Why I Walk on Grass Instead of Paved Walkways

Natural terrain for natural body function

Ever since I started learning about proper foot function, I have been walking almost exclusively on grass instead of the sidewalk that runs alongside it.

I had hurt my left foot badly in a taekwondo class and was trying to find different ways to walk without being in pain.

The grass to the outside of the sidewalk seemed like a no-brainer at first simply because it was more forgiving. Plain and simple, it was softer on my feet. I had been walking with my left heel slightly raised for several weeks and it was starting to affect the muscles upstream in my leg and up in my hip.

While this was good improvisation to walk in the grass, what I didn’t realize yet is that I stumbled into a game-changing concept when it comes to foot health.

Not only is grass softer, it is slightly uneven. It has little bumps, divots, slopes, and all kinds of varying terrain at the micro level. It also has texture. Some grass is dry and hard, some is healthy and soft.

All of this matters because your feet have to adapt to this terrain with every step. Your foot will be forced to turn inward with one step, and outward with another.

Sometimes you’ll step on something that won’t allow your heel to go down all the way or won’t let your toes go down all the way. The plantar muscles (bottom of the foot) will get pushed and poked by different things on the ground which will give your foot the physical feedback it needs to get some myofascial stimulation and to send information to the brain about how you should be walking.

Your toes will be forced to engage, your foot muscles will engage, and your ankle will engage all because it is not perfectly flat ground. This is the beauty of natural terrain like grass in a park.

Perhaps the best part is that your feet want this diversity in surface because it actually makes them more flexible, stronger, and more robust overall. The feet have evolved to do this work.

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