Yes, You Can Wear Barefoot Shoes with Flat Feet or High Arches. Here’s Why.

Not infrequently, when someone takes a look at my Xero Shoes, whomever I’m speaking with will say:

“I wish I could wear barefoot shoes, but I can’t do that. I need support.”

“Oh?” I’ll respond. “Why do you need support?”

Then something happens that I love. I get one of two seemingly contradictory answers. Either:

1. “I have flat feet!”
2. “I have high arches!”

They usually like to add to their proclamation some form of external validation, like, “I’ve seen one of the best podiatrists in the world and he agrees that I need orthotics.”

Oh? He agrees that you need to spend an additional $300-1,000 with him? What a shock.

Contrary to what many people believe, high arches and flat feet are not necessarily a problem.

To understand why not, you first need to know a little bit about arches and what can go wrong with them. Then we’ll talk about what the problem really is and why there is usually a better solution than orthotics.

Finally, even if you are going to wear orthotics, barefoot-inspired shoes are a great choice. Keep reading to find out why.

A Quick Look at the Anatomy of Your Feet

Why do our feet have arches, anyway?

If you look carefully at an average foot, you’ll actually see it has an arched shape in both directions – from front to back and side to side. Getting a bit technical, the arch we have in mind when talking about high or low arches is the medial longitudinal arch. It’s the one that runs lengthwise on the inside of each foot.

This flexible arch does two important things. When allowed to function naturally, it can easily handle the impact forces generated each time your foot lands on the ground. Second, it acts as a spring, which helps to absorb energy on impact and return some of it when you lift your foot again.

Why Do Flat Feet or High Arches Matter?

Frankly, they don’t for the vast majority of people. In fact, a study found that arch height made no difference in pain or function of the foot. Many people who have a low or high arch will never really notice it.

Obviously, if something is wrong with your arches, there is the potential that they won’t adequately perform those two functions of handling impact and providing spring-like rebound. For a very small number of people, very low or high arches can interfere with the function of the foot. If you’re in this group, you’re probably already well aware of it.

For most people, again, arches that are higher or lower than average aren’t a problem. We all fall along a continuum of arch height and the shape of our particular feet is mostly a matter of genetics.

The Real Problem and What to Do about It

But maybe you have noticed something about your arches and wondered if there is anything you should do.

Here we return to the conversation above. Most people have heard that they need some support, ranging from specially-designed running shoes to custom-made orthotics. All of these options are expensive; do they provide any benefit?

The evidence suggests they do not.

One study, for instance, looked at groups of children with flat feet for a few weeks and found that adding orthotics made no statistically significant difference.

Here’s the really interesting part. We do have research that flat feet can be improved by exercising the muscles of the foot. (The linked study, by the way, also found that orthotics didn’t help.)

To me, this makes perfect sense. Our feet are a complex combination of muscles, tendons, bones, and ligaments. Strengthening the muscles helps everything to function the way it should.

I’m not a scientist or a podiatrist. But when I look at the research, it seems like the problem for many cases of flat foot isn’t that the foot needs support. That is, the “cure” for the problem is not putting your foot in a cast (which is essentially what an orthotic is), it’s using it— which strengthens it.

Science writer Gina Kolata reports the conclusion reached by Dr. Benno M. Nigg, who is a scientist who studies orthotics: “The idea that [orthotics] are supposed to correct mechanical-alignment problems does not hold up.”

Are Barefoot Shoes Good for Flat Feet?

This is good news for those interested in barefoot-inspired (or “minimalist”) shoes, or even trying barefoot running.

Why?

One of the things about walking or running naturally, the way our ancestors did, with a bit of protection (like you get from barefoot shoes), or even in bare feet, is that you engage the muscles of your foot in a way you don’t in “traditional” shoes. That’s because “normal” shoes have thick soles with lots of support that limits the movements of your feet. Stiff arch support inserts limit motion even further.

What happens to muscles that don’t move? They get weaker, as a study of the effects of orthotics on foot muscles demonstrated.

The idea that going barefoot or wearing barefoot shoes helps develop foot strength isn’t just my speculation. A study by Dr. Sarah Ridge in 2019 found that merely walking in minimalist shoes strengthens foot muscles as much as doing a foot strengthening exercise program. (By the way, Dr. Ridge says you should get the same benefits wearing Xero Shoes as the shoes used in that study.)

