One of the most wonderful gifts you can give your child - strong, healthy feet!

Lorraine and Gary, late 1950's NZ
Barefoot until teenagers.
Note the great fashions of the day!

The most common injuries I see are of the lower legs and, more often than not, weak, deformed feet are part of the problem.  One of the things our Mother and Father gave my five siblings and me is strong, flexible feet, by having us go barefoot until our teens.  Having strong feet allows us to participate in demanding physical activity which, in the case of my sister, Lorraine, included the marathon to Olympic standard. I have passed this gift on to my four children.

My first three children, Myra, Mary-Ann and Kelvin
at an athletic meet with running legend, Rod Dixon.
Take close note of their strong, functional feet.

While weak feet can be strengthened, we really should be preventing these problems from the very beginning which means from birth.

A newborn's bones are pliable cartilage that gradually calcifies into hard bone.  They are easily deformed with even the slightest of finger pressure.  If this pressure is more or less constant, the
bones of the feet will calcify and set permanently in the deformed position.  The Japanese once considered tiny feet to be a thing of great beauty and took advantage of the early few years of a female's life to bind her feet, causing the feet to be extremely small and deformed.

Example of Japanese foot binding.
Thankfully, no longer practised.

The modern foot using modern "binding" methods
in the form of women's fashion shoes.

Genetics or environment?  Mother and son - Guess
who had the stretch and grows and tight stockings
and who had the bare feet as a baby?

The modern "Stretch and Grow" clothing, stockings and even the weight of blankets can be sufficient to deform a growing baby's feet.

I have been reminded of the importance of foot care for a baby with the birth of my first grandchild, Braxton, to my daughter, Mary-Ann.  He has unusually long toes!  I immediately wondered how long this would be the case if he continued to wear the stretch and grows he was wearing.  Not long, on close inspection.  So, with the permission of his mother, Braxton agreed to model the solution - cutting off the feet of his stretch and grow.

My daughter, Mary-Ann, with her newborn son, Braxton,
nicely kitted out in his stretch and grow.

Notice how the stretch and grow is deforming Braxton's toes.

My gosh - he has such long toes!

Free at last!  Look at how far up the leg the stretch and grow has
retracted now the feet have been cut out.

What was most apparent upon doing so was how far the altered garment rode up his legs.  It was obviously too short in the first place.  The second thing of note was how Braxton began to stretch out his feet and toes.  He obviously liked the freedom!

I used to take my children out for walks in the buggy when they were little, their little feet sometimes poking out from under their warm blankets.  Mothers would come up to us and comment how cute she was and then, inevitably, touch her toes and say to them - not me - "Oh dear, you poor wee thing, your feet are sooo cold!"  I just ignored these constant comments.

Babies are actually well adapted to survive cold and not so good at handling heat.  In fact, one of the possible causes of cot death is overheating the baby by smothering it in clothing, blankets and and over-heating the room.  Babies come with a generous layer of subcutaneous fat that is excellent insulation.  While the skin may feel quite cold, Braxton's core temperature will remain a healthy 37-38 Degrees Celsius. If you are ever unsure about this you can always take your baby's core temperature with a thermometer.

As with adults, the legs,feet, arms and hands act as the body's radiators with warm arterial blood flow to them regulated to maintain a warm core temperature.  To help baby maintain a healthy core temperature my advice is to keep his body and head well covered in cold weather while keeping the feet and hands relatively free of insulation - of course, there is a time and place for gloves and toasty booties!  Incidentally, as I am writing this it would not be more than a chilly 10 degrees in this room.  My feet are bare; but I have three layers of warm clothing on my body and a hat.  My core temperature is assured.

In normal conditions, the hands, feet and exposed
skin are several degrees cooler than the central
core.  Temperature of the extremities varies
depending on the flow of warm arterial blood
to them.  The warmer the core, the greater the
arterial flow to the extremities.

(Illustration: Hypothermia in Sport booklet.
Published by ACC 1984.
Author: Gary Moller)

As your child grows up and begins to walk and run, give them every opportunity to go barefoot.  Allow them to get mud between their toes.  Allow them to be grounded to Mother Earth!

They will thank you over and over again later in life, so go for it and cut the feet out of all of those stretch and grows!

One contented baby and one
happy mother!

About this website 

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation. Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.

Candida and Fungal Infections? Gary Moller recommends you explore this programme: Click Here!

Strong feet - the best gift for a child

The author outside the family home
in Putaruru, circa 1960

I am now brushing on 60 years old and still going strong.  Despite the enormous punishment they have suffered, my legs appear to be as good as they were 40 years ago. Thank goodness for that!

I attribute this very much to my barefoot childhood which has endowed me with strong feet.  My strong feet come from a barefoot childhood in rural Putaruru, walking and running free over rough paddocks and gravel pavements.

As much as I could, the barefoot tradition has been continued with the next generation of Mollers; but it has not been so easy.  Children running about barefoot, especially during winter, is frowned upon nowadays.  I could not tell you how many times a mother has grasped the feet of one of my barefoot buggy-bound children and exclaimed "Oh, you poor wee thing; your feet are so cold!"

