If there’s one thing all children in the American South have in common, it’s the joy of running barefoot. I was 10 before we moved to a paved street. Until then, I ran free on dirt roads, prickly yards, and sandy lakefronts. In summers, we visited my grandparents in Alabama, and each year I’d wander into a clover patch, step on a bee, and suffer terribly until Daddy pulled out the stinger. But not even my annual bee encounters could persuade me to put on a pair of shoes.

Somehow Southern kids manage to walk, run, tumble, skip, jump rope, ride bikes, and even play baseball and football in our bare feet. But then we grow up, put on a few pounds, decide to get in shape, and suddenly it’s all about THE SHOE.

Choosing the right athletic shoe is almost as complicated as buying a house. You’ve got walking shoes, running shoes, jogging shoes, aerobics shoes, and shoes for various types of sports. But what if you walk, run, jog, and take aerobics classes? Are you supposed to buy a different pair of shoes for each activity? When they cost at least $80 a pair?? And as if shoe-buying weren’t confusing enough, now some shoes are supposed to provide resistance training while you walk, and others are designed using the same technology as balance balls.

What’s the best option?

Bare feet.

Yes, science has finally figured out what the world’s kids have known all along: It’s okay to run barefoot. In fact, it might be even better than running in shoes.

Shoeless go

Researchers at Harvard University have discovered that people who run barefoot generally land on the balls or middle of their feet rather than the heels. As a result, they avoid the injury-causing impacts that plague shod runners. According to Daniel E. Lieberman, Harvard professor of human evolutionary biology, it’s a myth that barefoot running is dangerous. “[A]ctually you can run barefoot on the world’s hardest surfaces without the slightest discomfort and pain,” he explains. “All you need is a few calluses to avoid roughing up the skin of the foot. Further, it might be less injurious than the way some people run in shoes.”

Lieberman and his colleagues at Harvard, the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and Moi University in Kenya, compared American and Kenyan runners in three groups: barefoot runners, shod runners, and runners who had converted from shoes to bare feet. They found most shod runners experience large, sudden collision forces about 1,000 times per one-mile run. Those who always have run barefoot or wearing minimal footwear with little cushioning have a more springy, compliant landing.

Modern running shoes were invented in the 1970s, and Lieberman warns that those who’ve grown up wearing these shoes should ease into barefoot or minimal-shoe running. Barefoot runners tend not to heel-strike, but shod runners do and athletic shoes are designed to cushion the force. Those accustomed to shod running will need time to build their calf and foot muscles and learn to land on the balls and middle of their feet so they’re not experiencing those jarring impacts. While heel-striking isn’t the issue in walking that it is in running, Lieberman says walking barefoot can help strengthen the feet and ankles.

For more information on the study results and the science of walking barefoot, visit the researchers’ Web site: http://www.barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/index.html.