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That 'influencer' told me to walk 10k steps barefoot on pavement | Fad or Future? - Vivisector

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That 'influencer' told me to walk 10k steps barefoot on pavement

Last summer a guy on TikTok with 200k followers swore walking barefoot on hard surfaces fixes your posture and strengthens your feet. I tried it for 3 days. Day 1 my heels felt raw. Day 2 I had blisters between my toes. Day 3 I stepped on a piece of broken glass near the park on Elm Street. Had to get a tetanus shot at urgent care. Cost me $75 after insurance. So is this 'earthing' trend a fad or future? Cause my feet say fad.

3 comments

3 Comments

wader712mo ago

People keep saying "you wouldn't start with the heaviest dumbbell" but that's not really the same thing. Walking on pavement is walking on pavement, it's not some heavy lift you gotta work up to. I get the grass idea for a few minutes, but if the whole point is to fix your posture and strengthen your feet, how long are you supposed to stay on soft dirt before your feet are ready for concrete? Months? Years? That sounds like a lot of planning for something that might just be a gimmick. And the glass thing, I mean, our ancestors didn't have glass everywhere, but they also didn't have urgent care bills. I'm still not sold.

the_alice3mo ago

Whoa, I gotta push back a little here. I get why you'd be mad after a tetanus shot, but the problem isn't walking barefoot itself. It's doing it all wrong from the start on the hardest surface possible. You wouldn't start lifting weights with the heaviest dumbbell, right? You gotta ease into it. Start on grass or carpet for a few minutes a day, let your feet actually get tougher over weeks. That influencer probably should've said to check for glass and build up slow. A fad? Maybe for some people. But our ancestors didn't grow up in sneakers, and my feet feel way less achy since I started doing short barefoot walks on soft dirt. Just don't be dumb about it like I almost was.

erickelly3mo ago

People really do this thing where they jump into something headfirst without any prep and then blame the whole idea when it goes wrong. I see it all the time with diets or new hobbies, someone tries the hardest version first and quits saying it's a scam. Barefoot walking is the same deal, you wouldn't run a marathon without training so why expect your feet to handle concrete on day one. Grass and soft dirt for a few minutes is the way to go, that's just common sense that gets lost in the hype. Everything has a learning curve but nobody wants to hear that part anymore.