Zero drop shoes are shoes where the heel and ball of the foot are in the same plane–no elevation of the heel. Minimalist shoes closely approximate the barefoot [running] experience. The thinking is that humans were made to run/walk barefoot (before the world was paved, of course, and covered in hard surfaces). Putting supports and differences in height inside a shoe changes the way the foot strikes the ground and throws things off balance, leading to foot problems and problems elsewhere in the anatomy. We won’t even talk about pointy-toed high heels–yeah, they look sexy, and are probably best worn when a woman isn’t going to be on her feet much (ahem).
Does anyone wear minimalist shoes for walking, running, work, etc. I’m interested in y’all’s experiences, especially WRT correcting foot problems like bunions, hammer toes, and similar problems. Is there an adjustment period? From what I’ve been reading on the interwebs, people who love these shoes really swear by them, even people who work all day on their feet, like teachers and nurses.
I put running in brackets above because I’m not a runner, but I’ve been wearing Vibram 5-fingers shoes around the house and toe separator “yoga” sandals out and about. I bought a pair of SoftStarshoes yesterday–a perfectly flat shoe. I’m going to wear them for my routine Saturday experience, doing my mother’s laundry at her assisted living facility, and this involves a lot of walking, fortunately on carpet. I’m bringing an extra pair of Clark’s walking sandals, just in case I need to change.
I run in Nike Free. They are not minimalist but as close as I’ve been able to get to minimalist for high impact sport. I wear a true minimalist shoe by Merrel when I sail. It doesn’t have the separate toe thing. It does take a couple of days to adjust and my calves ache quite a bit until I’m used to the shoe. I do like it for the boat though. They are light, breath well and dry quickly if they get wet.
The common wisdom is to wear these types of shoes for relatively short periods of time until your muscles adjust to the minimal support. I think if you plan to wear them all day at first, your lower legs and feet will be pretty sore that evening and the next day or two.
I have no feet issues that you mentioned, so I’m not sure what kind of problems that may cause.
I used to run, hike and walk around in Alps sandals. Even did serious backpacking in them (30 miles w/85 lbs. pack many times). Mind you, for the really long, difficult stuff I also had to wrap my feet a bit, but I loved wearing next to nothing.
yeah, me too. still have my old teva sandals for working in water. I used to love hiking in them, and as a plus, dry dusty feet dont get blisters!! Rocks get lodged underneith, but thats a quick fix. I’ve never had a foot blister in my whole life. I often use sandals for bike riding too. I hate sweaty feet.:mad:
I’m on my feet all day, for work and play, (cept end of day) and over the years, just pretty much end up wearing as flat as possible, slightly oversized sneakers. Lots of flipflops in the summer during surf time.
Bigger socks for winter, less for summer. I hate boots with heels, always catching on stuff, and I feel like I’m walking funny. I only wear them for demolition or hazardous work. (chainsaws etc.)
I think in shifting styles you should do these things slowly, as it can throw off whole groups of muscles.
'Good luck!
I have two pairs of shoes that I run in and both are fairly minimalist, not five-finger level - one set from Nike (not the “free” though) and one from Merrell. Usual runs are five to six miles with some hill or stair intervals. At work I have some cheap black martial arts slippers that I wear on days I’ve biked, just because they take up little space and weight in my biking pack and I’m not going to wear my biking shoes all day. Many off days I wear my moccasins. But then my main pair of shoes are my Dansko clogs that have a pretty flipping big drop. And I love those things.
I wouldn’t run in my Danskos but I’ve never had a problem with minimalist drop or running in heavier shoes. Wouldn’t “swear by” (or at) any set as long as the toe box fits my widish foot. I do prefer the feel of less drop when running and how it helps me get the foot strike I want. No foot issues though in general.
The advice to adapt to minimalist drop gradually though makes lots of sense. You are using muscles in different ways than you might be used to. It encourages a mid to forefoot strike rather than landing full force on your heels and slowing down the descent towards the heel … which is what gets called an “eccentric” movement, the sort of movement that is infamous for causing delayed onset muscle soreness that shows up a day or even two days later until your have acclimated to it, as does just unfamiliar muscle use.