(By the way, the feet and toes are always several degrees colder than the rest of the body, due to their distance from the core.  The temperature differential is also one of the ways the body dissipates excess heat).  The feet and hands are the body's radiator)

Feet on left of a child raised barefoot.  Feet on right of
an adult raised in stockings and shoes.  Note the adult's
bent and shortened toes and weak arches.

Going barefoot, as a child, allows the feet, including the toes, to grow to their natural length and width without restriction.  The ligaments, tendons, muscles, bones and joints respond to bare foot walking and running on natural surfaces by growing stronger and more resilient.  The skin  and gristle of the foot pad thickens and hardens, giving a foot that is resistant to blistering and bruising.

These adaptations to barefoot use are hugely beneficial for the adult when embarking on a fitness challenge such as the Oxfam 100km.

My advice to parents:

Putaruru High School X-country
circa 1969.  Lorraine Moller chasing
down Kim Webby (all running barefoot)

Keep baby out of stockings

Do what I did:  I cut the ends out of all of our babies "stretch and grow" stockings.  If socks were ever worn, I ensured they were oversize and loose so as not to cramp the toes and shoes were never tight.  I ensured that bedding did not compress their tiny toes.

Have your children run about barefoot at home

Always.  Including when out in the yard.

Make holidays barefoot time

Holidays are a wonderful opportunity to run about barefoot and harden the feet.  As the skin hardens, those annoying prickles become less of an issue.  The beach is the perfect place for barefoot activities.

Encourage your school to allow barefoot activities

Myra, Mary Ann and Kelvin Moller with
Olympian, Rod Dixon.  Shortly after running a
mile race - Bare foot, of course!

Good luck with this one!  But please try.  Okay, most schools I know of have more or less banned barefoot in the playground for ridiculous health and safety reasons such as a life-threatening stubbed toe.

Part of the problem is that even so much as a grazed knee must be reported and the parents advised.  It boils down to being a whole lot of administrative fuss and bother that schools would rather be without.

But why can't children take their shoes off while in the class room?  The excuse for not allowing or encouraging such a practice is that the smell will be overwhelming and, besides, all those shoes lying around are a safety hazard and children will be forever misplacing them.  I know these are feeble excuses; but this is the way things are going - administrative expedience before health. Resist!

It is easier nowadays to just let things be and have your children grow up without ever getting mud and sand between their toes.  But please be persistent and strong.  Your children will thank your for your trouble - eventually!

About this website 

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation. Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.

So, now the experts tell us that going about barefoot damages your feet? (updated)

'"Thousands of Kiwi kids spend their summers without shoes, but now a podiatrist has warned they could be doing irreversible damage by going barefoot in the sun.

John Miller says running school cross-country races barefooted is particularly damaging, and can make children's feet wider."

TV3 News

Video no longer available

____________________________

Gary Moller comments:

Warning: The following images may be disturbing to some podiatrists:

Well, I have viewed some ignorant rubbish masquerading as news on tv; but this TV3 item just about takes the cake! And where is the balance in this item? Its nothing more than misinformed sensationalism.

Photo One: Gary and Lorraine Moller 1950's New Zealand. Barefoot until secondary school. Lorraine"s strong feet took her to multiple Olympic marathons various running records and world championships.

Photo 2: My niece, Tinara, winning the sprints barefoot and injury free

Photo 3: My children, Myra, Mary-Ann and Kelvin with champion runner, Rod Dixon. Barefoot, tanned and healthy!

My son, Alama, winning the sprints - barefoot and fast!










Here we are, a website just for you: Parents for Barefoot Children

Let's focus on the real causes of foot pain: obese, soft kids who are driven everywhere and not allowed outside lest they be harmed by: the sun/the pervert/the cold/the heat/the hard ground etc etc. And we can't let them get tired or hungry can we? That is child abuse.

Oh! Back to the news item: About the darling Zola Budd and the fiery Mary Decker... I have it from good sources that Decker planned to spike the barefoot Zola if she dared to take the lead. If you watch the video very carefully you will see Decker attempting to do just that a few meters earlier on. Decker succeeded on the second attempt, tripping herself and injuring Zola in the process. That was the end of Zola's running career as she was booed and jeered out of the stadium by the partisan US crowd.
___________________

Lynn Staheli, MD
Quoted in The New York Times on Aug 14, 1991

Children with the healthiest and most supple feet are those who habitually go barefoot, according to Dr. Lynn T. Staheli and a growing number of other pediatric orthopedists. His studies of developing nations show that non-shoe-wearers have better flexibility and mobility, stronger feet, fewer deformities, and less complaints than those who wear shoes regularly. He says that, when a child must wear a shoe, it should be lightweight, flexible, shaped more or less quadrangularly, and above all, should not have the arch supports and stiff sides once deemed necessary to give the foot support. Many pediatric orthopedists strongly oppose "corrective" or "orthopedic" shoes for straightening foot and leg deformities like flat feet, pigeon toes, knock-knees, or bowlegs. Dr. Staheli and others contend that there is no evidence that corrective shoes correct anything, and that most of the supposed deformities correct themselves in almost all cases.