Oh, right.”

Girl, your comment completely sums it up. Since it was at the end of your post, I thought I’d bring it up again. The Dr. who comments in this article is: “a foot and ankle surgeon, podiatrist, partial owner and medical director of HealthyFeetStore.com”

Yep. As Girl pointed out, he sell shoes (awful high-heeled running shoes mainly, it seems) and his livelihood depends on people having foot problems.
Of COURSE he is anti-barefoot! People not buying shoes and having strong, healthy feet means Dr. Jeff would be out of a job!

Me, I’ve been going barefoot for a year now. It cured my plantar fasciitis. Oh, and I’m not a “barefoot runner” because I don’t run. (Guess I’m just a “barefooter.”)

I really enjoyed the irony of your post and how right after stating “Barefoot runners have attention seeking mental health issues. They are nutters that lie about research and twist research around to pretend it supports their case. They are irrational and not capabable of discussing issues.”, you say that “They criticise people making any negative comments about barefoot running, but are not capable of addressing the actual negative comments.” In case you didn’t pick up on it, you attack barefoot runners for twisting research and claim they have mental health issues (neither of which you have proven, you are just “twisting” things you have seen on the internet), but then attack them again because they criticise people (which you just did yourself). Irony.

Note that I am not a barefoot runner, but I have nothing wrong with barefoot runners. ~*~ Jennifer ~*~ seems to be a barefoot runner, but she wasn’t a “criticising” “nutter”. In fact she made positive comments on shod running, you are making shod runners seem like a bunch of angry “nutters.”

“If you look at the mechanics of it, not everyone can handle it. It’s a very small percentage of the population. ”

Guess those hunter-gatherers who needed to run-down their prey sure could have used some shoes so that everyone could join in!

Pronation issues are, as I’ve read and experienced through others, pretty much always caused by footwear. To say that someone now ‘needs’ shoes because of those conditions is like saying a baby with nappy rash needs to wear a nappy so that no one can see the inflammation.

I don’t criticise any personal choices that people make, but manipulation of data (and logic!) to enforce an ideal is always wrong. I was intrigued to see if the barefooters were guilty of the crime of bias, but even if they are, this opponent is guilty of the same charge.

Personally, I’ve always had short calf muscles, and used to have to perform torturous stretches every day to try and give myself a day of enhanced flexibility. I tried every kind of shoe to try and find a way to walk in comfort for long periods of time. I wanted to be able to drive, but I couldn’t lift my foot high enough to be able to sensitively operate pedals.

Cure? Vibram FiveFingers. I wear them on my walks to and from work, and even though I wear high heeled boots for most of the day, my calves are supple and flexible. I can walk forever without calf stiffness. I’m not a runner, but I understand the logic and the science behind the ‘return to nature’ (ignoring the cultures that have always run barefoot).

I guess we’ll hear about it if barefooters end up with the same ‘runner’s knee/hip’ as shoed runners, but until then, it’s working for people, so why bother with criticism and conjecture? Are you selling shoes? Does your livelihood depend on people having foot problems?

Oh, right.