Thank you for your comments. Yes, the current environment of level pavement and stiff soled shoes are contributors to the dulling of the sole sense, however determining the answers to those “why” questions on an individual basis is just as important as well. Training tools–yes, but then I also ask, at what expense? I do not recommend these shoes to my clients as I have found that the good intentions of new awareness through these shoes as learning tools just brings me more patterns of dysfunction to work with and unecessary costs. I prefer to work with my clients to encourage new sensitivity and awareness so that they can then adapt to their old shoes with new insights and a fresh perspective on their footsteps on the pavement out the door.

I have friends who swear by them!

When the adaptability and sensitivity of the foot is no longer needed for locomotion, proprioception and the deeper muscles that support the arches inevitably weaken, eventually leaving only the superficial, non-contractile plantar fascia responsible for preventing total collapse of the foot.

I’ve used the MBT shoe as a way of re-introducing the foot to “uneven terrain” and re-awakening clients to a fuller sensory-motor potential. I don’t think of them as shoes, though, but as re-training devices that are worn on the foot. Ultimately, it’s not about the shoe – it’s about how the foot behaves in the shoe – any shoe.