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Is it possible for a child to walk barefoot: benefits, harm, valgus feet
We ran through puddles, dust, hot asphalt, even sharp gravel. Now children barefoot go only to the beach, and even then not always.
Jumping out of bed, washing up, putting on shorts with a T-shirt and immediately rushing out into the street or riding a bike – this is what a grandmother’s vacation in the village looked like in our childhood. Shoes? What for! A splinter, a cut – nonsense, will live to see the wedding.
And then the orthopedists suddenly began to say that barefoot is harmful. Hardly in a single voice the doctors insisted that you shouldn’t even walk barefoot at home! Like, as soon as the baby got up on his feet, he needs to put on lace-up shoes with an instep support and a heel. Only with this fixation, the foot will be formed correctly.
But a little more time passed, and the specialists revised their recommendations again.
How barefoot actually affects the child’s health, said pediatrician Tatyana Butskaya, organizer of the Pregnant Gatherings project and a popular medical blogger.
Indeed, on a flat surface, the foot becomes flattened, and this can lead to flat feet. However, children rarely stand still, they move all the time: they run, walk. This promotes muscle development, so the child must be given the opportunity to run barefoot. And sandals with an instep support and a heel, if there are no problems with the feet, replace them with more comfortable and soft models and use only on city streets.
Plus one: prevention of flat feet and hallux valgus
The sooner your little one starts running barefoot, the better. The active formation of the foot begins with the first steps of the child and ends with his admission to the first grade. It is important not to miss the moment: after 7 years it may be too late! To defeat physiological flat feet, which is considered normal for all preschoolers, the foot must be regularly “loaded” by walking on an uneven surface. It will make the muscles work, strengthen the arch of the foot and play a critical role in its correct formation.
Important recommendations
– In the summer, go out into nature and take your child’s shoes. Let him run on pebbles, grass, sand, uneven forest paths.
– Use orthopedic mats in winter. They imitate the surface of hard and soft grass, cones, stones.
– If you have space and money, buy a small trampoline. When the child jumps, the muscles tighten and the curvature of the arch, as it should be, increases.
– Do not forbid your baby to walk barefoot on the sofa or bed.
– At home, do not rush to put sandals on a healthy child. According to experts, walking barefoot on a flat floor still has a better effect on the development of the arch of the foot than walking in shoes.
Almost all of these recommendations are relevant for children with orthopedic problems. Children with pathology, for example, with flat-valgus feet (legs turned inward), are forced to walk in shoes with a hard heel, a heel and a voluminous instep support. In their situation, this is absolutely justified. The instep support plays the role of a prosthesis – an artificial arch of the foot, which brings the leg into the correct position. However, the muscles still don’t work! Therefore, when going out into nature with such a child, be sure to shoe him.
Sometimes in resorts where you can run barefoot around the clock, I see these children in hard sandals, and this is very sad. Muscles must have a load. If it is not there, even the most expensive and high-quality shoes will not help get rid of the problem, it will only get worse. Indeed, with flat and flat-valgus feet, muscle overstrain occurs, the load on the joints (knee, hip, lumbar) and the spine increases. Because of this, in adolescence, a child may face headaches, osteochondrosis and other troubles. Therefore, for such children, walking and jogging barefoot, orthopedic rugs are relevant. But walking barefoot at home on a flat surface is undesirable.
The second important plus of walking barefoot is natural hardening, without any tears of the baby and effort on your part.
If you are in nature, during the day the air temperature, albeit insignificantly, changes. For example, in the daytime it can reach 25-30 degrees, and in the evening it can drop to 20. In addition, a temperature drop is observed even if a child ran into the forest with a sun-drenched lawn. The ground will be colder in the shade of the trees. Such a contrast will only benefit!
Do not be afraid of bare feet and at home. Do not rush to put on socks on the crumb if its legs seemed cool to you: they should be so. Encourage walking barefoot at home not only in summer but also in winter. Your child will adapt to low temperatures faster, will get stronger and will not get sick.