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| BarefootRunning... |
 Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:29 pm |
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Running in Minimalist Footwear in Saint John, Virgin Islands
For nearly two decades my family has run (pun intended) a specialty
running store with the philosophy that less is more. We have preached
that too much support makes for weaker feet and that people should use
the least supportive footwear combination for their particular
situation and work towards strengthening their feet as much as
possible to avoid future problems. Support shoes and orthotics might
be a great short term fix, but they’re definitely not a long term
solution and only lead to weak feet and arches, dependence on them,
and future injuries. In my 18 years of working at running specialty
I’ve had a chance to see many various people and their injuries and
successes over the years. One common trend I have seen over the years
is that the runners who keep their feet strong and change things up on
a regular basis seem to be the most successful (my definition of
successful is being able to run and stay healthy in body, mind, &
spirit).
We brought in Vibram Fivefingers to our store originally after we had
a customer that could not shake his shin splints regardless of what
traditional methods we tried. He had been through every shoe,
stability device, insole, stretch, etc. you can think of. He finally
decided to give the barefoot thing a try, and next thing you know
things were starting to improve. He got a pair of Fivefingers (which
seemed like a bit of a revelation when we first saw them!) and we’ve
been selling them ever since. The concept has slowly gained traction,
selling more and more with time as people relate their success stories
to their friends (most of whom think they are crazy). We have sold
over 100 pair of VFF’s every month in 2009 since winter waned. In
three plus years of selling these things, I am yet to hear from
someone who regretted their decision to buy them. That’s pretty
impressive considering the thousands of pairs we’ve sold!
It’s always been interesting how differently people take to the idea
of barefooting to strengthen their feet. Some just don’t want to go
there. Many are just creatures of habit and have worn the same shoe
for the last ten years and don’t want to change. Some say they
*might* give it a try some time. Others ditch their shoes all
together. Some just jump right in and go do ten miles in Fivefingers
the first day they have them (these people DO get sore!) When people
get a new pair of shoes, we often joke and say “no twenty milers on
these tomorrow” but some people really need to be told that!
It’s important to note that those who run too hard barefoot or in
minimalist / zero drop (no elevated heel) footwear for the first time
don’t generally notice that much soreness on their actual run. It’s
the next day when their feet are sensitive or their Achilles & Soleus
(lower calf) muscles are so sore that people are asking them why they
are walking funny that they realize they *might* have over-done it
just a bit and that they really haven’t used those areas as much
with traditional running shoes. That said, I think it’s really
important that these people aren’t getting injured, they’re just
getting really sore! The beauty of minimalist footwear and
barefooting is the bio-feedback your body gives you. Unlike in normal
shoes, your body lets you know that it’s had enough before it breaks.
I’d rather have my body telling me I’m overdoing it by making me sore
than be injured any day!
Also of note is to keep in mind that everyone is different. I know
people that have transitioned straight to minimalist footwear running
50+ miles a week and said they didn’t even really get sore! On the
other hand, I know people that have gone five minutes who were totally
sore the next day. Most of us fall somewhere in between (imagine
that!).
Often in the past and especially since we started selling FiveFingers
to runners over three years ago, people have asked me how to phase
barefooting into their running routine. I usually ask a few questions
to assess their foot strength and then make a recommendation based on
how sensitive they are and how strong their feet are. Since we are
broadcasting to the world, my minimalist friends and I have put three
programs together: One for weaker feet, one for average feet, and one
for people who feel they have very strong feet.
Get the full post at my site at http://www.barefoot-running.com |
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| pithydoug... |
| Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 12:24 am |
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On Oct 16, 3:29 am, BarefootRunning <jhowlet... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
Quote: Support shoes and orthotics might
be a great short term fix, but they’re definitely not a long term
solution and only lead to weak feet and arches, dependence on them,
and future injuries.
First off I could care less if people run barefoot or bare-ass so I
have no skin in this game. If you would care to prove the above
statement then by all means show us the study. My instincts tell me
that minimal footwear is likely an ideal solution if we were all
constructed(our feet,legs,hips) the same. There is also a large
segment of runners that are quite happy with supported shoes and some
even wearing evil orthotics.
At least you didn't stoop to conspiracy theory between shoe companies
and Podiatry.
Quote: In my 18 years of working at running specialty
I’ve had a chance to see many various people and their injuries and
successes over the years. One common trend I have seen over the years
is that the runners who keep their feet strong and change things up on
a regular basis seem to be the most successful (my definition of
successful is being able to run and stay healthy in body, mind, &
spirit).
I agree change is good especially moving to trails where more of the
foot gets strengthened regardless of being shod. And back before
supported shoes were made and people were running in Keds and PF
Flyers, there were many that had to give up running. In my opinion,
foot injuries has more to do with doing too much, too quick on poor
surfaces rather than footwear. Human error not Footwear.
Quote: We brought in Vibram Fivefingers to our store originally after we had
a customer that could not shake his shin splints regardless of what
traditional methods we tried. He had been through every shoe,
stability device, insole, stretch, etc. you can think of. He finally
decided to give the barefoot thing a try, and next thing you know
things were starting to improve.
Show us a case or two and then generalize that it's best for all! Now
that is REAL science. This is the same technique that FOX news uses -
point at a problem and then lay claim across the world.
Quote: He got a pair of Fivefingers (which
seemed like a bit of a revelation when we first saw them!) and we’ve
been selling them ever since.
You sound like a shill not someone that gives a shit!
The concept has slowly gained traction,
Quote: selling more and more with time as people relate their success stories
to their friends (most of whom think they are crazy).
And in that same period many have found a proper shoe.
Quote: We have sold
over 100 pair of VFF’s every month in 2009 since winter waned. In
three plus years of selling these things, I am yet to hear from
someone who regretted their decision to buy them.
