ABSTRACT
Painless mechanical trauma can occur from a variety of causes. Barefoot walking with normal sensations rarely results in an injury and that is precisely the reason why normal sensations are called protective sensations. Walking barefoot with loss of protective sensations is however an open invitation for injury. A person with normal sensations will stop as soon as he feels a thorn prick and would not take even one more step until the thorn is removed. If he continues to walk after pulling out the thorn, he will walk unevenly with the painful part of his foot kept off the ground. However, the person with loss of protective sensations, does not even know that he has a thorn prick and goes on walking. The thorn gets driven deeper into his foot carrying infection with it. (Fig. 9.1 ).
