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I've recently purchased my first pair of Vibram's FiveFingers and because of that I've done some reading about how to correctly run barefoot — which would be, of course, the way humans are supposed to run. Lots of folks usually run by striking their heels first, but with minimalistic shoes this would injure the body: the correct technique requires to land on the forefoot. Luckily I've always run this way, so I don't have to change my habits, but this made me thinking about the correct walking technique. Back in the days of my childhood I used to walk on my forefoot all the time, at times I didn't even touch the ground with my heels — this is probably why my dorsiflexion is so shitty (I wonder if I'll ever be able to deep squat with proper form). Anyway, my parents, instructed by my doctor, tried to “force” me to walk correctly, that is to say by hitting the ground heel-first — something I now have the habit of doing. All the reading and watching about barefoot/minimalistic running made me realize human heels don't have a system to absorb the shock: that “system” is our arch and it works in conjunction with the ball of the foot. Empirically this makes sense because when I walk barefoot around the house at a decent speed, the standard way of walking hurts my heels. Does this mean the correct way of walking is to land the ball of the foot, without much reliance on the heel?