Another study confirmed muscle gains with minimalist shoes and also noted increased arch stiffness.

(Just in case some of these terms are new to you: barefoot or minimalist shoes are designed to let your feet move as naturally as possible. Unlike a “traditional” shoe, they have thin soles that are flexible and let you safely feel the ground. They also have “zero drop” — that is, they don’t slope downhill from heel to toe. Finally, a barefoot shoe will have a roomy toe box to give your toes plenty of room to move.)

I need to say it again: I’m not giving you medical advice and you should consult with your doctor about any problems you’re experiencing with your arches, preferably one who understands the research and the value of natural movement rather than one who makes money by putting most of his or her patients in orthotics.

But I am encouraging you to at least consider the possibility that you can enjoy the freedom and fun of wearing barefoot shoes — even if you’ve assumed you would always need the support found in wearing traditional shoes.

The Best Running Shoes for Orthotics?

But let me just add one more thing. Suppose you are someone who uses orthotics and plans to continue to do so.

I think you are still best off choosing barefoot shoes. Why?

Look inside all the shoes you have now and note what you see. Each pair will have a different shape; some with more arch support, some with less; some with more slope from front to back, some with less, etc. Your orthotics are designed to fit your foot while resting upon a level base, but the inside of most shoes is anything but level.

What this means is that you’ll get a different fit for every pair of shoes you’re wearing and probably none of them provides a level platform on which your orthotics can rest.

More, as the foam midsole in those shoes breaks down (which it starts doing the moment you begin wearing them), the geometry of the shoe and orthotic will change which could cause structural problems in your feet and legs.

Barefoot shoes have a flat, zero-drop sole that provides the perfect base for your orthotics and no foam midsole that wears out.

So with or without orthotics, barefoot running shoes are a great choice.

My own story

Personally, I had flat feet my whole life. If I stepped out of a pool, my footprint looked like an oval.

After a few months of running and walking barefoot, I noticed I started developing arches!

I ruined all the family jokes about the flippers I had at the end of my legs.

Now, I get out of the water, step on the ground, and you see the outline of a FOOT.

Granted, I don’t have drive-a-bus-under-them arches but, again, that’s genes. All I know is that I haven’t used my expensive shoe inserts in years and my feet haven’t had a problem in all that time.

Ready to try your own pair of barefoot shoes?

Take this quiz to find your perfect pair here.

This post is NOT what you think.

But then again, it kinda is. 😉

Check out this video and let me know if you’re a SMART runner.

In short, there are two aspects to wearing running shoes from “Big Shoe” (note how that = “B.S.”) which could not only affect your brain, but whether you’re able to safely and enjoyably run, walk, hike, workout, or do pretty much anything else on your feet.

One has to do with natural movement. The other has to do with your brain.

Whether you wear traditional running shoes or minimalist or barefoot shoes, I think you’ll get a kick out of this and I’d love to hear your comments, below.

While the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are postponed until next year, now as great time to look back at one of the moments that helped shape the modern barefoot running movement.

It was 60 years ago that Abebe Bikila won a gold medal in the Rome Olympics running in bare feet.

A great article called OLYMPICS FLASHBACKS: THE SCIENCE OF BAREFOOT RUNNING AND WINNING GOLD shares the details, many of which people don’t know.

For one, Bikila didn’t plan to run in bare feet.

The shoes from his footwear sponsor gave him blisters so he decided not to wear them.

The article also talks about how:

In the past two decades, emerging research and Christopher McDougall’s 2011 bestseller Born to Run kicked up a fiery debate about the merits of barefoot running. Some experts argue modern running shoes hamper humans’ natural stride, while others say they are vital training tools to prevent injury and stabilize the foot.

While there’s no arguing that the debate is “fiery,” when the barefoot vs. shoes conversation is presented, it’s often done as if the two sides are evenly matched.

They’re not.

There’s no question that modern shoes affect people’s stride. Research from Dr. Irene Davis at Harvard, and many others, repeatedly show this, and how shoes may even CAUSE the problems that they claim to cure or, at least, don’t help the way most people expect after reading the promo material from the manufacturers.

