Good Vibrations: Walking, Running, Minimal Shoes & Vibration Plates
Move Your DNA with Katy Bowman
Nutritious Movement
4.8 • 686 Ratings
🗓️ 27 May 2026
⏱️ 80 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Biomechanist Katy Bowman and biologist Dr Jeannette Loram explore the fascinating world of vibration: the benefits and costs of impact to the body and the importance of sensing vibration in humans and other animals.
Katy and Jeannette discuss how foot impacts during walking may actually form part of the brain’s circulatory system. They also unpack the science of vibration plates and whether they are useful for muscle strength, bone health, and balance. The conversation then turns to running, exploring how it generates vibrations through the body’s soft tissues, how these vibrations may affect performance, and what runners can do about it. Finally, they share some remarkable examples of vibration sensing in animals and consider how modern lifestyles may limit this sense in humans.
The discussion on impact and contact with the ground continues with Mike Dally of Earth Runners®, creators of minimalist earthing sandals. Katy and Mike talk about the aims of minimalist footwear in reducing interference between the foot and the ground, how to adapt to minimalist sandals, and new designs in development, including an easy-to-put-on children’s sandal.
Enhanced Show Notes and Full Transcript
0:00 The barefoot shoe expo debrief
3:40 The Dynamic Collective
6:40 Introduction to vibrations and waves
8:22 Walking vibrations and brain health
13:26 Vibrations and bone: building bone and fracture
16:04 Soft tissue vibration during running
17:45 Vibration plates: how do they work, and are they worth it?
25:25 Running revisited
33:44 Vibration sensing in animals
40:08 Mike Dally from Earth Runners®
52:25 Over-engineering health solutions rather than removing interference
56:00 Adapting to minimalist sandals
58:40 New products coming up: user-friendly children’s sandals
1:06:45 Listener question on foot pressure issues, sponsored by Movemate
Books, Links and Resources:
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong
Mary Roach books
Katy’s stylish strappy shoes
How Walking Benefits The Brain
Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse
The Ins, Outs, Ups and Downs of Breast Movement
Interview with Dr Libby Hinsley: Hypermobility, Proprioception & Building Up a Bendy Body - Podcast Ep #177
Earth Runners® SandalsÂ
Connect, Move & Learn:
Join Our Newsletter: Movement Colored Glasses
Follow Katy on Substack
Try Katy's Virtual Studio Free for 7 days!
Made Possible By Our Wonderful Sponsors:
Movemate:Â Active standing boards with smoothly articulating wooden slats. Designed to keep you moving without interrupting your focus.
Venn Design: Beautifully upholstered ball-shaped Air Chairs and floor cushions that encourage dynamic sitting
Ikaria Design: The Soul Seat® offers height-adjustable, multi-position sitting—get 10% off new chairs and desks with code DNA10
Freet Barefoot: creators of comfortable barefoot shoes built for natural movement, flexibility, and durability— use code DNA10 for 10% off.
Earth Runners: makers of minimalist earthing sandals designed for natural foot movement and connection to the ground— use code DNA10 for 10% off.
My Happy Feet: Toe-spacing socks that gently realign toes for comfortable shoe recovery—take 20% off with code MYDNA
ScreenFit™: a complete online vision training program —take $200% off with code NUTRITIOUSMOVEMENT
Thoughts/questions email us at podcast@nutritiousmovement.com
Your Voice on the Podcast: Read The CreditsÂ
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is the Move Your DNA podcast. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Katie Bowman, biomechanist, and author. |
| 0:08.3 | And I'm Dr. Jeanette Lorham, biologist, and movement teacher. |
| 0:12.2 | Everybody is welcome here. Let's get started. |
| 0:15.6 | You can tell my voice is hoarse. I've been at the Barefoot Expo. |
| 0:19.2 | I was just going to ask you how it was. Two days of constant talking and teaching then. |
| 0:24.9 | Yes, it was, I talked to a couple hundred people. I talked from the time that I got there until I was talking as I was walking out the door, just over my shoulder. |
| 0:40.9 | And then I had a very chatty Uber driver. |
| 0:43.6 | So I am. |
| 0:45.2 | No, and you can hear it. |
| 0:46.9 | I am struggling. |
| 0:47.7 | And I drank so much water. |
| 0:49.1 | It's not dehydration. |
| 0:50.6 | It feels like fatigue. |
| 0:52.0 | I cannot muscle the contractions to push it up and out of my throat. |
| 0:58.0 | So lots of tea and lots of vocal rest. |
| 1:00.9 | Do you have some podcast's tea with you? |
| 1:04.0 | I do. |
| 1:04.8 | Okay, excellent. |
| 1:05.3 | I do have some podcasters tea, which is singer's tea, but Jeanette and I rebranded it as podcasters tea. |
| 1:11.8 | And I have mine. |
| 1:13.6 | Yeah, it was the, um, the expo was great. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 19 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Nutritious Movement, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Nutritious Movement and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.