You had assumed that your feet stopped growing with the rest of you once you reached adulthood, yet you keep hearing that walking barefoot can cause your feet to grow. You had been interested in switching to barefoot shoes before this, but now your interest has undoubtedly piqued. Is it true? Can your feet grow from walking barefoot?
Yes, going barefoot for long enough can make your feet look and feel bigger, which is how they seemingly grow. This isn’t true growth, but rather, the natural state of your feet in the absence of constricting shoes.
In this article, we’ll expound further on the fascinating research about whether being barefoot helps your feet grow bigger. We’ll also provide some tips for adjusting to barefoot life so you too can treat your feet better!
When Do Your Feet Stop Growing?
If you were under the impression that your feet and the rest of you stop growing at some point in your development, you’re not incorrect. According to this Healthline article, men generally reach their max height when they’re 18 to 20 years old.
It was once believed that you’re a fully mature adult at the age of 18, but an NPR article from 2011 suggests maturity could take until 25. Even if that is the case, your feet stop growing long before that.
By the time you’re 14 years old through 16, your feet are mostly done growing, and their growth slows. For males and females, foot growth is considered finished by the time they’re 20.
Do Your Feet Grow from Walking Barefoot?
If that’s the case, then how can your feet grow if you walk barefoot? A Quora poster explains it best. “If you adopt 24/7 barefooting and stick to it for a couple of years, your feet will broaden, especially at the ball and toes and your big toe will open. The skin will thicken all over, not only on your soles.
To the people around you, your feet will look ‘swollen.’ But this is what normal feet actually look like, if they are not always compressed in shoes.”
That’s the keyword there, compression. When you wear shoes, even your roomiest, comfiest shoes that fit you like a glove, you’re still compressing your feet. That’s why you get as much relief as you do when you finally take your shoes off after a long day of being on your feet.
So imagine if you wear shoes every single day. Your feet will look as they do now, narrow. However, you have no frame of reference for how your feet should look because you probably live with other people who wear shoes all the time as well. Your friends and family likely do the same because that’s what we’re taught to do as children.
What do you think would happen if you went barefoot every day? Well, you don’t just have to imagine it. As we talked about in the intro, there’s a 2018 article from Independent in the UK that’s quite eye-opening.
In the article, the writers surveyed 714 New Zealand schoolchildren, all boys. Even though the boys attended a high-end school and thus had a choice to don footwear (or not to), a good portion of the boys–45 percent–were barefoot “most of the time.”
These students were so used to barefoot life that it wasn’t unfathomable for them to run between 100 and 3,000 meters shoeless on hard surfaces.
So what did Independent find? For one, “the main developmental result of growing up in shoes appears to be a narrower foot path and a lower arch. The result of this is more concentrated pressure at the heel and the ball of the foot during movement.”
We’ll talk more in a little bit about how living and running barefoot can prevent pain. For now, let’s wrap up about whether you’ll experience foot growth when you’re barefoot often enough.
It goes back to what that Quora poster said. Your feet will become uncompressed after you quit wearing shoes, and this can make them look swollen. That gives the appearance of growth, as your feet are certainly larger than they were when you were wearing shoes. However, if you’re over 21, your feet aren’t truly growing.
Getting back to the results of the Independent’s study, the boys who ran barefoot had less leg pain compared to students about their age. Why would any kids have leg pain, you ask? It’s due to a bad habit that many shoe wearers do that’s called heel striking.
This is something we’ve talked about on the blog before, but it’s been a while, so here’s a refresher. When you run or walk, you hit the ground with a part of your foot. This is called foot striking.
Heel striking is how most people walk and run. When you heel strike, you’re hitting the ground with the back of your foot. To do this, you usually have to overstride, which means extending your knees. This can lead to knee injuries.
Some people strike the ground with their mid-foot, which causes you to balance your weight on your ankles, knees, and hips. Forefoot striking is when your forefoot hits the ground first. Your weight distribution is now mostly on your toes and the ball of your foot.
Is It Too Late for Your Feet to Grow If You Just Started Walking Barefoot Now?
The takeaway of the Independent study was that children need to spend considerable time barefoot to benefit their foot development as their feet are still growing.
What if you’re a physically mature adult who’s worn shoes all your life to this point and is now reconsidering? Can your feet go back to the size they’re originally intended to be?
Although there’s not a wealth of research on the topic, it appears the answer is yes. If you remember the Quora poster who chimed in, they said it can take years for your feet to widen. It might be that long for you, or it very well could be even less time.
For the days when you can’t walk around truly barefoot, the next best thing is to wear barefoot shoes. This style of footwear features a wide toe box so your toes aren’t constricted as well as thin soles that provide a sensation of being barefoot but still offer protection from hard, uneven terrain.
You can learn everything you need to know about barefoot shoes on this blog, and we have plenty of reviews and product recommendations too. Please take a look!
Tips for Adjusting to Barefoot Life
The longer you’ve worn shoes, the more difficult the transition to going barefoot will be. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it! Your feet will be much happier in the long run, but how do you get to that point?
Here are some tips.
Start Slowly
You can’t quit shoes cold turkey, as that’s too jarring on your body. What you must do instead is slowly acclimate over two months. Yes, we said two months!
For the first week of the first month, wear barefoot shoes or be barefoot for no longer than an hour per day. By the second week, you should go barefoot for two hours, then three hours on the third week and four hours on the fourth week.
As you enter your second month of transitioning into the barefoot lifestyle, by that first week, you should be barefoot or wearing barefoot shoes for up to five hours per day. Start your second week with six hours of being barefoot a day, then seven hours on the third week and eight hours by the fourth week.
Transitioning gradually like this can lessen the aches and pains that will occur as your feet adjust to you not wearing shoes.
Walk on Soft Terrain First
When you do walk barefoot, where should you go? We recommend starting in your own home. Feel the softness of the carpeting underneath you and the coolness of the tile or the hardwood. Your feet are great at feeling things considering each foot has more than 200,000 nerve endings!
Next, take a walk outside without shoes on. Experience the dewiness of the grass or the soft firmness of sand. Start with this softer terrain first, as it’s more forgiving on your feet. You’re still transitioning out of heel striking, so the less injurious the ground you’re walking on, the better.
Perhaps a few weeks in, maybe even a month in or a little over, you can start walking barefoot on hard terrain. Go slow and listen to your body, taking a break or stopping altogether if you’re in pain.
Wear Toe Spacers
Correct Toes are toe spacers created by Dr. Ray McClanahan, a podiatrist, and we very much recommend them. Wearing toe spacers allows your feet to distribute your body weight evenly and also limits overpronation. All feet have pronation or landing movement, but overpronation is often a result of heel striking.
As you wear Correct Toes often, the tendons and muscles in your feet will get stronger, which will make barefoot walking even easier!
Conclusion
Although your feet don’t grow per se once you’re past the physically mature age of 21, they are being constricted in everyday footwear. Once you stop wearing shoes or you start wearing barefoot shoes, your feet can widen again. We hope this article has inspired you to give barefoot living a try! Your feet will thank you.