Dr. Seuss’s Foot Book comes to mind almost every time I put on my new vibram® fivefingers®.  I hesitate to call them shoes, because they’re really not shoes in the traditional sense, as you can see from the picture.

They’ve been called foot gloves by some people, and because mine are all black, they look kind of like gorilla feet.  It really doesn’t matter what you call them, because they’re comfortable and I think they may be helping my back and knee pain.

Since I bought them I have walked about 25 total miles in them, wearing them for about 45 minutes at a time. My feet have no blisters or pain from walking on streets or sidewalks. I have learned to walk a little differently, but my feet feel better after walking in these than they do in typical walking shoes. The sole is tough enough to protect you from all the junk you might step on in the street.

There’s a barefoot movement going on and Vibram, known for making shoe soles for years, is one of the “forerunners” of the movement. Christopher McDougall’s book Born to Run has also been a part of the story. Runners like “Barefoot Rick” who run marathons with no shoes have also added to the discussion.

Vibram makes shoes designed for lots of activities, and the ones I purchased at Cumberland Transit in Nashville are known as KSOs because they cover the top of the foot to Keep Stuff Out. They also mention KSOs for martial arts, but the floor at the dojo is padded so I’ve not tried them out there. I may try some kata on a parking lot with my Vibrams just to test.

Several years ago the New Yorker ran an article,  Sole Survivor, that discussed several aspects of shoe techonology, by discussing the shoes of a copper age man known as Otzi. One of my favorite parts of the article comes from an orthopedist who was surprised by the healthy feet of some tribesmen who had lived barefoot all their lives.  He comments on society’s fear of the natural foot:

“Society… [admires] the dainty little shoe that hides its own handiwork–the distorted, cramped, calloused and repulsive foot.”

I’m trying barefoot for now. Barefoot walking, barefoot around the house, less time in other shoes. Vibrams have helped. I think I’d like to try a pair of Vivos for times when gorilla feet just won’t suffice, but for now I’m enjoying being nearly barefoot in my fivefingers.