A new study shows New Zealand children are opting to go shoe-free and it's set to bring them big benefits later in life.
"I think we were all probably born to run barefoot. I could run forever, it just feels so natural," Kiwi Wayne Botha, who holds the Guinness world record for the fastest shoeless 100km runs, told Newshub.
It's unsurprising given a new international study, which has found 90 percent of kids in South Africa are barefoot most of the time.
"We played rugby barefoot, I grew up on a farm, we did everything barefoot, playing in the mud and everything - it was way of life."
It's a stark contrast to Germany where 100 percent of children wear footwear.
New Zealand is somewhere in the middle with 45 percent of teens surveyed found to be "habitually" barefoot.
Dr Lisa Mackay was part of a survey with an international academic when they simply looked out the window.
"These boys undertaking athletics, 100m and 200m and they were all wearing bare feet, and [the academic] was really surprised and he wanted to know if that was normal in New Zealand, and we found that it was," she told Newshub.
It also turns out our shoe-free society could be keeping us injury- free as well, with Kiwi teens also suffering less leg pain such as shin splints.
"There's evidence to show that not wearing shoes, or being barefoot in general activities is really important for the strength and the foot structures would therefore go on and prevent injuries later on," Dr McKay said.
Around 75 percent of all runners land on the heel first and Mr Botha said running barefoot forces better technique.
"It keeps your stride shorter so I think all the forces are going straight down when you're landing; when you do run with shoes you have a longer stride and a lot of people land on their heel. But running barefoot because you're got a shorter stride you're landing flat footed and you're less likely to have injuries."
Newshub.
