TrailStompers.com: San Francisco Bay Area Trail Running

Here's a great study that was conducted on 2300 children between the ages of 4 and 13.  The purpose was to determine if there was a link between wearing shoes and developing flat feet.  The conclusions were:

"...The incidence [of flat foot] among children who used footwear was 8.6% compared with 2.8% in those who did not ... 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...

Click here for the complete article!