How to walk correctly (in barefoot shoes)

We know the saying – you stomp like an elephant or bull in a china shop. However, elephants or bulls (despite the saying and unlike most people) walk exemplarily because they learn it naturally. Small children would also learn it naturally if we did not spoil their habits with inappropriate shoes.

How do you know that you are walking incorrectly? Your body will tell you through foot pain, heel spurs, flat feet, blisters on your feet, pain in your heels, knees, hips, back, etc., or you can have your musculoskeletal system examined by a podiatrist to get a professional analysis of your gait.

Walking incorrectly is not a shame. Only a fraction of people have received any training or lecture on the technique of correct walking, but restrictive footwear was given to us (almost) everyone by our parents. That is why today we have prepared a short guide on how to walk correctly.

Walking

Proper posture

Before we start moving, let's look at the body position from which you are starting. Stand naturally in front of a mirror and let's assess whether your posture meets the requirements:

Legs hip-width apart. That is, knees and feet are directly under the hip joints, weight evenly distributed on both legs and toes.

Slightly bent knees. This allows you to keep the upper half of your body upright, buttocks and abdominal muscles tight, spine straight, and head held high (you just need to look at the sidewalk with your eyes).

Toes pointing straight forward. The foot or individual toes should not deviate to the side (this will easily reveal deformations), and you should also be able to see all your nails (unless you have hammertoes).

 

Correct gait

If you are not superstitious, it does not matter which foot you step forward with. To start, you need to naturally bend your ankle forward, for which you need shoes that allow you to do this (which are certainly not high heels).

This is followed by the distribution of weight over the entire sole, which helps to strengthen the arch of the foot. Walking purely on the heels, toes or edges of the foot is not correct.

The heel slowly rises, followed by the sole and the last toes, especially the big toe, roll off the surface. Shoes with a flat and flexible sole in all directions are needed to enable this phasing. Active involvement of the toes in the stride is key to a correct step.

The length of the step depends on the length of the legs, but the surface also plays a role. The softer it is, the longer the step you can afford. For hard surfaces, we recommend shorter steps that allow you to monitor your center of gravity and place your heel lightly on the ground. To better maintain balance, we also involve the upper part of the body, especially the hands, in the movement.

We step gently on the heel; it must not be a sharp movement in which the foot cannot sufficiently absorb the impact. If you are in a hurry, it is better to switch to running than to stomping while walking quickly.

You will feel the softness of the impact, but you can verify it by not hearing it at all. The weight is transferred again across the entire sole of the foot to the toes, and the entire step is repeated evenly with the other foot.

To better master the correct technique and stimulate the feet, we recommend walking barefoot, ideally on uneven surfaces (sand, pebbles, forest path, etc.). In addition to developing coordination skills, this will also improve blood circulation in the lower limbs. You can train at home on sensorimotor rugs or therapeutic boards.

At first, you need to consciously think about changing your walking technique, but it will soon come naturally, similar to driving a car. Barefoot shoes give your feet space for active work, so once you have automated the correct way of walking, no surface will be a problem for you; on the contrary, you will enjoy the feeling of incredible comfort and freedom on any surface.

It is best to prevent problems, which is why we recommend barefoot shoes for children as their first shoes (and all others) so that they develop good habits from the beginning. However, it is never too late to start working on correcting bad habits, so we have thousands of barefoot shoes for women and men of all ages in stock.

Healthy walking is the basis for the proper functioning of the rest of the body, and barefoot shoes are a way that allows us to realize it. 

Get in touch to find the perfect barefoot shoes for you!