According to Dr. Emily Splichal,
- Everyone can safely benefit from barefoot training
- Because the human body is interconnected, any imbalance in the foot must impact the lower leg, which travels to the hip and pelvis, and then continues to the thoracic spine and shoulder.
- Just like how you can lose the strength in your quads or biceps if you stop lifting weights, the muscles in the feet can also atrophy with disuse
- Simply walking around barefoot begins to strengthen the small muscles in the feet to the point that subjects saw an increase in medial arch height
- To improve foot mobility, Dr. Splichal recommends stretching or trigger point release at least 10 minutes a day – as well as standing on golf balls at least 5 minutes.
- No shoe has brought as much attention to foot health as Vibram Five Fingers and the minimalist category, but they are still different from being completely barefoot.
- Dr. Splichal does not recommend barefoot running as a foot strengthening exercise, but also recommends incorporating barefoot training – and foot strengthening techniques – for both beginner and advanced barefoot runners.
Resource: http://www.builtlean.com/2012/10/31/barefoot-training-emily-splichal/
