Imagine jumping barefoot off a six-foot wall. The ground below is concrete. How do you land? Your body is smart. It would instinctively know to meet the surface softly. Your knees might bend so much, your hands touch the floor.
Now, imagine that surface is a cushy gym floor mat. You’re going to land a little differently. Your body will naturally land a little stiffer.
If the floor transformed into a trampoline, you’ll land stiffer still.
What if it were a pool? To get the least splash, you might try to enter the water in the shape of a pencil. Your knees locked.
Imagine a new scenario. You’re again barefoot standing on that six-foot wall. You see a pool of water below and jump in the shape of a pencil.
But you’ve been tricked.
Only the first inch is water. Below that is concrete.
You’ll break your legs.
Turns out, this is what happens when we add cushion to our soles. The softer those soles, the more our body is tricked into thinking the ground is soft.
What really sucks is the vicious cycle this causes.
The more cushion in your soles, the harder it is on your knees. The more your knees hurt, the more cushion you seek.
I learned this while studying for my PhD in Biomedical Engineering. When I beagan my transition away from standard shoes, I was flat-footed.
Slowly, over the course of a year, so as to not injure myself, I introduced more barefoot walking and minimalist shoes into my life.
My foot grew a full size and I developed an arch.
It’s amazing what the body can do when we take off the training wheels and let go the crutches.
Thank you for reading.
Health, happiness, kindness, respect
for every being and all things.
— Andrew
© 2026 Andrew J. DiMeo, Sr., PhD.
All rights reserved. Permission granted to share with attribution.