Historically people rarely had flat feet until they wore shoes their whole lives. This would lead one to conclude that flat feet are strongly caused by wearing

Historically people rarely had flat feet until they wore shoes their whole lives. This would lead one to conclude that flat feet are strongly caused by wearing shoes. This is reinforced by the fact that flat feet can often be cured by stretching and strengthening the muscles of the feet. You can see now that these ideas are making their way into the scientific literature, although they aren't actually doing the needed studies yet. http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/121-1272/3024/ http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/121-1272/3024/ You are right that scientific peer reviewed research on barefoot native cultures (and barefoot running in general) is hard to find. But when you recognize that it is scientifically proven that shoes decrease cushioning and increase joint stress, you start to think we haven't progressed much from them. http://www.mskreport.com/articles.cfm?articleID=2980 http://www.mskreport.com/articles.cfm?articleID=2980