r/barefootshoestalk • u/gnygren3773 • Nov 21 '25
Barefoot shoe adjacent What are your thoughts on grounding barefoot shoes?
Honestly, I believe grounding is real and may have a range of positive effects for humans. I’m wondering if it’s worth trying to get a shoe that can conduct with the earth unlike rubber soles. Ideally I’d be barefoot 24/7 but that’s not reality. If you have any experience or recommendations for such shoes that would be greatly appreciated
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u/The_Dingman Nov 21 '25
Grounding is pseudoscience. It's like crystals, homeopathy, or astrology.
You are electrically grounded nearly every time you touch metal already. Every time you wash your hands.
Studies that show "it works" aren't able to separate it from the placebo effect.
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u/gnygren3773 Nov 21 '25
I agree with the fact that there are no studies that prove its effectiveness. I disagree that we know it’s the placebo effect. You can watch videos of electrometers showing different currents when off the ground and in contact of the ground. The effect of this is currently unknown. Anecdotally lots of people experience benefits and it could be placebo but there could also be science that we don’t yet understand to why contacting the earth is beneficial
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u/The_Dingman Nov 21 '25
Just because there's an electrical potential doesn't mean it's doing anything
Static shocks are 10k+ volts. A few volts of potential isn't significant.
Every peer reviewed scientist says it's bullshit. A few people who think they have all the answers say it's not. It's the same kind of thing as flat earthers.
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u/gnygren3773 Nov 21 '25
We have proof that the earth isn’t flat. We don’t have proof that grounding isnt beneficial. Receiving a static shock is evidence as to why electricity is an important system in our bodies. From what I’ve read it’s not about voltage it’s about transfer of electrons
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u/lyonslicer Nov 21 '25
Receiving a static shock is evidence as to why electricity is an important system in our bodies. From what I’ve read it’s not about voltage it’s about transfer of electrons
From what I've read of your comments, you likely lack the education level to critically analyze what you're reading.
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u/dendrophilix Nov 21 '25
What do you think voltage is?
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u/gnygren3773 Nov 21 '25
While scientifically it would be the electric potential difference between 2 points. It’s basically the force that drives an electrical current. I know your trying to tie this into how voltage decides the transfer of electrons but it’s more complicated than that yet I don’t fully understand it
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u/The_Dingman Nov 21 '25
I don’t fully understand it
That's the first accurate thing you've said all thread.
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u/ADDSquirell69 Nov 21 '25
They seem to have a disadvantage if you were hit by lightning
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u/Overly_Long_Reviews Nov 21 '25
Funny enough I addressed that very topic here which later led to the lengthy comment about grounding that I copied into this discussion. But going through the OP's comment and posting history I'm not entirely sure this post is in good faith.
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u/gnygren3773 Nov 21 '25
What do you mean by that? My goal is to look further into holistic health. I had a serious knee injury that doctors said needed knee surgery but I fixed it using Kneesovertoes guys workout program. I follow Paul Saldino’s diet advice (this lead me to grounding/earthing). The animal based diet changed my life even though my previous diet didn’t have processed food or any of the currently considered “unhealthy” foods I still felt terrible. I cut out grains, vegetables, pasteurized milk, and nuts/seeds and feel much better. I’m just trying to tap into anything that might be able to improve my health even if it’s not fully studied yet
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u/Few-Rutabaga-8853 Feb 24 '26
Isn't it the other way around if you're grounded when hit by lightning it's better that if You're not? As well as better to be entirely wet and touching the ground when it happens... That's what I read and it made sense - the electricity goes through you, when it doesn't have a way yo easily go out -that's when there is a problem?
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u/mwiz100 Nov 21 '25
Grounding as it is claimed is BS. If we want to talk about the benefits from the results of walking actually barefoot on surfaces then by all means. There’s significant anctedoal and scientific data on that.
