Barefoot transition how long

Adding some barefoot time to your foot health and minimalist shoe transition regimen can be extremely helpful in ensuring a smooth and injury-free shift. Spending at least some time barefoot, even if only around the house, can help condition the soles of your feet and strengthen your foot and toe muscles, accelerating the foot adaptations that occur with Correct Toes use and minimalist shoe wearing in a safe and constructive manner.

Performing certain exercises at home or at work can help with your transition from conventional to minimalist shoes. The most helpful exercises you can perform include the Toe Extensor Stretch , the Big Toe Stretch , the Hammertoe Stretch , the Ball Rolling Exercise we like using the Naboso Neuro Ball for this one , and other exercises that help strengthen your intrinsic foot muscles. These exercises, when performed consistently, help relax tight muscles and tendons and build long-term foot strength and resiliency.

For the best possible outcome, perform these exercises at least several times each day. Using healthy minimalist shoes—shoes that are widest at the ends of your toes, have a flexible sole, are lightweight, and possess a completely flat support platform—offers the possibility of profound and enduring foot health benefits.

Your feet and body are amazingly adaptable and will indeed strengthen if treated appropriately. But this remarkable adaptation works best with patience, diligence, perseverance, and a progressive approach. It is an investment well worth making, as it will pay foot health dividends for an entire lifetime. If you have any questions about any aspect of transitioning from conventional shoes to minimalist footwear, please contact us.

Robyn Hughes, ND Dr. Robyn Hughes is a naturopathic physician, or ND, with a special interest in natural foot health and sports medicine.

Robyn trained extensively with renowned sports podiatrist and natural foot care specialist, Dr. Ray McClanahan. Robyn is a co-founder of Natural Footgear, a founding member of the Natural Foot Health Institute, a freelance health writer, and a regular speaker at foot care teaching events. Let the team at Natural Footgear help you!

Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest offers and helpful info, and sign up for our FREE email courses on various topics and foot health conditions. We are here to help you every step of the way. Get our newsletter for the latest offers and helpful info, and sign up for our FREE email courses on various topics and conditions, including bunions, hammertoes, neuromas, plantar fasciosis, shin splints, ingrown toenails, and more.

Robyn and I are often stopped on hiking and running trails by fellow outdoor enthusiasts who Read more Comments June 17, Sherry I have had two surgeries for a neuroma. Thank you for your message. And thank you for checking out our article. To help guide you in your transition to minimalist shoes and to help you better understand natural approaches to neuromas, I have included some resources here:. Neuromas and Natural Foot Health: www.

Neuromas: Conventional vs. Natural Approaches: www. I tried to convert to barefoot shoes but I seem to have some overpronation issues that cause pain in my hips. Do you have any suggestions on exercises to fix the pronation?

Thank you for your comment and question. This video is extremely helpful on both counts:. So, overpronation occurs when the big toe is forced into a deviated position by conventional footwear. My suspicion is that your experience may have been different had your shoes possessed a sufficiently wide toe box to allow for natural toe splay. Proper toe alignment especially proper big toe alignment enables natural arch support and helps prevent overpronation. Foot Arch Strengthening Exercise: www.

I live in a very hilly area. How will the hills affect my transition? Also, can any of the shoes you promote be worn to play tennis? Thank you for your comment. There are some very important factors to consider when making the transition, and the type of activity and terrain definitely come into play. Walking up and down hills is significantly more strenuous than walking on the flats, and it can take some time for the proper adaptations to occur in the lower leg, especially as it concerns the Achilles tendon and the muscles and other tissues near the shin not to mention the foot itself.

As your feet and lower legs strengthen and you gain foot and toe flexibility, you can increase the amount of time you wear the shoes and take casual walks up and downhill.

I hope this information has been helpful. I need a shoe that has a wide toe box for hammertoes and a thin sole. Plus they must be lightweight. I have severe neuropathy and have difficulty walking with a thick-soled shoe. I also need to wear a shoe that has a narrow heel area. Do you make a shoe like this?

We have a number of footwear options that fit your criteria. In Altra shoes, we offer the Vali and the Escalante, both of which have very wide toe boxes and a relatively narrow heel:.

In Lems shoes, we offer the Primal 2 and Boulder Boot. The Primal 2 is excellent for a variety of activities, including walking, gym workouts, hiking, and general everyday use. The Boulder Boot is an extremely versatile and minimalist boot that can be worn hiking or around town:. We also carry the Ahinsa Ananda Ballerina, which is a dress shoe, or a more stylish everyday shoe.

These heel cups are helpful for a variety of foot problems, and they can also serve to provide a more snug and comfortable fit in the heel. I hope this information is helpful!

If we can help with anything else moving forward, please do let us know! Thank you so much for this article! I desperately want to make the switch to minimalist shoes, but I am having difficulty deciding exactly when and how to transition. Some background: I have a 7 mm skeletal leg length difference. I still had and have a lot of foot pain, and I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis. Should I decrease the heel lift gradually?

Or wear minimalist shoes, but continue to wear a lift? Most folks with a skeletal leg length discrepancy tend to do best with a full-length foot lift, so that the heel alone is not elevated. You might consider chatting with a local foot care provider to get additional insights about how to simultaneously manage your leg length discrepancy and your desire to transition to minimalist shoes.

