(and walkers) are baring their very soles -- latimes.com
I have been a fan of this idea for quite awhile and I've always threatened to do a 5K or a half marathon barefooted. But, alas, I've never followed through...which is a shame. Growing up, as I did, at the beach, I was never in shoes except for the hours I was in school. I soon developed a very thick callous on my feet and was never bothered by rocks or anything else that was on the ground. Later, much later, I attended a racewalking clinic that featured a program on core strength and balance and the speaker noted that humans have nerves on the soles of their feet that are there strictly to feel the surface we are on and to direct the muscles to help us stay balanced. We shield those nerves with $100 track shoes and they soon become insensitive. You need to wake them up! Especially true for elders...who have far too many falls.
This is a fascinating subject. I like some of the barefoot shoes described, but if you are going to do barefoot then I guess you just go with rocks and stickers jabbing you until you get back your callouses. And to think I pay extra for callous remover when I get a pedicure.
ReplyDeleteHah! I grew up in South Texas. Going barefoot at the beach was fine, but it was deadly anywhere else. Let's just say that if it has a thorn or a thistle, it grows on the ground in South Texas.
ReplyDeleteBack in those days of youthful idiocy...Bob M. and I would sit around his front room with a box of matches and hold the lit match against our feet to see who could stand the fire. Manly stuff. It was amazing how well the callous protects you from the flame. Yes, sometimes I won and sometimes not. Placement was key.
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