An article about shoes, feet and going barefoot

[rhythmia]

I was link hopping and read a fascinating article today, "You Walk Wrong" in New York Magazine, here: http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/

First off- the trompe l'oeil pictures of shoes painted on people's bare feet were cooooool. :D

Comments

[artemidora]

Is there a better way to walk in those? I get the same problem with heeled shoes or shoes with no straps, like most work shoes where the top is open. It makes me floppy walk because I'm stepping *out* of my shoes since they don't follow my foot as it rolls across from heel to toe. Suggestions?

Dude, no suggestions, because I don't know that either. I absolutely cannot walk in those kinds of shoes, and I have *no idea* how other people do it. I mean, I suspect that part of it is that they take smaller steps than I do? (Because I do take much bigger steps and land harder on my heel when I have shoes on, just like the article said, oh yes. In fact, it's always kind of annoyed me that I can't take the same long steps when I'm barefoot. Oops?) But smaller steps don't seem to be even *close* to all of it, so I think maybe they sacrifice pigeons or otherwise perform magic. :-P So for several years my solution has been to just always buy shoes with straps over the top, if they're not closed entirely, because I *hate* having to constantly work to keep my shoes on.

And I too love going barefoot indoors, to check the mail, etc. (Right *now* the floor's not clean and I don't like how that feels on my feet, so, er, my solution is to wear moccasins. Instead of, you know, cleaning the floor. :-P) And in the winter I usually wear the mocs or some slippers or something, but they're all soft-soled and more like walking barefoot than with proper shoes on. (Also, it strikes me as kind of weird that that person told you to leave your shoes on. I mean, making sure that you know that it's not house rules that you *have* to take your shoes off, so you know you have the option, sure. But preventing you? Seems kind of rude. Unless I'm misreading the situation.)

Finally, my shoe wear patterns: outside heel, inside toe. Actually, looking more closely, I suppose it's just the toe, period, but it seems inside as compared to where the heel is because of the shape of the shoe. In one episode of Life on Mars, which is set in 1973, a character mentions heel taps, which are sort of bits of rubber or something that you can put on the worn-down bit of your heel to extend the life of the shoe. I would *love* to try those out, but searching for heel taps just gets me, you know, tap shoes. So I don't know if there's another term for them that might be more useful for finding them.

I originally typed that heel taps extend the life of the show. Er. Well, yes, that kind of magic could be very useful, too. :-P

[rhythmia]

Halloooo! *careful glomp*

Ahh, you're no help. :P I pretty much refused point blank as a child to wear any shoes that weren't sneakers or didn't have straps of some sort. But I'm kinda stuck with my work shoes. Over the course of the last year I've more or less got the hang of walking in them, but I still often have the situation where the back hem of my pant legs get caught in my shoes when my heels come back down into the shoes. ^^;;; orz Maybe I need to sacrifice some pigeons or squirrels?

Hmmm, moccasins. I may have to look into those. or the flat black ballet/martial arts shoes that people mentioned in the comments for working in, something that breathes better than my work flats.

Also, it strikes me as kind of weird that that person told you to leave your shoes on. Well, they didn't force me. But in several homes I've asked if it's a shoes on or a shoes off house, and I've been told, keep them on, keep them on! Because the floor's cold, or dirty, or whatever whatever and it's weird to them that I want to be barefoot. (well, they don't say the last bit, haha) My house is a shoes off house, personally, and my friends have been trained to toe off their shoes, but we've always let people know that it's not an issue if they prefer to keep their shoes on, especially for the guests just dropping in briefly. And then my grandma goes and scrubs at the carpet after they leave. XD

Heel taps! My mom used to have them on her work pumps, little plastic bits with little tiny nails pushed into the old heel. I asked my mom about them tonight, and it turns out that she didn't buy them. My other grandma would cannibalize the rubber soles off my and my brother's old sneakers and cut out pieces. Traditional craftsmanship, hehe. So you could try that, and I think Payless and other shoe stores might have something like that (I don't know if there's Payless shoe stores out where you are, though).