My son has been wearing conventional shoes his whole life, but over the past 3 years after switching to homeschooling , he has largely gone barefoot around the house, putting his conventional shoes on to go outdoors, which usually is about 30 minutes, if he goes out at all we live in Montana, so we have cold and snowy winters. With his mostly-barefoot living, yet relatively limited time on his feet, how should I begin?

Barefoot shoes, or transitional footwear? Thank you so much! A lot of the shoe companies that we feature on our site include at least one or two options for kids, and there are other companies out there e. Unfortunately, I may have transitioned too fast out of my Keens because I am getting lots of top and side of the foot soreness. I love your website. Oh, and I am a hiker, not a runner. I think your plan to at least temporarily take a few steps back and then slowly begin the transition process again is a good one.

Sometimes it takes a few tries before everything clicks. Remember, foot rehabilitation is a long-term game, and there may occasionally be setbacks along the way.

I did want to share one additional resource from our site with you. I am concerned that the zero drop is too much for me, and I am wondering if it is possible to use a heel lift or heel cup in the Lems temporarily to increase the ratio? Fail to do so, and no shoe, or lack of shoe, will make a difference. Wait a couple days and either try barefoot again, or go for a run in your regular shoes. This is a much more natural and gentle motion, but it puts your calves to work!

If you run seven-minute miles, expect to run eight or even nine-minute miles at first when learning barefoot technique. Give yourself at least a few months. If you try to maintain perfect barefoot technique and immediately focus on speed, you will likely hurt yourself or your form will suffer. How to Safely Transition to Barefoot Running.

Brian, you need to immediately change your loading pattern with this injury. Hi, Is barefoot running for everyone? I am running on Vibram KSO for about a year now but keep going with injuries. I've started pretty slowly minutes with my vibrams and took about 4 months to finish a 5k. Then all my runs were on Vibrams. No more pain to my back have 2 hernia but since then I'm having 'Periostitis' and now a 'fracture' to my left foot.

The doctor says it's a fracture to the Metatarse, the third one I think. After my perisotitis I went back to training but very slowly Runing 1 minute, walking one minute, then 2 minutes, then 3 minutes and so on, It's a 12 weeks program to get back to a 20 minutes straight run.

So I am wondering if I should keep going running barefoot? Daniele First, get one thing straight Barefoot running is running barefoot nothing between you and the ground. If you have a metatarsal stress fracture it is because your technique is wrong and you are striking the ground too hard with your forefoot. This will clarify many things and get you off on the right foot pun intended.

Thanks Jay, We do this at our running shoe store Two Rivers Treads and give a handout on progression. Have not had the runners coming back injured and most get it. The test i think is a nice governor to reinforce the gradual transition. For those with hallux valgus like myself a correction called Correct Toes is a miracle.

I wear them running barefoot and in shoes. Thanks for the article, it is very informative, however i am trying to transition to some saucony kinvara and then at some point would like to move to my merrell trail gloves which I wear for everyday use for now.

I have good flexibility in my toes and achilles and can do all these tests that are mentioned. Is this something that is normal? Keith, Thanks for the note. Try the Merrells and maybe do some short distances of true barefoot. Thanks a million for this article! I've been transitioning to the Altra zero drop Intuitions and I really love them.

But - over the past weeks I've had pain in my FHL to varying degrees in both feet. Funny thing is that the pain switches between feet. I'll have it in my right foot for a couple of weeks then my left, then back to my right. Today I started a run with soreness in my left foot and when I got home the left was "cured" and the right hurt!

The article gave me great insight on this and the exercises should help a lot. Richard Shay. I run with a cushioned shoe and have had injuries. I also have scoliosis and have to wear a lift in my left shoe or my left hip lowers.

Can i use natural running techniques with a traditional i. OR should i transition to a minimalist shoe and use the lift? Richard these are great questions and without seeing you do not want to make specific suggestions. A few keyconcepts though. For running the leg length difference matters little to none Standing and walking it makes a difference. So you are best to run with shoes where you can feel the ground and stabilize well and equally.

You can try torun "natural" with a traditional shoe but it is difficult as the heel gets in the way and puts your ankle into plantar flexion Find a good Athletic Trainer or PT to assess your movement patterns. Hello, Thanks for the article and great website. I have began running about 6 months ago and have been plagued by injuries.

First was my right hip. I was training for a 5k and found that my pace was too fast and my foream was poor overstriding and heel strikning. I took a month off from running and did some research. I've tried to put their suggests to into my running. I was aware of the risk of transitioning too quickly and the risk for stress fractures so I simply walked in them for 2 weeks. Then I starting running 3 miles at a very slow pace. I focussed on my form, trying to land on my forefoot, picking up my heals, leaning with my ankles.

I trained for a 10K and completed it. Hip pain resolved. However now my plantar fasciitis has returned. So annoying. Do you think I transitioned too quickly? Should I have gone to a neutral shoe first like Nike Frees? I've watched the sock docs video on plantar fasciitis and have been doing the scruntching a towel under your toes exercise every night as well as massaging my soleus. I've also iced my plantar fascia. I really want this problem to get better before I resume my running.

Any suggestions would be much appreicated. Hung, Congrats on taking up the challenge to be fully well. Yes the transition is gradual though. Think every mile is reps with 3 times your body weight. See most recent home page post.