Going barefoot while old increases falling risk??

Jaqa · Oct 31, 2016

I just came across this and intuitively it makes no sense-

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19235118
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...100804_1_slippers-falls-in-older-people-socks

And there are plenty more articles like this.

Basically, it claims that going barefoot while old increases the risk of falling, which is a big issue for the elderly.

But we all know that going barefoot decreases falling and stumbling. Maybe it's because carpets and dry feet can be slippery? Anybody have any ideas on this?

BTW, I am 40 years young but doing a BF marathon for Habitat for Humanity Singapore which mainly cares for indigent elderly.

hikerdana · Nov 1, 2016

After looking quickly at the studies you provided it appears that they include barefoot with socks. I know that socks allow me to slide more easily, as easily proved by my kids running and sliding on some of my floors while wearing socks, but they cannot do the same thing while barefoot. So just by lumping barefoot in the same category as socks and slippers is flawed.

they further go on to say:

"Shoes are a natural extension of people's feet and they have a lot to do with how good or bad your balance is."

Most everyone here would never agree that shoes are natural and not natural extensions. So I'm not sure how good the rest of the study is with these two flaws.

I found the full study here - very boring, but interesting how they word things.

http://www.rehab.research.va.gov/jour/08/45/8/pdf/menant.pdf

Barefoot TJ · Nov 1, 2016

Check these out:

https://www.thebarefootrunners.org/...er-people-at-risk-of-falls.15095/#post-143579

https://www.thebarefootrunners.org/threads/barefoot-running-infographic.4164/#post-49773

Jaqa · Nov 1, 2016

Thanks for the replies!

It is amazing that people do not understand what barefoot means. If I said I was going naked running, everyone would know what I said.

migangelo · Nov 6, 2016

if you look closer at studies, you will see major flaws in most of them. read and interpret what they are saying because the conclusions they come to are sometimes preposterous.

btw, I've told a few docs that i run bf and they all ask, "oh, you mean you wear those shoes?".

doh!

Barefoot TJ · Nov 6, 2016

migangelo said:
btw, I've told a few docs that i run bf and they all ask, "oh, you mean you wear those shoes?".

doh!

sigh

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