Barefoot Footwear Experiment

Take a look at this barefoot footwear experiment.We are fascinated by the connections between our vitality and our movement quality.

This – of course – has many factors related to it. But today we consider the influence of our footwear.

This – of course – in itself is a relatively complex consideration. So let’s keep it quite simple.

There are many daily assessments of our function (movement in this case) at our fingertips.

Here, we are going to take a look at my own comparison of footwear. Below are my own trainers / barefoot shoes.

I really, really got the maximum wear out of these barefoot trainers. I wanted to see what I could find out about my movement patterns and more specifically ‘Gait’ (or walking pattern).

We can find out a lot about alignment, symmetry, structural integrity, compensation patterns, the nervous system, loading, ground-reaction force etc.

On the whole I’m quite pleased with these results and my foot mechanics.

Interestingly – the right side ball of the big toe area shows more wear. That relates to greater load and force going through this area.

Or less effective transfer of the force at least.

Technically – the description of this could get quite complex. But ultimately that teaches me about the whole kinetic chain from the toe, through the foot, ankle, shin, knee, thigh, hip, lumbar …….. and beyond.(There’s a transverse plane driver going on here).

All in all – It gives me pointers to go and investigate further. Weak links in the kinetic chain to identify and fine-tune.

With a new pair in place, let’s see what patterns emerge in a few months time.

Jack