Understand how traditional footwear has shaped the quality of the best technology: your feet

Have you ever worn a pair of traditional shoes for too long and ended up with foot pain as a result? If so, pain is a sign that your footwear isn’t right for you. Find out how barefoot can help your feet get back to their normal selves.

When we walk, our feet are the first parts of our body to touch the ground. This movement happens so automatically and unconsciously that almost no one thinks about it.

However, what most people don't know is that our feet have enormous functionality, carrying hundreds of functions for the entire body.

Here, you will learn much more than anatomy and functionality. You will understand that your best technology: your feet, needs more attention and care.

Evolution: one step at a time

When we analyze the process of human evolution, we can see that movement was responsible - to a large extent - for the changes in our body.

And talking about movement is, basically, talking about life and the experience of living.

In the past, our ancestors used to walk barefoot, while today most people wear shoes. From an evolutionary perspective, we were not naturally shaped to be shoe-wearing beings.

The impact of shoes on the growth and development of our feet remains ongoing. Despite this, there are still some cultures that choose to live without shoes, thus providing a valuable field of study for comparison.

A study was conducted on a population in Kenya who walked barefoot compared to another group of people who wore shoes. The study revealed that the barefoot group was less prone to lower limb injuries, was taller, had a lower body mass index, and exhibited greater foot strength and flexibility.

Furthermore, the group that normally wore shoes had structural differences in their feet, especially in relation to the configuration of the plantar arch.

In the image, you can compare the difference between a foot that walks barefoot and the other with only shoes. It is quite obvious to understand how our feet have undergone changes over the years due to the use of shoes.

“Society, it seems, is agreed that the human foot, as formed by nature, is coarse, vulgar, and of unsightly appearance, and that its width, especially at the toes, is excessive. It regards the small foot, and especially the narrow one, as beautiful. The dictates of fashion have more influence than reason.” - Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery [pdf]

The perfect anatomy

One thing we have to agree on: our feet today are no longer natural. This means that our generation does not have the same feet as our great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents, for example.

Of course, we're talking about its shape. After all, our feet still have 33 joints, 108 ligaments and 25 muscles.

And there's more: they make up 10% of our body weight.

Our feet are so important to our bodies that they are both flexible and rigid. Being flexible allows us to move in different ways, and their rigidity gives us strength for support and impact.

Furthermore, it has 4 important functions:

1 - Serves as a base and support to support the entire body;
2 - It is a super sensitive and important sensory organ;
3 - Absorbs impacts, preserving other parts of the body;
4 - It is a lever that drives movements.

Evolution: foot modifications

There is a law called “Wollf’s Law” that says:

“The structure of the human body changes with function”

And what does that mean?

When we wear shoes that are not suitable for our feet for a long time, they change depending on the action they are undergoing.

In other words, wearing a shoe that squeezes your toes will cause them - over time - to become deformed and lose their natural essence.

This is a factor resulting from fashion and aesthetics that have been dictating standards over the years that do not advocate health, but rather what is considered “beautiful”.

According to Isabel Sacco, Associate Professor at the USP School of Medicine and Coordinator of Labimph (FOFITO - FMUSP), there is a study that shows that the use of normal shoes for more than 9 years caused the cross-sectional area of ​​the foot to atrophy by 25% to 30%.

In other words, in a very straightforward way, you live, put on the shoes and lose muscle mass. It's that simple. And as a consequence, injuries, pain and deformities arrive.

The idea that soft, thick shoes “protect” our feet is a huge fallacy. After all, the more cushioned the shoe, the less you use your feet.

It's that old saying: in nature, you either use it or you lose it.

Barefoot = Feet of Tomorrow

To experience the freedom of our feet, respect human nature and benefit from the evolution of our body, FOT was born.

The barefoot sneaker brand that came to provide the experience of feeling everything beneath our feet.

With several different models, Feet of Tomorrow helps you choose the ideal barefoot sneakers for you.

It is possible to walk with protected feet and, at the same time, experience what our body provides us.

We just need to choose wisely what motivates us and what drives us to be better. And this can start by looking down at our best technology: our feet.