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| Interesting?; Feet Hurt? Stop Wearing Shoes | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 22 2008, 11:33 AM (221 Views) | |
| M&M's | Apr 22 2008, 11:33 AM Post #1 |
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Fulla-Carp
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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...toryId=89830802 The Bryant Park Project, April 22, 2008 · It took 4 million years of evolution to perfect the foot, and humans have been wrecking that perfection with every step since they first donned shoes, New York magazine's Adam Sternbergh says. "Everyone who wears shoes walks wrong," he says, echoing the headline of his recent article, "You Walk Wrong." Sternbergh calls the ubiquity of footwear a "conspiracy of idiocy." He points out the probability that at no point did any shoemaker say, "Let's design something that works with your foot." In the Middle Ages, for example, people began wearing shoes with higher heels to avoid stepping in other people's excrement. Today, high heels are considered sexy. Whatever their reasons for wearing the shoes they wear, people don't usually consider whether a shoe actually works with their foot, he says. The human foot works pretty well on its own, Sternbergh says, and it doesn't need a lifetime of help from shoes. He explains the basic illogic of footwear by comparing the concept to a perpetual cast. "Imagine if someone put a cast on your arm when you were 3 years old and you never took it off," he says. "Your arm would stop working. That's kind of what's happened with our feet." Sternbergh cites a 1940s study of barefoot rickshaw drivers in India. Scientists found that the drivers had unusually healthy feet. Sternbergh says subsequent evidence supports the conclusion that feet don't need shoes. Why are shoes on virtually every foot, then? Sternbergh says the rationale that most urban and suburban people use is that the ground is hard and our feet need the cushioning of footwear. "But in many places in the world, the ground is quite hard," he says. "[Our ancestors] were able to absorb the shock." Sternbergh concedes that in most settings, some form of foot covering makes sense. "I'm not going to convince anyone to walk barefoot," he says, acknowledging that he continues to wear shoes as a bulwark against glass, grime and gross things. He may still wear shoes, but Sternbergh has switched to a model from England called the Vivo Barefoot from the Clark shoe family. Galahad Clark, son of the inventor of the Wallabee — a particularly successful, if traditional, shoe — helped develop the Vivo Barefoot. Sternbergh says the shoe is basically a slipper with a Kevlar sole, to prevent puncturing. "They kill your heels," he says. "A traditional shoe advocate would say you need to switch back to sneakers that have a big cushiony heel." But a barefoot-walking advocate would say, "You're walking wrong," Sternbergh says. He asked Clark for advice or instruction, but Clark said walking in the shoe is instinctual. "You'll find that your walk starts to change," Sternbergh says. "You land on your heel, but it's a much softer landing. ... A traditional shoe with a lot of cushioning is designed to allow you to walk with the bad habits that you have because you've been wearing shoes all your life." For those who cling to their typical footwear, Sternbergh is sympathetic. "Shoes perpetuate shoes," he says, referring to the cycle of coddled feet forever needing high-tech swaddling. "It's a classic self-perpetuating system." |
| My child shows GOOD CHARACTERIZATION in an ongoing game of D&D | |
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| DivaDeb | Apr 22 2008, 11:42 AM Post #2 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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tap dancing without shoes is damn near impossible |
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| Axtremus | Apr 22 2008, 11:49 AM Post #3 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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You dance wrong |
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| DivaDeb | Apr 22 2008, 11:51 AM Post #4 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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nun uh...I'm a pro :lol: |
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| Aqua Letifer | Apr 22 2008, 12:00 PM Post #5 |
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ZOOOOOM!
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I've thought the same thing for a long time now. I can easily see this as being a "use it or lose it" kind of scenario. The human body can adapt in amazing ways when faced with environmental stressors. Hard surfaces don't seem to be too hard of a thing to beat. |
| I cite irreconcilable differences. | |
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| JBryan | Apr 22 2008, 12:04 PM Post #6 |
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I am the grey one
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Marcel Marceau could do it. |
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"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it". Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody. Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore. From The Lion in Winter. | |
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| Kincaid | Apr 22 2008, 02:41 PM Post #7 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I was thinking of a kevlar sandal. |
| Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006. | |
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| Mikhailoh | Apr 22 2008, 07:56 PM Post #8 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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Shoes and socks are the devil's handiwork. I wear them as seldom as possible. |
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| sue | Apr 23 2008, 08:06 AM Post #9 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Anybody else remember the 'earth shoe' from the 70's? They had a negative heel, which sounds like what these new shoes are doing as well. Letting your feet, and body move as if you were barefoot. I wonder if they weren't so butt ugly if the idea would have stuck around longer. I kick off my shoes/sandals at every opportunity. Barefoot is best.
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| DivaDeb | Apr 23 2008, 08:22 AM Post #10 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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The Earth Shoe was really only wearable for people with very flat feet. If you had a decent arch, it was a recipe for tendonitis. Barefoot is quite a bit different than a deliberate hyperextension of the achilles by placing the heel lower than the toes. If you're barefoot, the foot is level unless you're walking uphill or downhill. Wearing Earth Shoes was like walking uphill all the time, which was pretty bad for that tendon in people with normal feet. |
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| sue | Apr 23 2008, 08:55 AM Post #11 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Yes, I've been looking, and it seems they've figured this out....the 'new' earth shoes look much like what was described in M&M's article; quite flat soles. |
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