Thanks for these helpful comments. Heeding the advice to go slowly, I’ve switched to the Clark’s sandals for the rest of the afternoon, and will go back to the SoftStars when I get home.
I’d be interested in y’all’s comments on the SoftStar website and their shoes.
Yes, this. Also, if you’ve adapted to wearing shoes with a heel drop, your calf muscles and Achilles tendon have likely shortened due to restricted range of motion. Once you start going barefoot more frequently or switch to zero drop footwear, you’ll once again start stretching those muscles which can result in pain, and if too aggressive of a change, injury to the muscles or tendon. Static stretching exercises while adapting to zero drop can minimize the potential for pain and injury.
Personally, I’ve adapted to minimalist shoes in everyday life as well as recreational/exercise activities. I am in retail, so I stand and walk all day in my job on concrete, wearing (my favorite shoes) New Balance Minimus, which are 4mm drop, or my Patagonia Advocates – the Chukka in the winter, and the flats in the summer. They don’t make these anymore, but I think Softstars are comparable; they are just an upper attached to a thin rubber outsole with no midsole whatsoever. I feel everything in these shoes and it doesn’t bother me in the least. I just backpacked the Wonderland Trail (93+ miles; some pretty rough terrain) in Altra Lone Peak 3.0s, which are zero drop shoes with a wide toebox and thick midsole and I’ve never felt better at the end of a hike. When I run, I’m either wearing a pair of Altras with a cushioned midsole for longer distances (5+ miles) or my NB Minimalists for trails and short jogs in my neighborhood.
I’ve been doing that for over five years and while I’ve had some minor issues that were corrected by temporarily wearing more supportive shoes or insoles, I’m still very comfortable in less supportive shoes as a rule and I believe my posture is much better than it ever was in the heeled footwear I used to wear (i.e., Dansko clogs, Chaco sandals).
I have several very good friends who are raising their toddlers in Softstars, which I think is a very good idea. Toddlers walk very differently than adults do because they haven’t adapted their feet to shoes. Their feet haven’t yet been deformed by footwear and won’t be if they continue to wear shoes that allows their feet to work the way they are supposed to: allowing their toes to flex for balance, allowing their feet to remain wide in proportion to length for stability, fully utilizing the intrinsic muscles of the feet for nimbleness. I think they are wonderful and those kids are going to have fewer feet and back problems as they get older, but who knows? When my Advocates wear out (which breaks my heart just thinking about), I’ll probably replace them with Softstars or Lems or Leguanos.
Let’s face it minimalist/zero drop shoes aren’t exactly the most attractive option, but IMHO they are the sanest. There’s a reason stilettos are also known as “fuck-me-heels,” but those will mess up your feet to the point where all you want to do is lay on your back. Nobody really wants bunion surgery and I often wonder if it’s worth it for the high-heeled women sporting extensive scars on their feet. I gave up wearing pumps and heels a long time ago and I’ve never looked back. But then I’ve been married for ages…
I liked a lot of what I saw at the SoftStar website. One reason I wore those Alps (and other sandals) is that I have very wide, very flat feet (14EE, usually) and sandal lasts are often cut wider than a regular shoe last. So I’d be very interested in hearing what someone else thinks of their product before I’d be willing to shell out $100+ to try it myself, since you’ve already got a pair.
I thought the Moc3 looked cool and the Roo looks like it would be a good winter house shoe. But if the suede sole isn’t beefy enough for me to get the mail without ruining them, then no dice (I can get Minnetonka moccasins if I want that level of quality).
If you go to individual shoes on the SoftStar site and hover over a picture, you’ll see how many reviews there are for that shoe. Click in and read them, long, glowing, and detailed. They’re virtually all 4 & 5 star reviews. Hardly anything negative. And the 5-star ones truly rave about the wonderfulness of the shoes. Makes me wonder if they just don’t post the negative reviews–can they really be all that positive? Actually, I take that back–there were a few where the people said “these shoes just didn’t work for me,” but very, very few.
