When it comes to barefoot shoes vs regular shoes, both have their place. Having said, one shoe has a clear advantage over the other: Barefoot Shoes!
Unlike regular shoes, which often rely on thick padding and arch support that restrict movement, barefoot shoes prioritize natural foot movement, along with encouraging a closer connection with the ground. This natural design not only supports better foot health but also enhances balance, strength, and agility.
Here are 9 reasons why barefoot shoes stand out as the better choice for strong and healthier feet.
Table of Contents
Better Running Technique
When you run in regular, cushioned shoes, they often land on their heels. With barefoot shoes however, you naturally land on your forefoot or mid-foot, which is a more efficient and natural running style. This simple shift helps the body use its energy more effectively, therefore reducing effort that could otherwise go wasted, and by conserving momentum.
Better Toe Alignment
Running in barefoot shoes helps strengthen the feet, which plays a key role in keeping your toes properly aligned. When the feet are weak and over-pronate, the arch collapses, putting pressure on the big toe joint. Over time, this can push the toe go out of alignment, leading to conditions like bunions.
Barefoot shoes not only strengthen the feet but also feature wide, natural toe boxes that give your toes more room to spread and move freely. It is this combination of strengthening of feet and natural movement of toes that together support better toe alignment.
More Stable Ankles
When you wear barefoot shoes, you feel the ground more easily, which helps your body adjust and stabilize your ankles quickly right after each step. With their thick cushioning however, traditional shoes dull this feeling to the ground, leading to delayed reactions at the joints. More the delay in reaction at the joints, more is the risk of sprains, instability or loss of balance.
That’s not all. When you strike forefoot, the toes press into the ground and activate all the stabilizing muscles each one is connected to. But when you heel strike with regular shoes, your toes have nothing to do with any of the muscles that are meant to stabilize the ankles.
More Efficient Use of Energy
According to this research study by the International Journal of Sports Medicine, running barefoot leads to softer, quicker foot strikes and promotes efficient use of elastic energy in the ankles. This in turn, could help reduce the mechanical stress on the body and improve running efficiency.
Running with barefoot shoes with soles as thin as just 3.7 mm is the closest you can get to running barefoot – without actually being barefoot. This very close connection to the ground in these shoes allows your body to react more quickly than you would with regular shoes, therefore minimising energy loss and maximising forward motion.
Shorter Time for Ground Contact
With each step, barefoot runners tend to spend about 12% less time on the ground. This relatively shorter ground contact time reduces the amount of strain on the body, compared to those who run with regular shoes. In other words, when you run with regular shoes, your time on the ground is relatively longer, therefore increasing the stress forces acting on your muscles and joints with each step.
More Steps Per Minute
Since running barefoot reduces your ground contact time, it automatically results in increase of your Cadence, which is the number of steps you take per minute. A higher cadence puts less stress on your muscles by making the most of your body’s natural properties of elasticity around your ligaments, tendons and fascia. This is the reason why barefoot runners use about 3 – 5% less oxygen, conserve energy over long distances, and feel less fatigued than those in regular shoes.
Lower Impact on Body
With traditional cushioned shoes, it is the heel that often hits the ground first, which can lead to a sharp, blunt force at each step. Over time, this repeated impact can cause stress to the joints. This impact is reduced considerably when you use barefoot shoes, as they encourage the forefoot to hit the ground first. This reduced impact means significantly fewer injuries in the long run.
Stronger Feet & Less Pronation
Regular shoes with arch supports limit your foot’s natural movement, causing weakness over time. Barefoot shoes however, a recent study found, increased foot strength by about 57%. When your feet grow stronger, you’ll experience less pronation, which helps reducing the likelihood of injuries.
Pronation is the inward and downward rotation of the medial bones in the mid-tarsal region of the foot, which tends the foot to come down on its inner margin while walking or running.
On every step as you run, right after the impact on the ground, your foot is supposed to pronate a little inward to absorb the ground forces. The muscles in your foot has the ability to control the degree of pronation just enough, to prevent what is called over-pronation which results in injuries.
The studies also show that when the foot arch is functioning properly, almost 20% of the mechanical energy generated from running is conserved. This makes having strong feet a crucial characteristic for being an efficient runner.
Stronger Achilles Tendons
Soon after your forefoot strike, which happens first when you run in barefoot shoes, your Achilles tendons stretch maximally as your heel lowers gently, therefore absorbing much of the force.
Right after that maximal stretch of the tendons, it releases the absorbed force like a spring, which helps you propel into the next step. This natural mechanism that propels you into your next step makes your running more efficient and less taxing on your muscles.
Conclusion
Between barefoot shoes vs regular shoes, barefoot shoes clearly come out on top by offering you a more natural, foot-friendly way to walk and run. Only barefoot shoes encourage a forefoot strike, which is key to strengthening your feet, improving posture, and reducing the risk of injuries.
While regular shoes may feel comfortable initially due to their cushioning, they can weaken your feet over time and alter your stride in ways that could lead to foot health issues.
If you’ve always run in regular shoes but want to experience and enjoy the benefits of barefoot running, check out our 6-step guide to transition safely to barefoot shoes.