Quote Originally Posted by Splatcher View Post
I can see the sense in barefoot running for therapeutic reasons - if it works of course. I slam down pretty heavily on my heels myself. I'd imagine there are some problems it would exacerbate on the other hand. I've got a cracking bunion on my left foot, & I use orthotic padding in my running shoes to reduce the amount the joint bends while I'm running. Running barefoot just sounds such a bad idea given this, but I'd be interested if I thought it might be of benefit. In the right fields of course...
I used to wear orthotics but decided that anything that prevents my feet from moving naturally cannot be good! Wearing anything that stops your foot "bending" is bad. This is what feet are supposed to do, bend, twist, spread, finding the ground beneath them. A lot of the worries people have with going barefoot is the "fear" factor (ie glass, rock) and the fact that we are brainwashed into thinking that we "need" our feet to be controlled in special shoes! Try it and then decide for yourself.