One common theme we see in healthcare is talking about what is ‘natural’.
A ‘natural’ way to move.
A ‘natural’ diet.
‘Natural’ medication/s.
One particular area that comes up clinically is footwear.
The theory goes, shoes aren’t natural, ergo we should all be barefoot. Or to be more precise, we should all *buy* barefoot shoes – an oxymoron we have to live with 🙃.
(Bias disclaimer; I own and wear barefoot shoes)
And whilst this is a lovely idealism, ‘natural’ doesn’t always mean ‘best’.
Modern science and research driven developments have changed modern life to an unrecognisable state.
… And I agree not all of these modifications are positive … 🤳🏼
However, without modern medicine, life expectancy in the UK would be around half what it currently is. This is because of a number of things which have improved quality and length of life, but is primarily because of the improvement in modern medicine and the development of antibiotics and of course … vaccines (*runs and hides).
But it goes far wider than that.
- Your glasses aren’t natural.
- Hearing aids aren’t natural.
- Wheelchairs and prostheses aren’t natural.
- Toothpaste is not natural.
- Operations aren’t natural.
- 70% of (first) childbirths are not natural.
- How you travel long distance is not natural.
- Buying strawberries in the UK in December is not natural.
- The supplements you take are not natural.
So why is it we obsess about footwear in particular?
Once upon a time footwear didn’t exist, so of course feet were more robust.
But feet were also were not subjected to running at threshold pace on concrete paths 3-4 times per week.
Or to 100kg loaded on a barbell on your back.
And feet were far more conditioned to long range travel on foot.
They were more robust because lifestyle demanded it, all day every day, and so feet adapted to the job at hand.
Modern living does not have these demands – it has very different demands, and there are modern ways to offset the demands.
As above, I own barefoot shoes and find them comfortable for day-to-day, indoor living, and short range outdoor activity. I have nothing against them. Natural is just a very odd stick to beat ‘normal’ shoes with. It makes no sense, particularly from an injury reduction perspective. Read more about this here
People advocate natural, but it’s easy to forget that without all of the aforementioned developments we are left with a 35 year life expectancy.
So if you have a Time Machine and want to start again from birth with your intrinsic foot mechanics, it would be a fun experiment to never put a shoe on.
If you can’t do that, please don’t beat yourself up about the shoe you want to wear, just because someone on Instagram with an affiliation code told you they are not “natural” 🙏🏼