About a month ago, I bought some new shoes. These shoes are interesting to say the least. They're called
Vibram Five Fingers, and if you love walking barefoot, and only put regular shoes on for protection, these shoes are for you. I have a couple of videos I found on YouTube that explain what these shoes are and how they work, but let me just say, I love them. I wanted to wait a while before I wrote a review, but I have found nothing at all to complain about.
As I've said, I've had these shoes (I have the KSO version) for about a month, and so far, I've worn them everywhere. I wore them on our trip to Las Vegas, I've worn them around town, and I've worn them while exercising. The only place I didn't wear them was to the Grand Canyon. Two reasons for that. One, my calves and lower legs were really sore, and two, the ground was very rocky and unstable. My husband has the same shoes, and he did wear them to the Grand Canyon. He said the ground didn't hurt at all. He felt some pressure from the rocky terrain, but it didn't hurt.
The company recommends that you wear these shoes for about an hour or two a day the first few weeks you have them. Well, I ignored that advice, and that's why my calves were sore after the first day or two of our Vegas trip. You need to ease into them and not go all out like I did. I'm all rested from the trip and am having no problems at all with soreness in my legs due to the shoes.
Now, growing up with cerebral palsy, I always figured I needed shoes with “extra support”. I thought that way up until a month ago. Think about this. Thousands of years ago, people walked around barefoot all the time. Shoes were made (even way back then) to protect the feet from harmful objects. As shoes developed over the years, they've been made to squish your toes at the very front of the shoe. Your toes are what stabilize you. They're what give you balance. When they're squished all together, they don't stabilize you as they should.
These shoes bring back the natural state that your feet should be in. As for me and my balance, I feel a huge difference. I'm much more stable in these shoes than I am when I wear “supportive” tennis shoes. I really don't think I'll go back to wearing normal shoes again. These Five Finger shoes have a sole that grips the ground so you have traction when you need it.
She mentions it being a bit difficult to get your toes into the right slots. I definitely agree with that statement. When I first got my shoes, I had a very difficult time getting them on. My pinky toes did not want to separate for the longest time. After a few weeks, they start to conform to your feet and toes. Now, they take me very little time to put on. They're machine washable, and washing them doesn't make them any harder to put on.
I'm not saying these shoes are for everyone, but I would definitely recommend them to people who prefer to be barefoot. Try them on and see what you think.
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