From Injury to Insight

In 2017, a slip, but not a fall, changed how I thought about my feet forever. I caught myself before hitting the ground, but the abrupt contraction of my quadriceps left me with a chondral fissure at the top of my patella. Every step that followed carried a sharp, nagging pain.
Oddly enough, the pain seemed to ease when I was barefoot. That relief sparked a journey into barefoot and minimalist footwear that continues today. What began as a way to manage discomfort led to a deeper realization: no shoe company can out-engineer the human foot.

Why the Foot Works Best as Designed

The foot has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to absorb shock, transfer force, and adapt to varied terrain. Modern shoes, with their thick cushioning, rigid soles, and elevated heels, often interfere with those natural functions.
Research, including work from the Harvard Run Lab, shows that when people run barefoot, their gait naturally adapts. Most shift toward a forefoot or midfoot strike, reducing impact forces compared to a heel strike in cushioned shoes.
But context matters: you can’t suddenly run the same mileage barefoot that you did in padded trainers. That’s how injuries and lawsuits like the early Vibram FiveFingers case happen. The key is progressive adaptation.

Personal Proof: Running Analysis with Dr. Solares

Recently, I had the opportunity to put this to the test with Dr. Diana Solares at Elevate Rehabilitation & Performance. Using her running analysis system, I compared my gait in minimalist shoes versus barefoot:

• Minimalist shoes: Running score 4.2 (lower = better, 1.2 is “perfect”)
• Barefoot: Running score 2.4

Despite carrying a lingering adductor and knee injury from jiu-jitsu, my barefoot mechanics were dramatically better. The takeaway: even a thin layer of cushioning can disrupt the natural feedback loop between the foot and the ground.

A Practical Way to Start Barefoot Running

If you’re considering barefoot running, you don’t need to head straight to the pavement. In fact, you shouldn’t. A safer, smarter approach is to start indoors or on controlled surfaces like turf.
Here’s a progression I use with clients and myself:

1. Pick a safe surface (e.g., a 15-yard turf strip)
2. Set a timer for 5–15 minutes
3. Cycle through movements:
• Jog down and back
• Lateral shuffle down and back
• Backpedal down and back
• Skip down and back
• Return to jogging

  This variability not only conditions your feet and ankles but also teaches your body to adapt to different foot strikes and movement patterns.

Why This Matters

• Neuromuscular activation: Barefoot running recruits stabilizers often underused in padded shoes
• Proprioceptive feedback: Your brain learns to “listen” to the ground, improving balance and coordination
• Natural mechanics: Forefoot and midfoot strikes reduce impact on the knee joint a major factor in my own recovery story

Proceed with Caution

Barefoot running isn’t a cure-all. Transition too quickly and you risk stress fractures, plantar fasciitis, or Achilles issues. Key guidelines:

• Start small. Think minutes, not miles
• Prioritize surfaces. Turf > grass > track > pavement
• Listen to pain. Discomfort in muscles is adaptation; sharp pain in bones or joints is a red flag

Final Thoughts

My own journey began with injury, but it revealed a deeper truth: the human foot is brilliantly engineered. With patience, progression, and professional guidance, barefoot running can unlock not just better performance, but a stronger connection to how our bodies were designed to move.
As I often say through my work at MovNat: it’s not about running differently, it’s about rediscovering how we were meant to run all along.

By Dr. Diana Solares

As a physical therapist, I’ve always been driven by one question: how do we truly fix the body, not just patch symptoms? I didn’t want to be the kind of clinician who only hands out temporary relief—I wanted to solve problems at the root. That curiosity led me deeper into biomechanics, natural movement, and what it means to restore authentic function.

My own journey as a runner drove this lesson home. Every time I trained for a half-marathon, I hit the same wall: plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, or patellar/glute tendinopathy. For years, I searched for answers in new shoes, orthotics, running drills, stretching, and training modifications. Nothing worked long-term.

The breakthrough came when I rebuilt my foundation. By strengthening the small intrinsic muscles of my feet, restoring mobility in my hips and ankles, and retraining how I moved, I finally broke free of the injury cycle.

Today, I live in barefoot shoes for daily life and run comfortably in them for short distances. For longer runs, I still use traditional running shoes—but the difference is that I now run pain-free, because my foundation is strong enough to support me.

Why Foot Intrinsics Matter

Your feet are your foundation. Inside them are tiny muscles—intrinsics—that control your toes, maintain your arch, and allow for smooth force transfer up the chain. When they’re weak, the workload shifts elsewhere: plantar fascia, Achilles tendon, patellar tendon, or glutes.

Once I committed to restoring this foundation, everything changed. Stronger feet created more efficient mechanics, and stronger hips gave me the stability to sustain it.

Simple Drills to Rebuild Foot Strength

These exercises look simple, but done consistently, they build the foundation runners often neglect:

• Toe Yoga – Lift your big toe while pressing the other four toes down, then reverse.
• Toe Drops – Lift all toes, then lower them back one at a time, starting with the pinky.
• Short Foot Exercise – Gently pull the ball of the foot toward the heel without curling the toes.
• Toe Rainbows – Lift the middle three toes while anchoring big and pinky toes.
• Banded Big Toe + Hip External Rotation – Anchor a band around the big toe, resist as you press it down, and pair with hip external rotation to connect foot strength with hip stability.

What This Means for Runners

The takeaway isn’t that everyone should ditch their shoes tomorrow. It’s that true resilience starts from the ground up. Whether barefoot, in barefoot shoes, or in traditional footwear, you need strong and mobile feet to absorb and transmit force effectively.

For me, years of recurring injuries weren’t solved by the latest running shoe—they were solved by rebuilding the foundation my body relied on with every stride.

Natural movement isn’t a trend. It’s a return to what your body was designed to do. Stronger feet. Better mechanics. Healthier runs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Brian Betancourt

Director of Curriculum & Performance

A movement strategist and exercise physiologist with over a decade of experience coaching athletes, leading performance programs, and designing educational systems. As MovNat’s Director of Curriculum and Performance, Betancourt is responsible for evolving the brand’s instructional framework, certification pathways, and benchmark systems to meet the needs of a modern, capability-driven audience.

Dr. Diana Solares

DPT, OCS, MTC, Cert. DN

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