For example, when it comes to how well modern shoes “prevent injury,” let’s just look at Nike’s new React Infinity Run.

This shoe is marketed as “Designed to reduce injury” and “In an independent study, the shoe reduced injury rates by 50%.”

(I had a photo of their in-store marketing, but I can’t find it 🙁 )

Well, both are true… ish.

Of course ALL modern performance shoes are designed to reduce injury. Nobody makes or sells a shoe that they know will cause MORE injuries.

But the “independent” and “50%” are a bit of a red herring.

The independent study was designed by and funded by Nike.

The 50% injury reduction is a way of hiding the actual numbers — over 30% of the runners in the 12-week study wearing Nike’s best-selling, motion-controlled, padded, elevated heel, flared sole running shoe got injured, while “only” a bit over 14% got injured in the new shoe.

Sure that’s 50% better… but that’s about 1 out of 7 who got injured in under 12 weeks.

Think of it this way, which restaurant would you go to: The one that promises you’ll only get food poisoning in one out of 3 meals, or the one who says only 1 out 7 will make you sick?

Neither, of course!

Back to the uneven debate — When the “pro-barefoot” crowd makes their arguments, they can site studies to back up claims about reducing impact forces, reducing forces through the joints, etc.

But the “anti-barefoot” side often cites “anti-barefoot studies” that, often, they paid for and that, often, are researching factors that are “straw men” (arguments that no barefooter ever made, like “barefoot running improves VO2Max”).

Using the example from the article about stabilizing the foot, it would be EASY to show a study that some shoe stabilizes the foot… IF that study existed.”

Of course one challenge in creating a study about stabilization is that the design elements used to “stabilize” the foot — e.g. foam, typically — break down over time.

Plus, there is ZERO evidence that the foot typically needs to be stabilized. Pronation, for example, is not correlated to any injury.

I was on a panel discussion at the American College of Sports Medicine, where a representative from Adidas said that while their goal is to reduce injury and improve performance, they had no data showing they could deliver these benefits because doing so would be time consuming, expensive, and have many confounding factors.

Uh…

If any major shoe brand could demonstrate scientifically that their shoe was better than that of another major shoe brand, that would be worth BILLIONS of dollars per year.

To say that they haven’t proven they can improve performance and reduce injury because “it’s hard” is ludicrous.

At best, what happens now is someone wins a race in a new shoe and other runners become so worried that the shoe may have been the causal factor in the win, and they all buy that shoe out of fear they’re missing out on a competitive advantage. And then other shoe companies rush to make similar shoes out of the same fear!

Look, it’s true there isn’t a study that proves that running naturally, either barefoot or in truly minimalist shoes, is better than being in shoes.

But that IS because doing such a study is expensive and time consuming and has confounding factors — all of which could be overcome, of course, with the kind of money that “pro-barefoot” companies like Xero Shoes simply don’t have.

And the question is, “Why haven’t the big shoe companies funded that study?” If they did, and the study landed in their favor, it would shut up people like me, and the millions who’ve found that natural movement was helpful for them.

But I’ve heard from executives at some of those “Big Shoe” companies who believe that natural movement IS better, but that they can’t make shoes like Xero Shoes since that would be “against brand.”

Anyway, pardon the rant.

Frankly, that was a tangent from the important bit: Read the article about Bikila. It’s a great reminder of how what’s possible is often much more than what we imagine (or are told).

When I talk to many runners who still use “traditional” running shoes,and then tell them about Xero Shoes, they often say “Well, there’s a debate about barefoot/minimalist shoes.”

First, the quotes are because what we call “traditional” running shoes have only been around for  less than 0.05% of the time humans have been wearing protective footwear.

Second, there’s really no debate.

There are people who have opinions that barefoot/minimal is somehow bad based on limited amounts of research, or anecdotes, or information put out by companies that make traditional shoes, and then there is…

THE TRUTH

Yes, I’m implying that the truth is: Natural Movement — whether you’re barefoot or in a truly minimalist shoe like Xero Shoes — is demonstrably better than being in a padded, motion-controlled, heel-elevated, toe-squeezing shoe.