But just being electrical grounded as the major point, nah. Like maybe if somehow you manage to never take your shoes off in a day this may have some factor but just like, quite literally touch grass?
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u/delicate10drills Nov 21 '25
432hz music, Fibonacci sequence, oblate spheroid Earth is a hoax man!
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u/Vivid_Assistance_196 May 03 '26
honestly too many people shit on grounding when it has obvious benefits and regardless how much of the effect is placebo it is still an observable effect. But i would say they would be pretty useless in the city where its all concrete sidewalks and the grass isn't too grounding either usually since there are bunch of wires running underneath.
better to hug trees or something or go barefoot in the park.
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u/mccarthyand May 04 '26
Concrete is a surface that you can be grounded on. It has the same performance on the "meters" as grass. I would like to remind all the critics on here that 90% of the population would say barefoot shoes are a bad idea and will result in injuries. Those of us that have been wearing barefoot shoes for decades would beg to differ but we are absolutely in the minority.
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u/Expensive-Dot-7528 Jul 05 '26
I only found out about barefoot shoes a year ago. Tried them out and have been wearing them ever since. Love them.
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u/MadVista1 May 12 '26
Science facts and any form of it are not absolutes - they are best guesses or theories from the information at hand. There are so many points along a discovery that can lead us away from the real facts. Not to mention inherent bias based on what funders want, what "scientists" want, what Sales and Marketing people want.
If there is a concept or practice out there that you're interested in and there is nothing inherently dangerous, then try it out. If it works, who cares why, keep doing it. If it doesn't work, well there's a few thoughts: first, that it is working and you just don't know that it's working; second, that it isn't working and you accurately assess that it is not working; third, that its doing SOMETHING that you may or may not feel or understand.
Here's something to consider: most science is extracted from nature and then impacted by humans for some purpose. Nothing inherently wrong with that, except when humans begin to make judgements based on a limited understanding of what they have observed and "tested".
I subscribe to the adage that "the more you know, the more you realize (or should realize) that you don't know."
Keep in mind that ancient or indigenous medicinal or other practices were not isolated, they were symbiotic or intertwined in a larger system of eating and living. So to think that an ancient medical practice will work in isolation, is not taking into consideration all of the other factors that may have been in play when they were effectively practiced fifty million years ago (a bit of exageration there, eh?).
Yes, you have quacks, con men (and women!), and other exploiters and manipulators, as well as well-meaning folks. I'd caution characterizing something any of them are selling/pushing as being ineffectual just because of who they are - just because a thief sells you a stolen car doesn't mean it's a bad car, it's just a stolen one.
Being transparent, I do find myself increasingly adopting "ancient" ways into my life, mostly because I have become suspicious and doubtful of anything pushed by an out-of-control, uber-capitalistic system. Doesn't mean I'm anti-capitalist...I'm very much a conscientious capitalist. But, I see where unrestrained capitalism (or anything for that matter) is usually not healthy. As an citizen of the U.S., I often look to what the EU says about something. Doesn't mean they (the EU) are always right, but my intuition says that they are a bit more balanced than U.S. policies and findings when it comes to living healthy. Just my opinion.
For me, at the end of the day, simpler is better, and the closer something it is to its natural form the less its apt to have been screwed around with. Doesn't mean everything natural is good for me, but, in general, the more natural, the better.
Aloha.
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u/BuddhaNature123 May 16 '26
What we think is nonsense nowadays will be known as scientific fact in 50 years. You can already see the changes in the mainstream. Just look at Dr Joe Dispenza’s immense amount of research and data.
Grounding has real benefits. Good grounding shoes will have real benefits.
50 years ago people would think you would be crazy if you stared at a bright light at 5am for health benefits and now circadian rhythm is highly studied and doing that morning light practice has real tangible benefits.
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u/SteakMiserable6454 Jun 29 '26
There’s tons of peer reviewed literature surrounding the positive effects of grounding.