Report: After I switched to the Clark’s, I went to Wal-Mart, then to a ginormous grocery store, and I could definitely feel fatigue in my legs. Now I’m back home and back in the SoftStars.
I really like the comment above about baby shoes. Yes! By all means let baby’s foot and gait grow naturally and don’t stuff small feet into imitation high heels or combat boots just because they’re cute!
I love my furoshikis, but was disappointed to find that I get Plantar’s fascitis if I wear them too long. Especially strange as I don’t get that from walking around barefoot all day. I’ll still throw them on for short trips to the store as I want to slowly build those foot muscles.
My perfect shoe would be just like these, but with a tiny bit more cushion to them. Maybe 3-4mm of the crocs sole material.
I didn’t even know Clark’s still existed. Apparently they were founded in 1825 and now make about £150 million a year. To older British people they were synonymous with school footwear.
If you like flat slippers, check out The Brown Petersburg next to the photos of the founders.
I have these–DIY shoes, about as minimalist as they come. (On the Xero Shoes website, sometimes you can see my actual feet…bright green laces, turquoise toenail polish–they asked for pictures so I sent them one).
Anyway I love them and wear them all over the place, all summer. I have seen people wearing them in the mountains but I’m too much of a wuss, I wear hiking boots for that, but otherwise, in non-rough terrain, they are great.
I didn’t have an adjustment period because I’m pretty much barefoot in the house all the time (or in socks, in winter) and in high heels when out.
I have the very thinnest sole. I have very narrow feet so I did have to trim them. They were cheaper when I got mine, about five years ago. I think they were like $8. $24 seems like a lot for essentially making your own shoes.
Those are pretty minimal, for sure. The SoftStar soles are like with (with more of an upper) but a whole lot more expensive.
Here’s a question: with the just-like-barefoot, minimal, very thin soles, what about walking on hard surfaces, e.g., paving, concrete? I walk three miles at the local mall every day on a typical hard indoor public surface. Is impact a problem for joints with no cushioning? I’m an old person, pushing 70. Also, around here in the summer, sidewalks can be blisteringly hot. You can’t even take dogs for long walks without some grass around to give them relief.
In the 70s, there were “negative-heel” shoes, in which the rise was thicker under the ball than the heel. I met a traveler who was backpacking in them in Africa, and liked them.
Myself, probably wear shoes no more than eight hours a week, barefoot at home the rest of the time. Most peopled in tropical countries wear only flip-flops, and might not even own a pair of shoes. When I met my friend in Africa, half the continent went barefoot. Shoes, to global humanity, are still the exception rather than the rule.
It could be that the raised heel arose originally as a fashion feature to enhance the height of the privileged class who wore them.
One of the things I like about them is that I can feel if it’s too hot for my dog, because you can feel it. It doesn’t feel blisteringly hot but you can feel the heat.
While wearing them I prefer to walk on dirt, grass, or asphalt. I do spend a fair amount of time on paving and concrete, but I think if I were going to spend the entire walk, or walk that far on a hard indoor surface, I would pick other shoes. My dog and I head for bike paths and trails, and spend at least half our walks on those.
I have not noticed joint pain, but I do notice that walking around in malls seems to make my legs feel much more tired, much faster, than just walking around the neighborhood.
But I also have a lot of ankle action in my walk.
Also, the website shows you that they have toed socks so you can wear your minimalist sandals in the winter. I wouldn’t do that myself. My feet get too cold, and it’s frequently wet.
I was barefoot for a long time when young. I definetly prefered softer surfaces like wood floors to hard surfaces like concrete. But it wasn’t because of “joints” in the ordinary sence: I walked on the balls of my feet, so my joints were cushioned better than in most shoes. And I didn’t get heel-strike until I started striking my heels – when I started wearing shoes.
So I think my preference was a combination of two things: bruising when walking on hard srufaces, and muscle tiredness when walking on extremely flat surfaces
