One of the most enduring benefits of barefooting is that it may contribute to positive changes
in arch height profile, meaning that if you have low or collapsed arches, increasing your
barefoot activity, especially outdoors, has been study-proven to impressively lead to
a steadily build-up of higher, more functional, more strongly resilient foot arches.
One line of research has validated this more precisely in that doing daily chores around
the house barefoot, or yard work barefoot, etc, on a daily basis can spur on significant
improvements in arch health, function and arch height profile.
The illustration you see here is straight from the landmark study entitled “Running-related
injury prevention through barefoot adaptation”, published in 1987 in the Journal of Medicine
and Science and Sport and Exercise by doctor Steven Robbins who led the study.
The study is linked down below in the description box.
This illustration depicts how going barefoot, indoors and outdoors, on a consist basis is
on record for getting better results delivered in improving arch height profile, or heightening
your arches.
Let me give you a very brief sketch of the study.
The participants in the study had a very low arch height profile, meaning their arches
were abnormally low and weak.
To test if barefooting would have an effect on influencing arch-height profile, over a
2 month period, half the participants were instructed to increase their weight-bearing
activity while barefoot as much as possible indoors and the other half of the participants
were instructed to increase their weight-bearing activity while barefoot as much as possible
outdoors.
As shown in this diagram, the outcome of the study yielded very promising results, especially
for the outdoor barefoot group, but ultimately the researchers found that within 2 months
of barefooting, indoors and outdoors, arch height increased as a function of a total
decreased in plantar (meaning bottom of the foot) surface area.
This data trend was consistent in that the more barefoot activity performed, the better
the outcome in improved arch height profile.
However, the most consistent and significant progress in improved arch height and health
came from increased barefoot activity outdoors as compared with indoor barefoot activity.
What’s the reason for this difference?
The researchers revealed that natural surfaces tend to have protruding irregularities; natural
surfaces, such as grass, foothills, sand, trails tend to be uneven, which can more easily
stimulate all sectors of the foot, resulting in multi-engagement of the soft tissue groups,
tendons, fat pads and muscles of the foot/ankle complex; getting all aspects of the foot to
engage in a more functional manner.
Most notably, the researchers revealed that increased barefoot outdoor activity led to
the greatest increases in intrinsic foot muscle tone, which effectively led to faster changes
in arch height profile and an overall higher arch-height profile as barefooting outdoors,
on uneven surfaces, serves as a stronger stimulus, stimulating all angels of the foot which appeared
to work better for helping raise the main longitudinal arch as compared with indoor
barefoot activity.
This data argues very persuasively that going barefoot, especially outdoors, may lead to
conditions promoting more optimal physical and mechanical engagements in the foot that's
good for potentially helping repair fallen arches.
So, I just thought it would be very important to point out that there is in fact hard-evidence
showing where barefooting can you take you in helping your feet stay powered up in strength,
how it may prevent structural collapse of the arch, and how it may potentially fix collapsed
arches by giving rise to a higher arch that’s more capable and durable, which is of enormous
value on so many fronts as stronger arches can be a more reliable mechanical stabilizing
force of the lower leg, especially during running and what is more is that when your
arches are stronger, you’re just better positioned to potentially avoid an assortment
of weak-arch related ailments like plantar fasciitis because when the arch is strong,
it can free-up mechanical strain from the plantar fascia, it may also help place tighter
restrictions on over-pronation, thereby potentially preventing ankle injury, shin splints, even
runner’s knee during running.
There’s little doubt that a stronger arch really gears the foot up for making a big
positive difference in injury prevention.
If you struggle with low or flat archers, barefooting, especially outdoors, is definitely
something worth considering as a countermeasure for potentially fixing flat feet and knowing
all this, makes it all the more important to avoid the use of arch support or other
similar forms of external support as a bandaid because arch support only results in lower
mechanical use of the arches, thus potentially causing them to lose more strength and height,
but conversely, you can build up more enduring arches long-term, by forcing the foot to functionally
work, keeping the arches going the way that they should via more barefoot exposure.
So, i just wanted to really drill that point home.
For more information regarding the health and performance benefits of barefoot running,please
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Thank you so much for listening and watching.
Have fun out there on the roads and trails.
Bye for now.