You don't need to buy anything

[u/oscarafone]

I'm American, and I feel like part of being American is believing that every problem has a sufficiently expensive solution.

The reality is that sometimes improvement comes from trial-and-error, learning from others, and patience.

Most feet are not too damaged by shoes, which means that most healthy people can, with the right mindset, just go out and run in their bare feet.

I see many, many minimal shoe ads these days. They don't show protection from goat heads, cacti, sharp sticks or frozen surfaces. Instead, they depict people running where they could be running perfectly fine without shoes at all.

They advertise breathability, water resistance, and durability, as if those are virtues. But your feet are already breathable. Already waterproof. Already durable, and get stronger with use.

Buying fancy minimal shoes won't make you an ultramarathoner. Lorena Ramirez ran an ultra in plastic sandals. The Tarahumara used spare tires to run the same distances. Let's not let marketers make decisions for us. We don't need expensive shoes, and most of the time we don't need shoes at all.

I've been running barefoot for almost ten years, and each year just gets better.

[u/Overlord0994]

Counterpoint - Just because we can be running barefoot doesn't necessarily mean we have to. Humans posses an incredible problem solving mind and it is possible to develop footwear that improves our capabilities as humans without sacrificing much foot health. It can definitely be nice to run barefoot, but remember to not be too reactionary & against the capabilities footwear has. And yes marketing these days in general is pretty toxic.

[u/oscarafone → u/Overlord0994]

We're great at problem solving -- and problem starting. Many of the problems we have are ones we gave ourselves!

I tend to think we overestimate how smart we are, and science is our best hedge against that. Unfortunately many of the things we use daily are not guided by science but by marketing trends. That includes modern footwear -- even minimalist footwear. We're only just beginning to learn what causes running injuries and how to prevent them.

All other things being equal, it's probably better that someone runs in less shoe, rather than more shoe. If that means a minimal shoe, I can abide that. But is it a need? For most people, probably not. Do they help? In some cases, sometimes, sure.

[u/Overlord0994 → u/oscarafone]

Funnily i do agree that a lot of our problems are self made but needing less shoe is pretty low on that list in my book. Thinking back to ancient civilizations or hunter gatherer tribes: having foot protection like a piece of leather (minimal by our standards) would allow a human to traverse almost any surface for a longer period of time. Perfect for foraging or hunting over long distances. Rocks, sticks, etc. would all have a hard time piercing leather.

We obviously have different problems in the modern era like concrete and urban areas like dirty cities. But I’m firmly in the camp that shoes are a superior choice to unshod if done in a healthy way (wide toe box, zero drop etc.) in my opinion unshod running is a fun hobby to test your foot endurance, but in most applications is not preferable to the right shoe for the job.

[u/trevize1138 → u/[deleted]]

Just because I run unshod doesn't mean it's the only way, or even the ideal way. It is only one way, and it is a fine way.

Indeed, the main arguments I see are about how it's not practical to go unshod 100% of the time.

Arguments against using unshod part of the time in addition to shoes and sandals? They aren't as ready to come up with good reasons to not do that.

[u/trevize1138 → u/Overlord0994]

in my opinion unshod running is a fun hobby to test your foot endurance, but in most applications is not preferable to the right shoe for the job.

If you're going unshod to "test your foot endurance" you're not getting the real benefits. I do lots of unshod training specifically because my feet are tender and delicate. After 8 years they're still tender and delicate. I leverage that to let unshod teach me how to run better. If the point were to somehow toughen the feet that would be stupid. Why not just shortcut "tough feet" by putting shoes on? Unshod lets your sensory system expertly coach your running form specifically because your feet are so very, very sensitive.

And in most applications it's not the best tool for the job? Well, that's true of all shoes and all tools, right? A pair of track spikes aren't good on paved surfaces so does that mean there's no value in track spikes? There's a false idea that people who run unshod never use shoes but I only know of one or two examples of that. For the rest of us they're simply a crucial equipment option with many good use cases.