For me the pain got really bad after I went mostly barefoot and wore leather slippers on a week long camping trip, my heels and ankles were hurting so bad it was hard to walk, after limping along like that for a while my arches started to hurt so I went to a foot guy who got me some support soles and stiff shoes with lots of laces to help keep my foot together while at work, it’s been getting better but not good enough to go barefoot yet, that is the end goal but doesn’t seem within reach any time soon
Ah, gotcha. I have to agree with the other person that responded to you. The type of recovery I’m talking about happened several years after being barefoot near 24/7. The foot shape actually changes, the muscles get stronger, skin gets thicker, etc.
A week going barefoot in a hostile environment with already damaged feet would just make them worse, like in your case.
Shoes ruined the connective tissue in your feet. It’s the unfortunate way most people end up needing orthotics.
Everyone reading: start stretching and strengthening your feet, go barefoot where you can. Foot pain affects everything above it and you don’t want to be the person who can’t walk 100ft without their special shoes (which themselves are amazing since they can actually treat these issues at all, before anyone thinks I’m just anti-everything).
It’s important to learn about other things that can cause it like pronation before you just start going barefoot though as that can accelerate damage, I wish I knew that before
For me the pain got really bad after I went mostly barefoot and wore leather slippers on a week long camping trip, my heels and ankles were hurting so bad it was hard to walk, after limping along like that for a while my arches started to hurt so I went to a foot guy who got me some support soles and stiff shoes with lots of laces to help keep my foot together while at work, it’s been getting better but not good enough to go barefoot yet, that is the end goal but doesn’t seem within reach any time soon
Ah, gotcha. I have to agree with the other person that responded to you. The type of recovery I’m talking about happened several years after being barefoot near 24/7. The foot shape actually changes, the muscles get stronger, skin gets thicker, etc.
A week going barefoot in a hostile environment with already damaged feet would just make them worse, like in your case.
Shoes ruined the connective tissue in your feet. It’s the unfortunate way most people end up needing orthotics.
Everyone reading: start stretching and strengthening your feet, go barefoot where you can. Foot pain affects everything above it and you don’t want to be the person who can’t walk 100ft without their special shoes (which themselves are amazing since they can actually treat these issues at all, before anyone thinks I’m just anti-everything).
It’s important to learn about other things that can cause it like pronation before you just start going barefoot though as that can accelerate damage, I wish I knew that before