These habitually barefoot individuals have a higher foot arch and lower hallux angles compared to habitually shod individuals 4. Individuals that have been barefoot almost all their lives (habitually barefoot) seem to have wider feet 4, 8, as well as fewer foot and toe deformities 4, 9, 10. Evidence exists that the use of footwear can influence the foot and arch morphology 6, 7, 8, 9. The comparison of shod and unshod feet has been of scientific and clinical interest for more than a century now 5. The advantages and disadvantages of footwear use for (foot) health and the development of motor control are increasingly discussed in the literature 2, 3 without conclusive findings since long-term effects of being habitually barefoot have rarely been evaluated 4. Therefore, growing up barefoot or shod may play an important role for childhood foot development, implying long-term consequences for motor learning and health later in life.Įven though being barefoot has been a part of human evolution for millions of years 1, over-ground walking and running in industrial countries has been more regularly performed shod in the last few centuries. The results indicate an impact of habitual footwear use on the development of the feet of children and adolescents. While controlling for confounders, we found that habitual footwear use has significant effects on foot-related outcomes in all age groups, such as a reduction in foot arch and hallux angles. A multicenter epidemiological study was conducted to compare the foot morphology between habitually barefoot children and adolescents (N = 810) to age-, sex- and ethnicity-matched counterparts that are used to wearing shoes. Although there is an ongoing debate of the advantages and disadvantages of early and permanent footwear use, the influence of regular barefootness on foot characteristics in different stages of child development has not been extensively evaluated. The development of the human foot is crucial for motor learning in children and adolescents as it ensures the basic requirements for bipedal locomotion and stable standing.
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