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      Being barefoot. Prevalence at home, in school and during sport: a cross-sectional survey of 714 New Zealand secondary school boys

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          Abstract

          Background

          It may be assumed that a combination of culture, climate and economic resource are the major reasons that non-industrialised countries have a higher prevalence of barefoot activity. New Zealand is an industrialised country with comparable resources to that of many European countries; however, it seems to remain socially acceptable to carry out barefoot activities. A chance observation of students competing barefoot on a tartan track, prompted us to determine the prevalence of barefoot activity in an all-boys secondary school in Auckland New Zealand.

          Method

          An 11-question survey was administered at an Auckland boys secondary school, of high socioeconomic status, to determine the footwear habits of students ( n = 714) during: a) daily life b) school life (c) physical education class and (d) sport. To classify students as habitually barefoot or shod, students were asked to select whether they were barefoot most of the time (2-points), half of the time (1-point) or none of the time (0-points) in three settings: around the house, during sport and during school. A score of ≥3 was required to be considered habitually barefoot. Participants were also asked to specify, when running at their most recent athletics event (100 m – 3000 m) on a track, whether they ran barefoot, in shoes, in spikes or another type of footwear. Finally, participants were asked to indicate if leg pain had interrupted running during the previous 12-months. Analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS.

          Results

          45% (95% CI: 41.5–49.5%) of the participants in our sample were classified as habitually barefoot. More than half of the sample reported being barefoot most of the time at home ( n = 404, 56.6%) and during PE class ( n = 420, 58.8%). Over 50% of the sample reported being barefoot half of the time or more during sport ( n = 380, 53.2%). A smaller amount went to the supermarket ( n = 140, 19.6%) or took the bus ( n = 59, 8.3%) whilst barefoot around half of the time or more. The percentage of barefoot competitors declined with increasing distance: 100 m (46.5%), 200 m (41.8%), 400 m (38%), 800 m (31%), 1500 m (31%) and 3000 m (20%). The prevalence of leg pain interfering with running was 23.5%. There was no difference in the prevalence of leg pain between those classified as habitually barefoot and shod (Χ 2(1, N = 603) = 0.005, p = 0.946).

          Conclusion

          The results of this survey demonstrate that over 50% of students at an all-boys secondary school in Auckland, of high socioeconomic status, are barefoot at home, during physical education and sport half of the time or more. These results may point towards a cultural difference between New Zealand and other modern industrialised countries.

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          Most cited references12

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          What we can learn about running from barefoot running: an evolutionary medical perspective.

          Barefoot running, which was how people ran for millions of years, provides an opportunity to study how natural selection adapted the human body to run. Because humans evolved to run barefoot, a barefoot running style that minimizes impact peaks and provides increased proprioception and foot strength, is hypothesized to help avoid injury, regardless of whether one is wearing shoes.
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            The influence of footwear on the prevalence of flat foot. A survey of 2300 children.

            We analysed static footprints of 2300 children between the ages of four and 13 years to establish the influence of footwear on the prevalence of flat foot. The incidence among children who used footwear was 8.6% compared with 2.8% in those who did not (p less than 0.001). Significant differences between the predominance in shod and unshod children were noted in all age groups, most marked in those with generalised ligament laxity. Flat foot was most common in children who wore closed-toe shoes, less common in those who wore sandals or slippers, and least in the unshod. Our findings suggest that shoe-wearing in early childhood is detrimental to the development of a normal longitudinal arch.
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              Injury risk in runners using standard or motion control shoes: a randomised controlled trial with participant and assessor blinding

              Background/aim This randomised controlled trial investigated if the usage of running shoes with a motion control system modifies injury risk in regular leisure-time runners compared to standard shoes, and if this influence depends on foot morphology. Methods Recreational runners (n=372) were given either the motion control or the standard version of a regular running shoe model and were followed up for 6 months regarding running activity and injury. Foot morphology was analysed using the Foot Posture Index method. Cox regression analyses were used to compare injury risk between the two groups, based on HRs and their 95% CIs, controlling for potential confounders. Stratified analyses were conducted to evaluate the effect of motion control system in runners with supinated, neutral and pronated feet. Results The overall injury risk was lower among the participants who had received motion control shoes (HR=0.55; 95% CI 0.36 to 0.85) compared to those receiving standard shoes. This positive effect was only observed in the stratum of runners with pronated feet (n=94; HR=0.34; 95% CI 0.13 to 0.84); there was no difference in runners with neutral (n=218; HR=0.78; 95% CI 0.44 to 1.37) or supinated feet (n=60; HR=0.59; 95% CI 0.20 to 1.73). Runners with pronated feet using standard shoes had a higher injury risk compared to those with neutral feet (HR=1.80; 95% CI 1.01 to 3.22). Conclusions The overall injury risk was lower in participants who had received motion control shoes. Based on secondary analysis, those with pronated feet may benefit most from this shoe type.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                peter.francis@leedsbeckett.ac.uk
                grant.schofield@aut.ac.nz
                lisa.mackay@aut.ac.nz
                Journal
                J Foot Ankle Res
                J Foot Ankle Res
                Journal of Foot and Ankle Research
                BioMed Central (London )
                1757-1146
                18 July 2018
                18 July 2018
                2018
                : 11
                : 42
                Affiliations
                [1 ]ISNI 0000 0001 0745 8880, GRID grid.10346.30, Musculoskeletal Health Research Group, School of Clinical and Applied Sciences, , Leeds Beckett University, ; Leeds, UK
                [2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 0705 7067, GRID grid.252547.3, Human Potential Centre, School of Sport and Recreation, , Auckland University of Technology, ; Auckland, New Zealand
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9720-6253
                Article
                285
                10.1186/s13047-018-0285-y
                6052583
                30034544
                001e425d-fc36-49cc-9197-f1a8a7ef1a76
                © The Author(s). 2018

                Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

                History
                : 3 May 2018
                : 13 July 2018
                Categories
                Research
                Custom metadata
                © The Author(s) 2018

                Orthopedics
                barefoot,shoes,footwear,running,athletics
                Orthopedics
                barefoot, shoes, footwear, running, athletics

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