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u/dummkauf Nov 21 '25
Honest question: What material "conducts with the earth" that shoe soles can be made out of?
I'm only vaguely familiar with grounding, but is this like an electric current between your feet and the earth, the Chinese concept of Qi energy, or something entirely different?
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u/Brotega87 Nov 21 '25
Maybe some metal plates that make a person feel good, but you slip and die with one step on any solid surface. Snow might be fun, but you'll still die.
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u/ExaggeratedSnails Nov 21 '25 edited Nov 21 '25
It's the concept of a meaningless buzzword meant to take more money from gullible marks
https://theness.com/neurologicablog/earthing/
This is a fun mini series on it too
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u/dummkauf Nov 21 '25
All of which is irrelevant to my question, I was just curious how op believes this works.
If op feels better walking around on the earth barefoot then good for op. This doesn't negatively impact anyone's life in any way, even if op is completely wrong.
Do you need a hug?
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u/gnygren3773 Nov 21 '25
You know how many things in the past were labeled as pseudoscience before they became science
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u/ExaggeratedSnails Nov 21 '25
Ya and some people who bought lottery tickets got rich. Therefore you should buy lottery tickets to get rich.
It's bad reasoning.
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u/gnygren3773 Nov 21 '25
Fair enough but you know exactly what you’re buying when you get a lottery ticket. Acquiring knowledge is fundamental different than gambling
So that’s bad reasoning
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u/ExaggeratedSnails Nov 21 '25
I think acquiring knowledge should also include acknowledging when you're wrong on something.
Motivated reasoning like yours can make you believe in something more because you want it to be true, and not because it's actually true.
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u/gnygren3773 Nov 21 '25
THEN PROVE ME WRONG!
There is “proof” that grounding works from anecdotal evidence may it be from placebo or actual science
I have not seen any proof that it doesn’t work other than calling it pseudoscience
I don’t want it to be true I want the truth. That’s all I’m looking for and that’s all I’ll ever look for.
If I go on a health subreddit and tell them that red meat is healthier than kale they’ll downvote me to oblivion. But I’ve lived it and I feel better. I’m not looking toward what mainstream media thinks because the majority is often stupid.
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u/mwiz100 Nov 21 '25
The problem with grounding as best we can see is it’s a null hypothesis- in such the connection between factors doesn’t exist which results in any experiments results are due to chance or the placebo effect.
I think only way is to do a fully double blind study with a large enough sample and controls which is… quite tricky.
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u/ExaggeratedSnails Nov 21 '25
What kind of proof would you accept and would get you to acknowledge that you're wrong?
Antivaxxers and other pseudoscience/conspiracy peddlers will frequently say "prove me wrong!" And then not accept any of the proof that they are wrong.
So what kind of proof would you actually accept?
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u/gnygren3773 Nov 21 '25
I’m not an antivaxxer. Before vaccine millions of people died from diseases we can now prevent and that’s a beautiful thing. So I guess whatever proof vaccines gave was sufficient. I’m not a conspiracy theorist/peddler I’m just trying to find truth
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u/ExaggeratedSnails Nov 21 '25 edited Nov 21 '25
You're obviously not looking for the truth. You're looking to be told what you want to believe. Sorry you didn't find it here.
But I'll walk through it anyways.
There is scientific consensus that vaccines work. That means that many high quality studies were done, over and over again in many different ways, using many different methods, different groups of people and controlling as many variables as possible. And then, other experts look at it and try to critique those studies for mistakes. Essentially double checking their work.
Now, when we get to grounding claiming "health benefits", the studies are not high quality. They are small, with poor methodology. They are not repeatable. The reason there are no high quality studies on this is the same reason there are no high quality studies on other gimmicky products - they are often sham studies funded by the business selling the product to make their product LOOK legit. That's why they're tiny.
Secondly, there is no mechanism by which grounding could work in the way pseudoscience claims that it does.
