Barefoot - Better Posture, Walking, Running & Healthy Feet For Kids

Happy, healthy bodies start with happy healthy feet

I LOVE being barefoot and am as often as possible. I love shoes too but it's important to keep our feet healthy and strong by giving them room to move, naturally, whenever possible.

This is important for everyone, especially children, to ensure we are able to move well into old age. Please see the video below on keeping your children's feet healthy.

I am a 'barefoot' runner (I wear minimal footwear - see VivoBarefoot )- and I coach and promote a 'barefoot' technique.

Want to improve your walking/ running technique and lower your risk of injury?

In the last 40 years we have been led by a common misconception that cushioned, well supported and padded trainers are best. Despite all the developments in sports shoe technology, an estimated 80% of people have to stop running because of injury – a movement that should come naturally to us all.

The biggest influence on chronic running injuries is technique and barefoot running isn’t just taking your shoes off…

You are likely to be lacking in certain physiological qualities and biomotor skills for running if you have spent the majourity of your life walking and running in thick soled and inappropriate shoes. The modern human being is generally disconnected with nature so we need to re-learn how to move and run.

Being Barefoot or in barefoot shoes heightens our senses and helps us to re-learn to walk and run the way million years of evolution intended, strengthening our feet and reducing the risk of injury for higher impact activities. Appropriate barefoot shoes allow us maximum proprioceptive feedback (as we have when barefoot) from our feet while protecting us from the elements and puncture wounds.

Barefoot shoes have no heel, no midsole, no arch support, allowing your feet to move naturally.

A team from the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology and the Skeletal Biology Lab at Harvard University have carried out extensive research on the Biomechanics of Foot Strikes and Applications to running barefoot or in minimal footwear. Following this research they have provided an evidence-based resource for those interested in thebiomechanics of different foot strikes in endurance running and the applications to human endurance running prior to the modern running shoe. You can read all about their findings here

If you are interested in improving your running technique and lowering your risk of injury while walking/ running I strongly suggest that you have some professional coaching to help you with the correct running technique, mobility and strengthening exercises. You can also see lots of tips at VivoBarefoot

Shameless plug alert...

As a coach I can help get you on your way to safe barefoot running, showing you the correct technique, making your transition an enjoyable one. I can also recommend the best barefoot shoes available on the market. I am happy to help or point you in the right direction to get you on your way to better posture, walking and injury free running.

For more information please see my running coaching site: www.runtobecome.com or feel free to drop me an email: louise@bodhibabes.com