ChicagoBarefoot ankles carry denser bone at the front.
Fossils have been compared with shoe-wearing modern humans, so the baseline may be skewed.
Spongy bone remodels under load, and CT scans of 56 ankle bones found shoe wearers’ struts run in narrower directions.
The study finds an association only, and the authors say body size, activity and terrain may also play a part.
Only 16 of the 56 were barefoot, all from the mid-19th century, and the authors want follow-up studies.
How each outlet framed it
- New Scientist
- identifies shoes' ankle-bone changes as confounding paleontological factor; barefoot populations reveal hominin walking patterns
Sources: New Scientist