Let’s go way back… One of the traits that uniquely separates the human species from other primates is our upright posture where we walk around on 2 legs. We are bipedal. Based on fossil evidence, anthropologists estimate that this bipedalism evolved in early human species maybe 4 million years ago…
But another uniquely human trait that is more recent on the scene is our use of clothing and footwear. Today we’re going to explore how our modern footwear is messing with the original design of our feet.
Meredith’s guest has great insight into this topic. Dr. Daniel Howell is a Professor of Biology at Liberty University where he teaches human anatomy & physiology. As an avid barefoot runner and hiker, Dr. Howell was nicknamed the “Barefoot Professor” by his students, and in 2010 published a book called, The Barefoot Book, in which he advocates going barefoot more often to improve your health.
Meredith and Dr. Howell chat about comfort, alignment, what shoes do to the shape of your foot, how they restrict and change the biomechanics of your feet, how the real barrier to going barefoot is cultural, how it’s legal to be barefoot, how going barefoot can improve neuropathy, how it can be therapeutic, and some easy ways to ease into being barefoot more often. Try some barefoot sandals on for size!
Oh, and Meredith shares her data collection methods.