Barefoot Walking

Research from the Australian Podiatry Association recommends children learn to walk barefoot to assist in strengthening muscles for balance and coordination development.

The foot is a complex structure of 26 bones and 35 joints, held together and supported by the ligaments. A baby’s foot is padded with fat and is highly flexible.

Most children begin to walk anywhere between 8 and 18 months of age. Most toddlers are flat-footed when they first start walking, or tend to turn their feet inwards, because muscle strength and ligament stiffness needs to catch up to other development. The flat-footedness nearly always improves as the bones develop and as the feet strengthen.

Always see your podiatrist or doctor if you are concerned about your child’s feet or the way they walk (their gait).

To mimic barefoot walking, the sole of the shoe needs to be soft, flat and flexible to allow growing feet to feel the ground, enabling them to learn to balance and build neural connections to the brain by engaging their feet. It also needs to be lightweight to provide as much freedom of movement as possible. When it is not safe to be barefoot, we need proper footwear to protect their delicate feet.

Reference: Betterhealth.vic.gov.au///childrens-feet-and-shoes