then Vibrams, and now I just run barefoot on the streets. I don’t ever want to run in shoes again and I workout at home barefoot too. After working thru some near stress fractures in my metatarsals when I first started running in Vibrams, I feel like my feet, ankles and lower legs have become exponentionally stronger since going barefoot almost a year ago. I won’t even wear shoes with big soles now. I look for flexible shoes with short, flat soles to wear to work or wherever.
There are another couple of considerations for the MBT shoes, that being the matters of misrepresentation and cultural theft. Those shoes have nothing to so with the traditional footwear of the Maasai people. Maasai sandals do not cause them to walk in any manner like the MBT shoes force on a person.
Also, in searching the MBT website, I find nothing demonstrating that the MBT company has the permission of the Maasai people nor have they compensated them in any way for using their name or reputation. (though that may have changed since the last time I looked, I hope so)
If anyone is interested, I did a review of the MBT from the point of view of how the Maasai actually move that can be found here.
http://tracelesswarrior.blogspot.com/2009/10/answer-on-mbt-barefoot-shoe.html
As someone who spends most days on my feet the Skecher’s shape ups have made a big difference in the amount of pain I suffer. My feet, knees and lower back used to swell and throb by the end of each day and no longer do thanks to the shoes. I believe this is due to the strengthening of the core muscles which is a result of the constant contracting of the various muscles needed to stabilize and the unique cushioning has reduced the impact of the hard surfaces. I work with many nurses who wear them and love them as well. We are not allowed to work barefoot
Sadly, this seems more like a disdainful attempt to prop up the primal lifestyle. How is this any more absurd than “primal” protein shakes? The same could be said for the absurdity of any Neolithic technology.
Unfortunately, I feel this is one of the few blog posts that I have found to be absolutely uninformative and detrimental to the advancement of the PB lifestyle. It is bad enough that the forum members pile on anyone who questions the primal lifestyle (especially vegans), but now, if one doesn’t wear sufficiently primal shoes, they too will be attacked. Sad sad sad.
Write about the healthy virtues of moving with bare feet as you have done so well in the past — that would be informative (so much so that I now wear Vivo’s and feel so much better too). Otherwise, why stop with just deriding a specific marketing niche of the shoe industry? Why not go after planes, trains, and automobiles — and bikes too for that matter? Are they not anti-primal enough?
The primal blueprint is a great “blueprint” to follow and support. Don’t ruin it by turning it into a bigoted cult Mark.
Sorry my opinion and analysis on this didn’t meet your standards, Asturian. I’ll try to do a better job next time.
My standards for opinion and analysis are not really all that high Mark. And I have equal standards for your opinion and analysis as I do for those of vegans who prefer to eat bananas.
I would rather you try to do a better job of revising the censorship policy standards of your forum.
With all due respect,
Asturian
I’m very comfortable with how my team and I handle forum moderation. Obviously we don’t see eye to eye on what constitutes spam and troll behavior. I’ve elaborated extensively on my position and anyone can read it here if they’re interested: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/showthread.php?14578-Need-more-moderators-on-the-forum.&p=205583#post205583
Despite the fact that I am a great admirer of Mr. Sisson’s philosophy and great advice, I must mention that the suggestion in this blog may not be the smartest for those of us who are diabetic. Diabetic feet are extremely sensitive to pressure and trauma and will take forever to heal, even with minimal injuries. Diabetics, PLEASE do not run around barefoot. Take it from me, a diabetic retired orthopedic surgeon (yes, the guy who does the amputations of the diabetic limbs).
Respectfully,
T J Huber
@fitmom: That’s how I felt too with my KSO’s. Just wanted to run, and I did!
@salim: I am slowly working up my distance going barefoot. It’s awesome!
@DPT2008: That is awesome. I love reading about doctors that investigate and teach alternative medicines.
@Hunter P: I try to everything barefoot at home. Working out in my home gym, running barefoot outside, etc.
@M: I looked into that myself. It didn’t make any sense to me. I couldn’t find the correlation.
@JohnC and others: you guys make me want to buy some chucks again. I had 2 pair during high school.
@T J Huber: So there is absolutely no reason why a diabetic should be barefoot at all? Why do other drs say it’s ok? Just curious because my mom is diabetic and walks barefoot at home.
@Armaan: I think my form is ok, but I know it could be better.
Not all diabetics have the same degree of nerve damage (i.e: numbness) in their feet. If a diabetic has good sensation in the soles, I don’t think there is a problem. In my case, my wife has taken thorns and wire pieces out of my feet that I didn’t even know were there. I’ve given up being barefoot completely, the risk is just too high for me.