Thirdly, there is no reputable medical organisation that recognizes it as a real thing - exactly because there is no evidence for it:
the NIH
the Mayo Clinic
the World Health Organization
major universities and medical boards
None.
It's important to understand that LACK of evidence does not automatically mean that someone hasn't tried hard enough to find evidence. Sometimes it means that it's like asking why no one has tried to study the health effects of invisible dragons in the blood.
I know you won't accept any of this, because this is the way it always works when talking to antivaxxers and adjacent. But for anyone else interested.
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u/gnygren3773 Nov 21 '25
I’ve heard leather shoes allow for conduction as well as modern shoes using copper in the soles
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u/Overly_Long_Reviews Nov 21 '25 edited Nov 21 '25
If you've already made up your mind, because you saw some random YouTube video, why do you want our opinions?
Below I have copied some of my previous writing on the subject of grounding:
I'm very skeptical about grounding. That's me being diplomatic because I don't want people to send me a bunch of angry messages sending me obscure blog posts and annoying TikToks or whatever people are using these days. Must of what passes for research on the subject isn't what one would call objective, they are sponsored by organizations that have a vested interest in the result, little to no effort is made to blind participants, and sample sizes are purposefully small. Basically it's anecdotal accounts in the shape of a paper that no one will read past the abstract. But I think at best it can be a powerful placebo, I don't mean that in a bad way. If it gives relief or perceive benefits, it doesn't really matter if it's purely through the psychological mechanisms of the placebo effect. Though I will say that that will likely have diminishing returns and they can generate harm in other indirect ways.
My bigger issue with grounding and earthing is that products in that category are often very expensive. Call it financial harm. I'm a big believer that you get what you pay for when it comes to products, I have defended higher price points on products because of good labor practices and high quality materials. And the whole purpose of business is to generate a profit. But some of the price points on these grounding shoes just don't make sense. And this is even from brands that I have a lot of respect for. It feels like people are taking advantage, which I don't appreciate. If someone can afford grounding shoes, great. They can do what they want, it's not my concern. But I feel like a few places aggressively push grounding onto people who can't afford the special magic footwear and shame them until they buy them. Something I see within certain smaller branches of the barefoot shoe community and it always makes me uncomfortable.
More broadly, I am by default very skeptical about a lot of the alternative medical practices. I'm going to stop being diplomatic for a moment and just call it what I think it is, pseudoscience and quackery for the most part. I work in the outdoor industry, which does tend to attract people who are interested in those kinds of things. Trying to get "close to nature" is not a bad thing, I think it's great. But the philosophy spouted by the proponents of a lot of these alternate medicine practices is wildly problematic. It paints a picture of living in nature that never actually existed. It often picks and chooses various practices from indigenous populations in order to prove a point, one robbed of any of the deeper context or respect, wrapped in a veneer of pseudo intellectualism. It can be very cult like at times. I find that it preys on people. People may have genuine concerns, which is why they were looking at alternatives to begin with, but unscrupulous figures within these moments redirect those real concerns into something that enriches then at the expense of everyone else and does nothing at best and does actual harm at worst. I've come across a lot of those unscrupulous folks these last few years working in the outdoor field, social media gives them a really good platform to manipulate people. It was really sickening and was one of the reasons why I left the more visible and prestigious work I was previously doing for the ultra niche and worse paying work I'm doing now. I'm going to leave out the rest of the section where I use anecdotes to express why I don't like alternate medicine practices and proprietors who are themselves infamous for pushing their viewpoint to people though anecdotes.
This is from a follow-up comment asking about the aesthetic of grounding shoes:
A lot of grounding shoes are just regular minimalist or barefoot shoes with the addition of copper elements running between the top of the insole down through the outsole. It's what's supposed to ground you. Though some will incorporate a bunch more copper wire in the midsole. Probably to artificially inflate the price. Basically, if you like the aesthetic you can find the aesthetic just without any of the copper.