How to Find The Best Minimalist Running Shoes for Men, Women, Kids

Arch height is predominantly genetic and there’s no evidence that flat feet are better/worse than high-arched feet or “normal” feet.

What we think is more important is arch STRENGTH. And strength in your feet, like every other part of your body, comes from USING your feet naturally — letting them bend, flex, move, and FEEL your world.

It’s possible that by strengthening your foot muscles, you could develop or improve your arch.

Research from Dr Sarah Ridge shows that merely walking in a truly minimalist shoe improves foot muscle strength as much as doing a concentrated exercise program for your feet (and it’s easier to work that into your daily life).

Run. Walk. Hike. Do yoga. Do CrossFit. Dance. Climb. Hang out with your friends.

People do pretty much everything in minimalist shoes like Xero Shoes.

Check out the reviews for each product and you’ll hear some amazing stories.

As your feet get used to doing what’s natural — bend, flex, move, balance, and FEEL — you’ll find that you can use minimalist shoes and sandals for almost everything you do.

Sure, there are some times when you might want a bit more protection, and we recommend doing what’s SMART, not being attached to any specific idea about what’s right.

If you need to wear a pair of high heels for a few hours, that’s fine… just get back to what’s natural as soon as you’re able.

The premise of minimalist shoes (and barefoot running) is that a more natural movement style, one that should be easier in a minimalist shoe, will reduce injuries.

Anecdotal evidence (like the tens of thousands of reviews for Xero Shoes) and some simple, critical thinking (e.g. your muscles, ligaments, and tendons can outperform foam cushioning that starts to break down the moment you start using it), paints a positive picture.

Unfortunately, the companies that make truly minimalist shoes, including Xero Shoes, simply don’t have the resources to fund the long-term study that could definitively answer this question.

To find out more about why researchers think that traditional padded, motion-controlled, arch-support running shoes may be the CAUSE of running injuries, and why truly minimalist shoes could be better, check out these resources (opens in a new tab):

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254617300492

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/shoes/

Simple: Take your time

When switching from a traditional shoe to a minimalist shoe, it’s likely that you’ll be using muscles you haven’t used in a while.

It’s also likely that you’ll OVER-use muscles that you don’t need to use that much when you’re walking more naturally.

So try wearing the new shoe for an hour or two and then see how you feel the next day. A little muscle soreness? Then wait until that passes and try again, focusing on RELAXING as you walk.

Once you can comfortably and enjoyably walk for a couple of hours, then add some more time — say 30-60 minutes. When that feels good, simply keep slowly adding more time until you’re comfortable all day, every day in your minimalist shoes.

If you want to use minimalist running shoes, the basic idea is the same as above, but start with a TINY run — like 20-30 seconds.

If something hurts, change your gait until you’re having fun 😉

We have more tips in the “Learn More” section of our site.

Many shoes are sold with the term “minimalist” or “barefoot,” but most of those don’t actually meet the criteria for a truly minimalist product.

And research from Harvard’s Dr Irene Davis shows that these “partial” minimalist shoes could be the worst thing you could wear.

A TRULY minimalist shoe — like Xero Shoes — will typically have these features:

• NO heel lift, also known as zero-drop
• VERY flexible sole (you can roll it up into a ball)
• A low-to-the-ground design (a 4-12mm “stack height”)
• A foot-shaped design rather than a pointy toe
• NO unnecessary arch support
• A sole that’s thin enough to let you FEEL the ground (while still providing protection)

This also results in a lightweight shoe (though there are lightweight shoes that are far from minimalist).

Sometimes they’re one and the same (in the case of most Xero Shoes, for example… I’ll explain why I said “most” in a moment).

Both terms are often used incorrectly to promote products that don’t deliver.

Here’s an example — we regularly have people come to our office wearing a shoe they’ve been told is “minimalist” or “barefoot.”

We’ll have them put on ONE Xero Shoe and take a walk, so they can feel the difference between their two feet.

Within two steps they’ll turn around, eyes wide open, and say something like, “Oh! That’s a WHOLE different feeling!”

What’s the difference? One is the freedom in the wide Xero Shoes toe box. Then the flexibility of the sole. And then, the amount of sensation they safely feel from the ground.

For most major brands, their minimalist shoe is simply a lighter version of their regular shoe, with a bit less cushioning and less heel lift… but often still the same narrow, pointy toe box, and too much padding between you and the ground.

At the top of this, I said “MOST” Xero Shoes are “barefoot.” We design our products to let your feet do what’s natural — bend, flex, move, and FEEL the world.

For some products, though, we get a bit less barefoot and a bit more minimal. For example, our hiking boots and trail running shoes have a BIT more cushioning/protection and, therefore, have a bit less ground feel than our road running and racing shoes.

But we always maintain true minimalist characteristics:

• Wide toe boxes to let your toes splay and spread
• Low-to-the-ground designs for balance and agility
• Flexible soles for natural movement
• No heel lift for proper posture
• Lightweight enough that you might forget you’re wearing them

And all our shoes, boots, and sandals are backed with our 5,000 mile sole warranty.

If you want Xero Shoes, then you can get them here at XeroShoes.com.

We also have dealers all around the world. Check out our Store Locator for a current list… and check back often since we have more dealers coming on board every week.

For other brands, check their websites.

In short, they could be better for you than typical padded, motion-control, stiff, thick running shoes by letting your feet work in a way that’s more natural, closer to barefoot.

That is, compared to regular running shoes (and this is true also for sports sandals, hiking boots, and even casual shoes), they let your feet bend, flex, move, and feel the ground better. They’re also lighter in weight and have fewer motion-controlling design elements.

This should let your muscles, ligaments, and tendons work as the natural springs and shock absorbers they’re meant to be. And it should help you run with a better stride — not reaching out too far with your foot and landing heel-first (which sends a spike of force up through your joints).

Here are some comments from Harvard’s Dr Irene Davis when she was on the Freakonomics podcast:

There was a recent study by a group in Brazil… and they actually randomized these women who had knee osteoarthritis into one of two groups.

One group stayed in a pair of cushioned shoes and the other group were given this five-dollar — in U.S. dollars — pair of shoes that were highly flexible.  And what they found is, number one, their mechanics were more normal in the minimal shoe.

But more importantly to these patients, they had significant reduction in their pain medication, and significant improvement in their functional outcomes. That’s just with a pair of minimal shoes.

It’s interesting. In the beginning, I really didn’t think footwear mattered. As time went on and my thinking evolved, I started to understand how much footwear impacts our mechanics.

If you take someone who has run barefoot all their life, and you put them in a pair of shoes, they’re very likely, when they’re running without shoes, to land on the ball of their foot because it hurts to land on your heel. But if you put them in a pair of cushioned shoes, they will very likely transition to landing on their heel. That actually creates a cascade of events that happen up the lower extremity and up to the hip.

I’m going to suggest that when we put a pair of shoes on that has cushioning like that it actually creates a mismatch between the way we were adapted to run, which is on the ball of our foot, and the way that we run today. That mismatch results in mechanics that we have shown to be related to injury.

Then we’ve got shoe companies who are very much invested in the cushioning, the support, and all of the technology that they put into shoes.

We’re not doctors and can’t comment on a specific situation.

That said, a study by Dr Isabel Sacco put elderly women with knee osteoarthritis in a minimalist shoe and found that simply walking in a minimalist shoe reduced knee-loading forces.

Why is that important?

From Dr Sacco’s paper, “Reduction in knee loading is considered one of the most important therapeutic objectives in treating OA (osteoarthritis), as overload increases the risk of incidence and progression of the disease.”