my issue with the human foot.

**Toho** · February 23, 2012, 08:47 PM

so I was wondering has anyone ever taken of their shoes and walked bare foot in a forest, desert, mountain and etc? well it hurts like hell when you step on a stone or any other hard/sharp object. my question is after all this time of 'evolution' is why is the human foot so unsuited to our land terrain? no other animal is having any issues in its habitat, they run, roll around and do other sorts of things that would leave us bruised and bloody.

why are the humans so weak? if we weren't intelligent were we doomed to extinction long before now?

**Timefool** · February 23, 2012, 08:55 PM

People wear shoes their entire lives so their feet don't need to become hard. Musicians grow callouses on their fingers because of the stress playing a string instrument puts on the finger for so long. Run barefoot for a long time and your feet will change like the fingers change.

**Toho** · February 23, 2012, 09:17 PM

my point was that the first/early humans didn't exactly have shoes, so why didn't their feet or skin become harder? were they hard before and got softer and weaker because we started wearing clothes and shoes?

**John I Tzimisces** · February 24, 2012, 09:34 PM

Originally Posted by Toho

my point was that the first/early humans didn't exactly have shoes, so why didn't their feet or skin become harder? were they hard before and got softer and weaker because we started wearing clothes and shoes?

Your feet are squishy and sensitive because you've worn shoes your whole life. So it's likely more of a "Life History" thing rather than something related to evolution. Understand this kind of thing is difficult to explore from an evolutionary standpoint because soft tissues (like skin, even if it's callused) simply don't preserve as well as bone.

That said the first footwear dates from around 10 thousand years ago, though it's possible/probable footwear came about before then.

**sumskilz** · February 24, 2012, 04:49 AM

When I was a kid I didn't wear shoes for most of the summer. Toward the beginning of the summer it kind of hurt walking outside, but by the end of the summer I could walk on a barnacle covered rocky beach without cutting my feet. The skin thickens with calluses fairly quickly.

**Vizsla** · February 24, 2012, 06:09 AM

If early humans did not have clothes then why would they have lost their hair?
If they had clothes then how hard would it be to do something about their feet?

I’ve been to places where some people didn’t wear shoes, ever. The toes spread down the outer side of the foot and the skin gets harder and looks rank, although that could just be a dirt issue.

It’s a lot healthier to run bare foot. This is because we naturally put the weight on the ball of the foot rather than on the heel when not wearing shoes. Shoes force us to put weight on the heel which is bad for the knee if you do a lot of running. So we’re not fully evolved for shoe wearing yet either.

**Adar** · February 24, 2012, 09:48 AM

Originally Posted by Captain Zapp Brannigan

It’s a lot healthier to run bare foot. This is because we naturally put the weight on the ball of the foot rather than on the heel when not wearing shoes. Shoes force us to put weight on the heel which is bad for the knee if you do a lot of running. So we’re not fully evolved for shoe wearing yet either.

A problem of course is that many of the muscles in our feet are weakened by constant use of shoes which makes it easy to pick up injuries by training too hard.

But for me bare foot running has pretty much saved my knees. My knees went to hell while playing American football on a very poor pitch (synthetic grass) during my teens. When I was 22 I started to run bare foot on sand dunes and then moved up to regular grass.

Nowadays I am able to play regular football without trouble as long as I mix it with bare footed running.

**EP!anastasi** · February 24, 2012, 08:20 AM

Originally Posted by sumskilz

When I was a kid I didn't wear shoes for most of the summer. Toward the beginning of the summer it kind of hurt walking outside, but by the end of the summer I could walk on a barnacle covered rocky beach without cutting my feet. The skin thickens with calluses fairly quickly.

Yeah, same here

Imagine what would happen to the skin (how much more it would toughen) if we did all that barefoot stuff for much longer, or maybe the whole time!

I had read a novel once with that subject (the hero of the novel hadn't wore shoes in his whole life, he was living on a greek island)

**Toho** · February 24, 2012, 01:38 PM

didn't adidas make this new shoe that looks like a human foot? it is mainly used for running though

at first i though it was silly but i guess it does serve a purpose...maybe i should buy it?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**Col. Tartleton** · February 24, 2012, 02:37 PM

They're sick but they don't make a 14 or 15 so I can't wear them. They do what a shoe should, protect the skin and improve traction. It always seemed weird our hands have gloves and our feet have shoes that don't look like feet.

**Copperknickers II** · February 25, 2012, 01:16 PM

If you walk on barefeet for a week, you get used to it. If you do it for two years, your feet will become hard. Same with hands and indeed the rest of you. Evolution only works on things which affect reproduction, not things which make life slightly uncomfortable.

**Akrotatos** · March 01, 2012, 08:32 AM

My grandfather's feet have so thick callouses that when I was young, me and my sister used to prick him with pins and any sharp object we could find while he was asleep....didn't feel a thing.

**Phier** · March 01, 2012, 09:05 AM

My wife is a marathon runner. She has a friend that runs marathons with her (and faster) barefoot (she is in pain wearing shoes to run). She does this on courses that are often in cities, with broken glass and all that. Shes only cut her foot once in a race.

**LSJ** · March 01, 2012, 02:45 PM

If you go without shoes since birth your feet will have strong muscles and tough skin, so pointy things don't hurt so much, and your skin isn't broken as easily. I like to go without shoes in the summer. At first, my feet are sensitive from wearing socks and shoes all winter. But by August, I develop tougher skin and spruce needles don't hurt.

Also, those "bare foot" shoes are great. I have a pair of FiveFingers. The difference is amazing; I have much better grip and can sprint way faster. They are a good alternative for people who want to go bare foot but still go to stores, drive, or just avoid getting stabbed by broken bottles (damn teenagers).