Is going barefoot a good or bad thing... or neither?!
Question: Is going barefoot a good or bad thing!.!.!. or neither!?
i've heard lately how bad it is to go barefoot!.!.!. but my parents always encouraged it!. what do you think!?Www@Answer-Health@Com
Answers:
It's very good for you!. Unfortunately many people believe it is dangerous, unhealthy, some even believe it is illegal to go barefoot in stores or restaurants or to drive without footwear!. But this really isn't true, many of those fears are based totally on myths, or on very minor risks blown way out of proportion!.
As for safety, it's really not so dangerous!. In eleven years of going barefoot always and everywhere, I get a tiny splinter maybe once a year, I've NEVER had a cut!. Yet I walk and run in places like inner city sidewalks, the train station, the recycling center, bottle banks in other places, etc, etc!.!.!. When you go barefoot a lot, feet quickly get *much* tougher than people who rarely go barefoot think!. To be honest it surprised even me; I was never seriously concerned about great risks, but when I started going barefoot I didn't expect to be able to walk everywhere without any concern at all, the first year or so I watched much more carefully to go around broken glass or bramble bushes than necessary!.
As for our health, our skin is made to keep pathogens out, and we're at far greater risk of picking something up through our hands than our feet!. While the dirt is far less visible, there are as many or more germs on things touched by many people (shopping carts, railings, door knobs) as on the ground!. And unless we prop our feet up on the table, with our hands we're more likely to transfer those germs to our face or food, allowing them to enter our body!.
For the health of others, germs do not jump off the sole of a bare foot any more than off the sole of a shoe, or off the exposed skin of a totally bare foot any more than off the exposed skin of a foot stuck in a flipflop!.
About parasites, the hookworm can enter the skin, but it hasn't been a serious problem in the South since modern plumbing has replaced the outhouses, and never was a problem in cooler climates!. Dog hookworm is still around but has a harder time penetrating the skin of humans!. It can be a concern in those countries where plumbing and hygiene is at a lower level than in the West, but even if you pick something up on a tropical vacation, it is easily treated with modern medicine!.
About athlete's foot, it's unlikely to spread by going barefoot in stores, restaurants or on sidewalks!. It's a fungus, it needs a warm, dark, slightly damp place to grow, as well as a somewhat damp and warm floor to live long enough to be picked up by anyone else!. It spreads in locker rooms and pools, but unless you're *right* behind an infected barefooter, any spores someone else may have left behind will long have dried up and died on most other surfaces!. And even if you were to pick up some spores, you'd need to put your feet back into closed shoes (that warm, dark and slightly damp place :P) for them to grow!. On the surface of the bare skin, exposed to light and fresh air, it'll just dry up and die!. Foot fungus is very rare among populations that go barefoot more often, not more common as you may've thought!.
Our feet do not need support!. From Samuel B!. Shulman's!. "Survey in China and India of Feet That Have Never Worn Shoes,"
One hundred and eighteen of those interviewed were rickshaw coolies!. Because these men spend very long hours each day on cobblestone or other hard roads pulling their passengers at a run it was of particular interest to survey them!. If anything, their feet were more perfect than the others!. All of them, however, gave a history of much pain and swelling of the foot and ankle during the first few days of work as a rickshaw puller!. But after either a rest of two days or a week's more work on their feet, the pain and swelling passed away and never returned again!. There is no occupation more strenuous for the feet than trotting a rickshaw on hard pavement for many hours each day yet these men do it without pain or pathology!.
For children it is *much* better to go barefoot:
"!.!.!.children who had the opportunity of going barefoot a great deal, had less deformed toes, greater flexor strength, more ability to spread the toes!. They also had denser muscles on the bottom of the feet; greater agility than those who had never gone barefoot, with a wider range of hip circumduction and more flexibility of the gluteal and hamstring muscles, and therefore, more ability to touch the toes when the knees were held stiff!."
&
"In Europe and America flat foot is a common reason for attendance at a children's orthopaedic clinic, but in India children are seldom brought for treatment for flat foot!. The few children who do attend with this complaint are from affluent urban families and they all wear shoes!. In our clinic we have never seen a child from the farming community or from the family of a manual labourer who complained of flat foot!."
Fortunately those working at the Health Department know better than the average person: contrary to popular belief, there are NO laws against going barefoot in stores, regardless of whether food is served!. Stores can set their own dress codes, and in the US quite a few do, but any signs claiming 'by order of the Health Department' are false! See source!. Btw, in other countries it's rare to encounter any business that has a problem with bare feet, I've never even SEEN a 'no shoes, no shirts, no service' sign here in the Netherlands, nor on my trips to Belgium and Scotland!. As for driving barefoot, that is legal too, see source again!
It's also interesting that I've met many doctors over the past few years -not for me but accompanying my mom- and none of them have had a problem with my bare feet!. Even in the US, where the bias against going barefoot is far greater than here in Europe, other barefooters report rarely if ever getting a negative comment from their doctors!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
As for safety, it's really not so dangerous!. In eleven years of going barefoot always and everywhere, I get a tiny splinter maybe once a year, I've NEVER had a cut!. Yet I walk and run in places like inner city sidewalks, the train station, the recycling center, bottle banks in other places, etc, etc!.!.!. When you go barefoot a lot, feet quickly get *much* tougher than people who rarely go barefoot think!. To be honest it surprised even me; I was never seriously concerned about great risks, but when I started going barefoot I didn't expect to be able to walk everywhere without any concern at all, the first year or so I watched much more carefully to go around broken glass or bramble bushes than necessary!.
