Is walking barefoot bad for your child?

WALKING barefoot might be something many people only do at home. But for many, walking or even exercising barefoot is done daily. When a toddler is learning to walk, parents are told to let this process happen naturally, and without shoes. That is because shoes can affect how a child uses the muscles and bones in their feet.

Kids also receive feedback from the ground when they walk barefoot, and it improves their awareness of their body in space. But as a child gets older, we shove their feet into shoes all day long even though walking barefoot in the house is relatively safe.

Is going barefoot bad for children? Walking barefoot more closely restores our natural walking pattern, also known as our gait.

“From the orthopedic point of view, walking without shoes will cause no harm per se. It does not lead to problems with the foot. I am not aware of any disadvantages of not wearing shoes. In fact, it is when you wear high heels that it may give you problems with back pain,” said Dr Abraham Anejukwo, a consultant orthopedic surgeon at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

Dr Anejukwo added: “Shoes are not just for fancy, they are to protect the soles of the feet and also the upper part from trauma and invasion by germs. If there is a cut and you are walking barefooted, tetanus and other organisms can enter, so it is best when your feet are covered.”

The expert, however, declared that proper choice of footwear and its use are directly relevant to foot health, especially that of children.

“It is when you don’t wear the footwear properly or you wear an inappropriate one that it can affect posture, and as such, become a challenge,” he added.

Dr Anejukwo stated that children with congenital deformity in the leg shouldn’t walk barefoot because their specialized shoes, being part of their treatment, is supposed to help correct the deformity in their legs.

He said: “The skin becomes thick on the part of the leg they put on the ground, so that is one disadvantage of not wearing shoes in that situation. We prescribe shoes for so many reasons; at times you might need to put an insole, something to soften the shoe. For patients with a shortened limb, we put a shoe raise, again mimicking nature and to ensure the legs are balanced.

“They are expected to wear these recommended shoes all the time, it might not be fanciful, because shoe raise are not beautiful, but if they have been prescribed based on research of several years and when they are prescribed, they are going to help the individual both in the short and long term.”

Dr Taiwo Soyinka, also a family physician at UCH, stated that although there are many schools of thought on the merits and demerits of walking barefooted by children, doing so for children in an environment with filth could be inimical to good health for a child.

Dr Soyinka said: “There are some infections that easily penetrate the skin apart from diseases like tetanus entering the body through cuts on the skin. These organisms can lead to infections that change the appearance, smell, and comfort of the foot such as athlete’s foot or fungal nails. Some, of these organisms first infect the skin and then they may infect that nails leading to thickening, discoloration, and brittleness of the nails.”

She declared that “in cold climates, walking barefooted expose the child developing hypothermia. When they wear socks or shoes, their feet will not have direct contact with the cold floors.

“However, there is a pretty good reason why most people don’t walk barefoot daily: they could stub on their toe or step on something sharp that cuts or punctures the skin. Also, the act of walking barefoot can strain your bones and muscles.

Miguel Cunha, a podiatrist based in New York, United States, said: “Walking barefoot on hard surfaces causes our foot to collapse, which can lead to a tremendous amount of stress not only to the foot but to the rest of the body too. Over time this can lead to heel or arch pain, shin splints, and tendonitis (inflammation of a tendon).”

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