Podiatrist · Specialist in Biomechanics · Founder of VOLKAN
"There are no people who should adapt to a shoe. There are shoes that, at certain times, can help a person better."
"So... do you recommend barefoot or not?"
It's a question that often comes up at the end of many conversations.
After talking for a while about the foot, movement, pain, or adaptation, someone needs a simple answer.
—So, yes or no?
I smile.
Because I completely understand that need.
We like clear answers.
Universal rules.
Solutions that work for everyone.
But biomechanics has taught me a different lesson.
When an answer works for everyone, it usually stops working for many people.
The body does not read our theories.
Sometimes we forget something very simple.
Our organism does not know what footwear is in fashion.
It does not know about social media debates.
It does not understand labels.
It only responds to the stimuli it receives.
And it responds according to its history.
According to its age.
According to its tissues.
According to its experiences.
According to the load it bears every day.
Two people can wear exactly the same footwear.
One recovers functions.
The other develops discomfort.
Not because the shoe has changed.
Because the organism never stops being the true protagonist.
Tools are neither good nor bad.
Imagine a cane.
After a surgery it can be an extraordinary aid.
When the recovery ends, continuing to use it unnecessarily could limit part of the work that the legs are already prepared to take on.
Does that mean the cane is bad?
Absolutely not.
It means that its usefulness depends on the moment.
With footwear it happens exactly the same.
There are no morally better shoes.
There are tools with different indications.
Adaptation also has a starting point.
A twenty-year-old person who has walked barefoot throughout their childhood does not start from the same place as a seventy-year-old with decades of stiffness, previous surgeries, or joint diseases.
Nor does someone who practices sports several times a week start the same as someone who has lived a very sedentary life for years.
Everyone can improve.
But not everyone needs to take the same path.
Adaptation always begins where the organism is.
Never where we would like it to be.
Sometimes protecting is also caring.
In some environments, the idea has spread that any external help represents a setback.
I do not share that view.
There are moments when protecting is an intelligent way to care.
An inflamed tissue.
A fracture in the process of healing.
A postoperative.
A degenerative disease.
Certain neuropathies.
In those circumstances, temporarily modifying the demands of movement can help the body continue to progress.
Protection ceases to be an enemy when it has a purpose and a duration.
The problem arises when we forget to ask ourselves if that help is still necessary.
What does this have to do with barefoot?
Everything.
Barefoot can be a magnificent tool.
But it is still a tool.
Not an identity.
Not an obligation.
Not a test to pass.
There are people who will enjoy using it most of the time.
Others will alternate different types of footwear depending on the activity.
Some will need years to make a complete transition.
And others, simply, will find a different balance.
That does not mean that some have understood biomechanics better than others.
It means that biomechanics begins precisely when we stop looking for the same answer for everyone.
What I see every day in consultation
Over the years I have stopped trying to convince people to use a specific type of shoe.
I prefer to help them understand their own body.
When they understand how their body responds, decisions become much simpler.
There are patients who discover that barefoot offers them exactly what they needed.
Others understand that, at this moment in their life, another tool allows them to keep moving with more confidence.
And that is also okay.
Because success does not consist of resembling a theory.
It consists of regaining the ability to live, walk, work, or enjoy movement with the greatest freedom possible.
What you can do starting today
The next time you hear someone claim that there is only one type of correct footwear, pause.
And ask yourself:
Are they talking about the shoe... or the person who is going to use it?
If the whole conversation revolves around footwear and never around the organism, the most important part is probably missing.
Because shoes do not make decisions.
The bodies that wear them do.
🔬 In a sentence
The value of footwear does not depend on how it is designed, but on how the organism that uses it responds to it.
The most important idea
After everything we have learned, perhaps the conclusion is surprisingly simple.
Barefoot is not the answer.
Conventional footwear isn't either.
The answer always begins by understanding the person in front of us.
Their ability to adapt.
Their history.
Their context.
Their objectives.
Choosing a shoe without understanding all that is like prescribing the same treatment to all patients just because they share a symptom.
Biomechanics invites us to do just the opposite.
To observe first.
To understand afterwards.
And only then decide.
Because there are no people who should adapt to a shoe.
There are shoes that, at certain times, can help a person better.
A question to reflect on
Think about any important decision you have made about your health.
Did you choose it because it was the best for everyone... or because it was the one that best responded to your situation at that moment?
Perhaps we should do exactly the same with footwear.
In the next article…
After several chapters talking about barefoot, many readers will have a practical doubt.
Does all this mean that the more time we walk barefoot, the better?
The answer is again more interesting than a simple yes or no.
Walking barefoot can be an extraordinarily enriching experience for the nervous system and for the foot.
But it also depends on the terrain, the context, the state of the tissues and the goal we pursue.
In the next chapter we will discover that walking barefoot is not an end in itself. It is a form of exposure to movement that, like any other, needs context, progression, and criteria.