A lot of health problems are related to our feet. Does walking around a house with no shoes make it worse?

I'm looking for Chiropractors and Orthopedic doctors who might know this. Is it bad to walk around barefoot? I was told that the crepitus in my knees could be due to my feet and excess weight.

No, being overweight causes problems and shoes cause more problems than they solve. Going barefoot (when not obese) is very healthy!

Even on hard surfaces, studies have shown that bare feet do not normally need support. From "Survey in China and India of Feet That Have Never Worn Shoes": One hundred and eighteen of those interviewed were rickshaw coolies. Because these men spend very long hours each day on cobblestone or other hard roads pulling their passengers at a run it was of particular interest to survey them. If anything, their feet were more perfect than the others. All of them, however, gave a history of much pain and swelling of the foot and ankle during the first few days of work as a rickshaw puller. But after either a rest of two days or a week's more work on their feet, the pain and swelling passed away and never returned again. There is no occupation more strenuous for the feet than trotting a rickshaw on hard pavement for many hours each day yet these men do it without pain or pathology.

From "Footgear -- Its History, Uses and Abuses,":
All writers who have reported their observations of barefooted people agree that the untrammeled feet of natural men are free from the disabilities commonly noted among shod people -- hallax vagus, bunions, hammer toes, and painful feet.

We all know that high heels put the skeletal system out of alignment, but even a low raised heel such as almost all modern footwear has, does this to some extend. The heel should be resting on the same level as the forefoot.

Unfortunately a lot of people are afraid of injury or disease when barefoot but this is based on myth and greatly exaggerated risks rather than fact. Feet get very tough very quickly, you don't put your feet up on the dinner table or lick your toes (while we do touch our faces and food with our hands!), and they're fully washable.

However, as indeed has been remarked before, lugging a lot of extra weight around does hurt your knees, feet and other joints. I've even heard of an obese friend who used knee support (as normally used in sports) just for walking around the house and doing daily chores, and you may need some arch support to help you carry your excess weight depending on how much overweight your are. Most people in the surveys would've been of average weight. Absolutely try to lose some weight because that is a problem rather than the lack of footwear!

yes especially when you wake up and step on the cold floor.

yep it is harmful.

Think about it - excess weight. If someone were to ask you to carry around five or more - 10lb bags of flour all day - could you? It is not good for the body.

My back pain has improved considerably since I stopped wearing sandals and put arch supports in my tennis shoes and wear them inside the house instead of slippers.

Seriously, consider losing weight....don't ask your body to continually carry around extra weight.

It's probably the excess weight and not anything related to what you pick up when you go barefoot. I have some knee issues, but they have nothing to do with my size. I'm a heavy set gal myself, and I HATE to wear shoes! When I'm inside the house, my shoes are nowhere near my feet.

I'm not a medical professional, but I am a gal nearing 60 years old, and I've gone barefoot whenever possible since I was a kid. I hear that it is healthy to go barefoot!

Is the first answer supposed to be funny? It's wrong. Bare feet is as natural as it can get. The thing is that we in the civilized world are spoilt and we like our feet pretty, so we wear footwear to make our spoilt feet comfortable.
Walking around the house is in fact good for your feet and illnesses related to feet and back. It's also good for keeping your immune system active. Try to walk barefoot as much as possible. Especially in the summer when it's warm. But watch out for the snakes:)

Walking barefoot in the house shouldn't be a problem--unless you have fallen arches and/or excess weight (which can lead to fallen arches). Without arch support, the bones of your ankle become misaligned when you stand up, which causes your shin bones to rotate outward, which causes your thigh bones to rotate inward, etc., throwing your entire skeleton out of whack. Knees are typically the first symptoms of fallen arches.

I have a friend who used to massage barefoot all day long, and she'd ache all over by the end of the day. I suggested that she try wearing shoes at work for a while, just to see whether it would help. Instant cure!

That said, if you're not on your feet much around the house (i.e. you're just watching TV, not doing housework), it doesn't matter what's on your feet.

they are wrong it is good for u to go barefooted