What if our footwear choices were imiting the movement of your entire body? What if you could choose differently?

How can we unlock whole-body movement when our feet have been bound for decades? Is it as simple as kicking off our shoe-shackles and releasing our feet into the world? Whole Body Barefoot will help you safely and effectively transition to minimal foot wear, reaping the enormous benefits of freeing your feet without injuring yourself along he away.

Whole Body Barefoot presents:

How conventional shoes can cause your body to lose mobility and muscle.
The importance of walking on natural surfaces.
The corrective exercises that can transition your shoe-adapted feet and legs.
Vitamin 'Texture'-and how the latest research on toe-walking and texture might mean that barefoot time is essential to walking well.

With clear, science-based explanations, biomechanist Katy Bowman lays out the issues created by conventional shoes and artificial environments, and describes in detail the steps necessary to transition to more natural footwear safely and effectively.

With over twenty exercises, this is a must-have for anyone hoping to restore lost foot function, and improve their health...naturally!

Contents

Foreword
Introduction
Section 1: Think
The problem with shoes (is not just about shoes or feet)
The heel
Heels and 'body neutral' (and hat diagram that everyone uses to explain the need for minimal shoes)
There are more 'parts' to you body than you realize
Transitioning out of a heel
The flip-flop flaw
Ankle schmear
Let's check if your schmear is affecting your shoe size
Terrain and the trouble with the 'natural' argument
So, what's natural?
Your mission: Mobilize your feet, in the lab and on the field
Section 2: Move
Stance habits to change
Stretching the intrinsic tissues of the foot
Stretching the extrinsic tissues of the foot
Strengthening the intrinsic tissues of the foot
Strengthening the extrinsic muscles of the foot
Strengthening your walk
Un-duck your feet
Conclusion
The program
Appendix
Index
About the author

Having read Alignment Matters, I was looking for a book with concrete instructions for implementing Katy Bowman's advice in the mechanics of posture and movement. This is a good start. As she says, begin with the feet (which involves the whole body). Get those right and then the rest will follow naturally. I suffer from plantar fasciitis; hopefully, with the advice in this book, by the end of the year that will be in my past. The hard part will be to go slow enough to prevent further injury. The last couple of days find me exhausted by the end, just making a few of the few changes she recommends for posture and walking surfaces. As if I have had a full body workout! Although my feet are sore, it doesn't feel like the sore of injury, but of movements they have not made in a long time.

This book begins with explanations of the whys and wherefores of barefoot or minimal shoe wear, including photos and charts, then has a program of stretches, movements and exercises to follow at the end. ( )