What are the benefits of going barefoot? | Peter Attia and Courtney Conley

This clip is from episode 296 ‒ Foot health: preventing and treating common injuries, enhancing strength and mobility, picking footwear, and more with Courtney Conley, D.C. Courtney Conley is an internationally renowned foot and gait specialist.

In this clip, they discuss:

- How do flat feet develop?
- How does footwear impact foot shape?
- How often should kids be barefoot?
- And more

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About:

The Peter Attia Drive is a deep-dive podcast focusing on maximizing longevity, and all that goes into that from physical to cognitive to emotional health. With over 90 million episodes downloaded, it features topics including exercise, nutritional biochemistry, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, mental health, and much more.

Peter Attia is the founder of Early Medical, a medical practice that applies the principles of Medicine 3.0 to patients with the goal of lengthening their lifespan and simultaneously improving their healthspan.

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[SydneyBristow]

I never thought I'd find a conversation like this so interesting, but I recently got back into working out. Prior to that I was having issues with pain in my feet and swelling in my ankles. It was what pushed me to start eating better, working out and generally looking for wellness tips. ❤ 👟

[curtislund]

I love listening to you guys discuss foot issues, especially about the kids!

[puggirl]

I'm looking forward to listening to the whole podcast. As someone who has been actively trying to change/improve their gait and posture while walking I've been hopeful that this will help me stabilize my body which is hypermobile so everything starts from the feet up.

I'm wearing the wide toe box shoes and using toe separators to increase my toe splay. Most important is I am finding safe places to intentionally go barefoot every day for at least 30 minutes. It was initially just to get healing from the earth but I also noticed that my feet hurt less and feel stronger from these barefoot walks. Living in an urban city makes getting barefoot time outside a little tough but I am always bare foot in my home. Doing rebounding also seems to help the feet be flexible and strong as well.

[Dinu-barefoot]

Why do some people like to walk barefoot ?
- Motivations range from a desire to reconnect with nature and to seek a spiritual connection to needing to ease physical pain. Among the people we spoke to for this piece, a few choose to be barefoot at all times, while others wear shoes during winters or when stepping into establishments that mandate footwear.
- Pleasureful: The point of walking barefoot is to experience the pleasure of feeling the surface beneath your feet. The sensations are marvelous: cool, warm, textured, plush, smooth, rough. In anything in life, if you can experience the sensations of whatever you're doing, this is a beautiful thing.
I know many reasons for walking barefoot (more than 100), but none for walking in shoes. Maybe just for fashion ! 🦶🏼☺🦶🏼
In fact, "Going barefoot is the gentlest way of walking and can symbolise a way of living — being authentic, vulnerable, sensitive to our surroundings.
It’s the feeling of enjoying warm sand beneath our toes, or carefully making our way over sharp rocks in the darkness.
It’s a way of living that has the lightest impact, removing the barrier between us and nature".— Adele Coombs, “Barefoot Dreaming”.

[vivarc]

Such an important topic! Good health starts from the ground up.

[keneticchannel]

Because I got into barefoot-style minimalist shoes years ago, my son has been in them most of his life. A friend of mine accidentally bought the wrong size children's Air Jordans, so he gifted them to my son. He wore them to one event where a playground was around. Man, it looked like Frankenstein's monster had possessed his lower body. We took the shoes off, put his thin-flat-wide minimalist shoes on, and then he ran like his usual gazelle self.

[viccikane]

Nia dance fitness is a barefoot dance class. It healed my plantar fasciitis and it is a fun and great experience

[magicalfrijoles]

I'd love to hear a podiatrist weigh in on this.

[sidrens]

I train all my athletes in the gym barefoot! They came to me with flat feet and after two years have a neutral medial foot arch!!! Heavy squatting, deadlifting and unilateral exercises all barefoot!

The foot has more receptors anywhere in the body - we feel everything through our feet and our only feedback to the ground below us!

[shay-doran]

Thank you for sharing this Peter. I really enjoyed the mix of new information & your questions on how to apply it in reality, every day life.

[claritstv]

Great topic! I love going barefoot as long as i could ❤❤❤ thank you for this video

[davegoslingphoto]

Because I am a surfer was always barefoot..
And the shoes I used went with the fashion instead of what's good for my feet.

Would love to go barefoot more but have developed Mortons Neuroma... Out of the question too much anymore.

[patriciajoy]

I have been in Barefoot Shoes for about a month. I am 67, have peripheral neuropathy in feet, severe hammer toes n bunions n 90 lbs over weight. Where can i gi fir help...i fear i may lose my mobility or fall. Portland Oregon, thanks so much. I loved you and Dr. Courtney's interaction.

[oliviamitchell]

This is true!!! I’ve worn flip flops my whole life and go barefoot when I can! I have a very high arch and my feet never hurt

[bogse]

Oh yea, I had USA room mate walking with shows on inside, even in autumn when raining and floors were all dirty (I remember him wondering how the floor is so dirty and I was thinking are you stupid or something walking with dirty muddy shoes inside and wondering why the floor doesnt clean itself). Its american style to be shoes on inside, not in Scandinavia at least, I guess not in elsewere in Europe neither.

[coastalbrake]

I did 4 months of barefoot, and got SI joint pain, knee pain, and bursitis all at once. I'm back on shoes, and everything feels much better. I'm sorry, but at least for some people, shoes are better.

[JohnHarrerHorses]

I flex my ankles and they make a loud clicking noise. It's embarrassing. 😢 I'm 70 now, I remember them clicking all the way down the aisle of my first communion. In high school I ran cross country and they never bothered me, but something doesn't seem right.

[Sunshinysky]

My adult daughter is a professional ballet dancer with a beautiful arch. She ran around barefoot as much as she could get away with in our warm climate! Hmmm…. I never thought that may have contributed. Interesting!

[dashroundaustralia]

I do my weights at my home gym barefoot and my HIIT sprints in my vibram 5 finger shoes

[Viracocha]

I am always barefoot in the house. I also workout barefoot at home. Wide toe box shoes for the most part, still looking for a quality wide toe box boot that's worth a damn.