Download Teacher's Notes

Download Student's Worksheet

According to experts, modern footwear harms your feet. Many researchers think that it is time for us to give up shoes, boots and sandals and go barefoot instead. But interestingly, although the advice relates to today’s fashions, the problem is not a new one. The world’s oldest pair of surviving shoes is 9,000 years old. Many archaeologists believe that we have been wearing shoes for up to 40,000 years. Wearing shoes reduces the need for us to have strong toes to grip the ground and keep our balance. Skeletons with weak toes date back over tens of thousands of years. In other words, we have been damaging our feet with shoes for almost as long as we have been civilised.  

One researcher studied and compared the feet of people from two African tribes with those of a group of Europeans. The shoe wearing Europeans had the least healthy feet. The Zulu people, who rarely wear shoes, had the healthiest feet. These findings support many other scientists who believe that going barefoot is best. The scientists’ message is a simple one. Feet are better off in direct contact with the ground, not inside a piece of leather or plastic.