New Delhi: Wearing shoes for much of our lives may leave a lasting imprint on our skeletons, changing the internal structure of bones in ways that could help scientists understand how our human ancestors walked, a new study published in the Journal of Anatomy on 8 September has found.
Researchers from the University of Chicago examined the ankle bones of people who habitually wore shoes and those who typically went barefoot. They found significant differences in the internal architecture of the bones, suggesting that footwear influences how weight and physical forces are distributed across the foot and ankle.
How footwear changes the bones
The researchers focused on the talus, a weight-bearing bone in the ankle that connects the lower leg to the foot. They examined its trabecular bone, a spongy, lattice-like tissue found inside the ends of bones that provides structural support while absorbing physical forces.
Using high-resolution micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) scans, the team analysed ankle bones from 40 modern individuals who regularly wore shoes and 16 individuals from habitually barefoot populations, including the Andaman Islands, southern Africa and Central Africa.
They found that people who wore shoes had more trabecular bone toward the back and inner side of the talus. This suggests that footwear, particularly shoes with elevated heels, changes how weight is distributed across the ankle.
In contrast, individuals who habitually went barefoot had more trabecular bone toward the front of the talus, potentially reflecting the physical demands of activities such as squatting and climbing.
Trabecular bone is particularly useful for studying these differences because its internal structure changes in response to repeated physical forces.
“A lot of people think the skeleton is a fixed thing, but it’s constantly changing during your life in response to your behavior,” said Zewdi Tsegai, an assistant professor of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago and senior author of the study.
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What this means for understanding human evolution
The findings could help scientists better interpret fossilised ankle bones and understand the different ways early humans moved.
Researchers studying human evolution often use the skeletons of modern humans as reference points when examining fossils. However, the study suggests that people who regularly wear shoes may not provide an accurate comparison for understanding how early humans, who generally went barefoot, distributed their weight while walking.
Differences in internal bone structure could also provide clues about whether early humans spent more time climbing, squatting or walking upright.
“If we can find variation within one modern species, that means that the subtle differences that we might find in fossils are meaningful,” Tsegai said.
The researchers cautioned that footwear is only one factor influencing bone structure. Differences in body size, lifestyle, physical activity and subsistence practices could also contribute to variations between populations.
Nevertheless, the study establishes a useful comparative framework for investigating how habitual movement shaped the skeletons of our ancestors and how human walking evolved over millions of years.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)