10. Review & Conclusions

• Over millions of years and between several species, bipedal foot characteristics have adapted to generally look and function in a specific way.
• With the historical increase of footwear usage, there is an evident pattern of body modification
• With the historical increase of artificial (modern) substrates, there is a clear environmental modification
• Although human lifespans now are longer than they were in the Paleolithic era, these modifications are having an effect on humans. Obviously, it has not yet been determined to have a detriment on survival, reproductive fitness or “success” as a species altogether, but could have a specific negative affect overall health of individuals
• Important note: switching to barefoot running or mid- or forefoot striking pattern does not guarantee a decreased risk in injury to any portion of the lower extremity it is important to describe how the foot evolved and performed before shod footwear.
• However, shod footwear could have increased survival/reproductive fitness, whereas unshod behavior might not have at the cost of atrophying useful muscles in the leg and foot
• We should also take into consideration lifestyle choices and anatomical difference between distant species and modern humans, i.e. height, weight, nutrition, etc.
• A great summary of which is better: shod vs barefoot running, see kevin kirby’s youtube page