The human foot has 26 bones, 55 joints, 107 ligaments, 31 muscles and more than 200,000 thousand nerve endings! The feet are therefore a complex structure, the well-being of which is particularly important. This is often not thought of until something is wrong and foot problems start to cause pain. Leg problems can be felt both in the legs themselves, but can also be reflected higher in the body in the knees and hips, if you have tried to protect yourself from leg pain by changing your gait. It is not excluded that the chain reaction starting from the legs could also reach the lower back or even the neck and shoulder area.
Foot problems can start with insignificant and quite small things. One such is footwear, which often passivates the leg muscles and distorts the gait. Passive muscles atrophy and become imbalanced, which can be the start of the entire body's kinetic chain collapsing. Passivating footwear is, for example, thick-soled, stiff or heel cushioned - quite normal, everyday shoes, that is!
Leg muscles can be rehabilitated and strengthened, just like any other muscle. It can be easily done by walking with bare feet and stimulating the leg muscles without thick protection. The natural function of the feet is to absorb shocks, adapt to the unevenness of the ground, use nerve endings to communicate to our brain about the ground and thus maintain balance.
When walking with bare feet, the foot gets to receive the load with the whole leg. The sole of the foot is loaded over a wider area and the weight is distributed evenly - unlike in a normal shoe, where the foot is protected, cramped and damped.
Barefoot shoes to start strengthening your feet and promoting well-being
If your feet haven't been able to walk naturally for a while, it's understandable that walking barefoot can be uncomfortable and you're sensitive to all the discomforts of the platform. And now we don't just mean flat, boring floors in the home or office, where there is no challenge for the feet, but other everyday environments. It is also not possible or appropriate to walk barefoot everywhere, even if you already start to master barefoot walking.
The solution to both is barefoot shoes, which have been popular for some time. Barefoot shoes have a thin, flat sole through which you can feel every step. The shoes have room for the toes to spread out to accept the shape of the platform and bend to maintain balance. In barefoot shoes, the thickness of the soles is about 2-5 millimeters. The thinner the sole is in barefoot shoes, the better the small muscles of the foot can be activated. There are barefoot shoes for every need - for example, you can use them for hiking, jogging, powerlifting or just normal everyday use.
An even more refined version of barefoot shoes are barefoot socks or barefoot slippers. Their design is more like a sock than a shoe, and that's where the name barefoot slipper comes from. Their soles are even thinner than barefoot shoes - the thickness of a barefoot slipper is even less than 2 millimeters. A barefoot slipper is almost like a bare foot. The shapes of the platform feel excellent on the soles of the bare feet, and the bare feet are therefore an excellent option to move a little closer to the ground, if the bare feet feel already too thick. Barefoot slippers really only protect your feet from dirt, hot and cold surfaces and moisture, as well as the stares of strangers - if you don't dare to walk everywhere with bare feet.
The journey towards natural, healthy steps can start today. Take off your shoes and let your toes breathe - bend and straighten your toes, let them grow to their full length, feel the stretch in the soles of your feet and take the first free step.
Check out all the barefoot shoes in our selection here!
If you want to discuss the topic further or ask something, please contact our customer service. We are happy to help. You can contact: 050 466 7269 (weekdays 8-18) or kaspalvelu@treenikamat.fi