As for our health, our skin is made to keep pathogens out, and we're at far greater risk of picking something up through our hands than our feet!. While the dirt is far less visible, there are as many or more germs on things touched by many people (shopping carts, railings, door knobs) as on the ground!. And unless we prop our feet up on the table, with our hands we're more likely to transfer those germs to our face or food, allowing them to enter our body!.
For the health of others, germs do not jump off the sole of a bare foot any more than off the sole of a shoe, or off the exposed skin of a totally bare foot any more than off the exposed skin of a foot stuck in a flipflop!.
About parasites, the hookworm can enter the skin, but it hasn't been a serious problem in the South since modern plumbing has replaced the outhouses, and never was a problem in cooler climates!. Dog hookworm is still around but has a harder time penetrating the skin of humans!. It can be a concern in those countries where plumbing and hygiene is at a lower level than in the West, but even if you pick something up on a tropical vacation, it is easily treated with modern medicine!.
About athlete's foot, it's unlikely to spread by going barefoot in stores, restaurants or on sidewalks!. It's a fungus, it needs a warm, dark, slightly damp place to grow, as well as a somewhat damp and warm floor to live long enough to be picked up by anyone else!. It spreads in locker rooms and pools, but unless you're *right* behind an infected barefooter, any spores someone else may have left behind will long have dried up and died on most other surfaces!. And even if you were to pick up some spores, you'd need to put your feet back into closed shoes (that warm, dark and slightly damp place :P) for them to grow!. On the surface of the bare skin, exposed to light and fresh air, it'll just dry up and die!. Foot fungus is very rare among populations that go barefoot more often, not more common as you may've thought!.
Our feet do not need support!. From Samuel B!. Shulman's!. "Survey in China and India of Feet That Have Never Worn Shoes,"
One hundred and eighteen of those interviewed were rickshaw coolies!. Because these men spend very long hours each day on cobblestone or other hard roads pulling their passengers at a run it was of particular interest to survey them!. If anything, their feet were more perfect than the others!. All of them, however, gave a history of much pain and swelling of the foot and ankle during the first few days of work as a rickshaw puller!. But after either a rest of two days or a week's more work on their feet, the pain and swelling passed away and never returned again!. There is no occupation more strenuous for the feet than trotting a rickshaw on hard pavement for many hours each day yet these men do it without pain or pathology!.
For children it is *much* better to go barefoot:
"!.!.!.children who had the opportunity of going barefoot a great deal, had less deformed toes, greater flexor strength, more ability to spread the toes!. They also had denser muscles on the bottom of the feet; greater agility than those who had never gone barefoot, with a wider range of hip circumduction and more flexibility of the gluteal and hamstring muscles, and therefore, more ability to touch the toes when the knees were held stiff!."
&
"In Europe and America flat foot is a common reason for attendance at a children's orthopaedic clinic, but in India children are seldom brought for treatment for flat foot!. The few children who do attend with this complaint are from affluent urban families and they all wear shoes!. In our clinic we have never seen a child from the farming community or from the family of a manual labourer who complained of flat foot!."
Fortunately those working at the Health Department know better than the average person: contrary to popular belief, there are NO laws against going barefoot in stores, regardless of whether food is served!. Stores can set their own dress codes, and in the US quite a few do, but any signs claiming 'by order of the Health Department' are false! See source!. Btw, in other countries it's rare to encounter any business that has a problem with bare feet, I've never even SEEN a 'no shoes, no shirts, no service' sign here in the Netherlands, nor on my trips to Belgium and Scotland!. As for driving barefoot, that is legal too, see source again!
It's also interesting that I've met many doctors over the past few years -not for me but accompanying my mom- and none of them have had a problem with my bare feet!. Even in the US, where the bias against going barefoot is far greater than here in Europe, other barefooters report rarely if ever getting a negative comment from their doctors!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
I actually heard that people wouldn't need shoes if we never started wearing them!. Apparently shoes put more strain on your feet than going barefoot!.
When you think about, the human foot would adapt to the strains of being barefoot over time!. Humans would probably develop stronger skin/bones on the bottoms of our feet if we never started wearing shoes!. The only thing that would be hard for the feet to adapt to are cold weather conditions, snow, ice, etc!.
But to answer your question, It's probably OK to go barefoot sometimes if you're not walking on any harsh surfaces or anything!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
When you think about, the human foot would adapt to the strains of being barefoot over time!. Humans would probably develop stronger skin/bones on the bottoms of our feet if we never started wearing shoes!. The only thing that would be hard for the feet to adapt to are cold weather conditions, snow, ice, etc!.
But to answer your question, It's probably OK to go barefoot sometimes if you're not walking on any harsh surfaces or anything!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
depends on the surface of what you walk on!. If you walk on grass then watch for thorns and stuff from trees!. Walk on a sidewalk on a hot day then youre feet will burn!. Then there are places like public restrooms where theres a risk of atheletes foot!. Its good to wear some sort of footwear dependin on where you decide to go!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
going barefoot sometimes properly exercises all the muscles in our feet so yes it is good!. Watch where you walk though!. Best done inside!. There is nothing more gross than dirty feet!. Keep them well-groomed!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
Can be good or bad, depends on where you are going!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
good, get some soles on those feet!. flintstones style!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
a good thing it is very comfortable and feels goodWww@Answer-Health@Com