PICTURE: PEXELS/BAREFOOT
Rediscover the easy, natural practice of walking barefoot and take a step toward wellness. This technique known as “earthing” or “grounding” has some surprising benefits that you may not have heard of.
These benefits are explored in the below publications:
Miguel Cunha, a podiatrist and founder of Gotham Footcare claims, “Walking barefoot strengthens the foot muscles, and therefore stronger muscles help promote better posture and balance of the entire body. It stimulates the receptors on the bottom of your feet, which can enhance proprioception, leading to better awareness of body position, posture, and improved balance.”
The above podiatrist also explains that because each foot has 19 muscles and tendons, strength is essential for maintaining an upright posture. The benefits of walking barefoot on soft ground extend to many muscles.
According to Jonathan Kaplan, a foot and ankle specialist and orthopaedic surgeon with Hoag Orthopaedic Institute, “The most straightforward benefit to barefoot walking is that in theory, walking barefoot more closely restores our ‘natural’ walking pattern, also known as our gait.”
Well+Goodstates that the concept of “earthing,” or “grounding,” holds that there are health benefits when the human body is in contact with the earth, such as when walking barefoot on grass or sand.
Grounding may enhance sleep and cortisol levels, lessen pain and stress, and hasten wound healing, according to a March 2015 study published in the Journal of Inflammation Research.
The health-focused publication Healthline provides more benefits of walking barefoot to relieve stress and inflammation, which include:
- Walking barefoot can result in better hip, knee, and core mechanics.
- Keeping a suitable range of motion in your ankle and foot joints; and have enough strength and stability in your muscles and ligaments.
- Relief from shoes that don’t fit well which can lead to foot abnormalities like hammertoes or bunions.