But rather than hash out all my reasons for saying this (which I’ve done many times on this site), here’s a great article that examines “shoes vs. barefoot”:

https://theconversation.com/running-shoes-may-cause-injuries-but-is-going-barefoot-the-fix-135264

Here’s the highlight:

…if you want to give barefoot running a try, the best advice is to walk before you run. A minimalist shoe might be a good first step if walking or running in extreme temperatures or where sharp objects may be common. Although minimalist shoes aren’t the same as being barefoot, the mechanics runners and walkers use in them are very similar to when barefoot – and dramatically different to when in shoes.

And this is the key point. It’s about the MOVEMENT, not about the footwear. It just so happens that natural movement is fundamentally impossible in a shoe that, well, doesn’t let your foot move. And a truly minimalist shoe can let your body do what’s natural, and let your feet bend, flex, move, and FEEL.

BTW, a “truly minimalist” shoe isn’t the same as a shoe that’s marketed as “minimalist” but that doesn’t let your toes splay, your foot fend and flex, and your sole get feedback from the ground (which it sends to your brain to help your movement, balance, and agility).

While it’s not possible to never get injured when running (or living, for that matter), here are 5 tips to help keep injuries at bay.

 

What do you think? Have any other tips? Leave them in the comments, below.

Think other people could use these tips? Share this page.

Want it for yourself?

 

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.

When I tell people that I love distance running, I often get reprimanded. “You’re going to blow out your knees,” people warn me. 

I don’t know if they genuinely think they are going to save me from the perils of ACL surgery or if people just like to get on a soapbox, but it’s getting old.

Distance running is not inherently bad. When injuries occur, it is usually due to improper training and/or poor technique. If you take good care of your body and you know how to safely progress, there shouldn’t be an issue.

Too many people get it in their head that they want to run a marathon, but they can barely even run a mile. If you don’t build up to longer distances gradually, you are setting yourself up for overuse injuries. In general, the rule is to increase your total mileage by no more than ten percent each week.

In the beginning, I suggest you start out by alternating between short intervals of running and walking. You don’t need to follow a strict protocol, just run at a steady pace for as long as you can (which might be anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes). Then when you need to, take a break and walk until you catch your breath. Repeat this process for 20 or 30 minutes, then stretch out and call it a day.

In time, your walk breaks will get shorter until you can eventually run for 30 minutes or longer without a break. Once you can do that, you can start going for longer distances, or try alternating between jogging and sprinting for your interval training.

If you want to do a Marathon or Half-Marathon, be smart about it – you’re going to need to run at a substantially slower pace and gradually build up your mileage.

This type of running is usually referred to as long slow distance or “LSD” running. Anyone who’d want to run a Marathon must be tripping, right?

LSD running is slow enough that you can maintain a conversation while running, so feel free to invite a workout partner. Take your time on LSD runs, it should feel almost like how walking feels to a non-runner.

Going from being a non-runner to completing a marathon can be a journey of years. There is no rush. Just enjoy the process and take things one step at a time.

–Al Kavadlo

Click here to learn more about Al

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.

Are you on the Paleo diet, or curious about it?

Many people who discover paleo — and I’m neither endorsing it or bashing it in this article — move past the diet and into the “lifestyle,” looking to move and live more like our hominid ancestors. And, not surprisingly, one way to recapture our movement history is by running in bare feet.

Neanderthals didn’t wear Nike and you don’t need to either.

All that said, I had the privilege of getting interviewed by Aaron Olson of www.paleorunner.org

Check it out here, then let me know what you think in the comments, below…

What do we talk about?

• Are sore calves and Achilles necessary when learning to run barefoot?
• Will Xero Shoes protect you if you’re trail running?
• Why doctors who criticize barefoot running are usually complete morons!
• Are there any times where you need shoes?
• Can you run fast in huarache running sandals?
• What it’s like to be on Shark Tank
• Why you need to USE your feet the way they’re made to be used
• Do I eat Paleo? What do I eat?

Enjoy!

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.

I received a message from Bryan on Facebook, asking if I had some advice about the fact that when he goes for a run in Xero Shoes, sometimes he can do 3-4 miles without a problem, but sometimes he gets some soreness after a mile or so.

I decided to add my response as a Barefoot Running Q&A video (it’s much more fun that typing).

What do you think?

Add your comments and thoughts, below… then share this with others.