Then your ears are not open and why your credibility is suspect. When
you claim no one got injured but only some soreness, you want to take
over for Billy May doing infomertials. Even in my local area some took
the bait and now use them for the beach. Did they try to use them too
much, too soon, probably. Again, it's poor transition which is the
same for supported shoes.
Quote: impressive considering the thousands of pairs we’ve sold!
It’s always been interesting how differently people take to the idea
of barefooting to strengthen their feet. Some just don’t want to go
there. Many are just creatures of habit and have worn the same shoe
for the last ten years and don’t want to change.
Creatures of habit? Probably. If you had injuries prior to finding the
shoe that continues to work, I should change for the sake of change?
In this sport when you feet are happy, you don't overtly screw with
them just for change.
Snip more anecdotal pimping of a contrived strawman.
Regardless of what you strap on your feet, allow time for adjustment.
If you're running comfortably in you current shoes, be damn careful
moving to glorified socks just for change. I'm surprised they didn't
use the African runners or Tarahumara as examples. They grow up
without shoes from their first step.
-D |
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| Jos Bergervoet... |
| Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:16 am |
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pithydoug wrote:
Quote: On Oct 16, 3:29 am, BarefootRunning <jhowlet... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
Support shoes and orthotics
...
..
Quote: Snip more anecdotal pimping of a contrived strawman.
Regardless of what you strap on your feet, allow time for adjustment.
If you're running comfortably in you current shoes, be damn careful
moving to glorified socks just for change. I'm surprised they didn't
use the African runners or Tarahumara as examples. They grow up
without shoes from their first step.
In our country when I was young we used wooden shoes. When I went
to school I changed to leather shoes which were considered more
stylish, but until about 5 years age it was only wood!
-- Jos |
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| Ed Prochak... |
| Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 6:00 pm |
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On Oct 16, 6:24 am, pithydoug <dfre... at (no spam) hvc.rr.com> wrote:
Quote: On Oct 16, 3:29 am, BarefootRunning <jhowlet... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
[]
Quote: Snip more anecdotal pimping of a contrived strawman.
Since we are each an experiment of one, I'll toss out my experience
running barefoot so far. I do notice that the calves are worked more.
So far I have only dipped my toes iin the water in that the barefoot
runs have been short (and not regularly scheduled). But no injuries. I
do like doing it.
Quote:
Regardless of what you strap on your feet, allow time for adjustment.
Excellent advice, even if you strap on nothing.
Quote: If you're running comfortably in you current shoes, be damn careful
moving to glorified socks just for change. I'm surprised they didn't
use the African runners or Tarahumara as examples. They grow up
without shoes from their first step.
-D
Come on Doug! We all start our first steps barefoot. 8^)
Well, maybe not some of the younger folks here. I have noticed
parents putting shoes on young babies more than when I was a kid.
A barefoot run is a fun run for me. I may try those running "socks"
sometime.
Enjoy the run, whatever you wear.
Ed |
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| pithydoug... |
| Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:25 pm |
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On Oct 17, 12:00 am, Ed Prochak <edproc... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
Quote: On Oct 16, 6:24 am, pithydoug <dfre... at (no spam) hvc.rr.com> wrote:> On Oct 16, 3:29 am, BarefootRunning <jhowlet... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
Quote: Come on Doug! We all start our first steps barefoot. 8^)
Well, maybe not some of the younger folks here. I have noticed
parents putting shoes on young babies more than when I was a kid.
I haven't seen much change from my childhood days, at least that I can
remember.  As we started to walk, if not earlier, parents ran out
and a put shoes on our feet. In effect we grow up with shoes and as we
grew older the shoes had more and more support.
I have no problem with anyone trying to return to minimal footwear. I
simply get a little testy when when the shoeless advocates(not you)
clam that shoes and orthotics are evil and/or a conspiracy to nose you
down the road.
This same logic is widely used with diet books. Each fad diet claiming
that theirs is proper eating based of a study of three left handed
newts. Better yet, like trying to get well balanced facts from Fox
news.
By all means tell us about you barefoot running. I have some close
running friends that are also shoeless. They changed because they
liked the concept and npt because they had any foot problems prior. I
haven't seem some of them in a while to see how they are making out.
-D |
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| Miss Anne Thrope... |
| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:51 pm |
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"least supportive"
HEY, THAT'S ME! |
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| pithydoug... |
| Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 2:41 am |
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re barefoot running check out
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/phys-ed-is-running-barefoot-better-for-you/
if I didn't know netter I swear I wrote it.
An excerpt:
But is there persuasive scientific proof for the claims about the
benefits of barefoot running? Read the scant available scientific
literature and talk to the researchers who know the field best and
it’s clear that the answer, at least as of now, is ‘no.’ “On the one
hand, no one has yet published a study on whether barefoot running is
better for you — the evidence is all anecdotal,” Lieberman says. “On
the other hand, no one has ever published a study showing that running
shoes prevent injury.”
Other researchers are more blunt. “The whole campaign” of unshod
running “has gained a kind of cult following, with the science chasing
it from behind,” says Ross Tucker, PhD, a South African exercise
physiologist and the author of the recently published book “Runner’s
World: The Runner’s Body.” A “great deal of practical advice has been
given out without a solid understanding of its implications,” he says.
The practical advice has been especially loud around the issue of
running injuries. Barefoot proponents point to an article, published
more than 20 years ago but widely quoted by barefoot runners, which
showed that in Haiti, locals who wore shoes were more likely to wind
up with leg injuries than those who ran barefoot. They also note that
the percentage of runners sidelined each year by an injury has
remained steady, even as shoe companies have come out with supposedly
more advanced, protective shoes.
But such arguments are, most experts say, specious. “There is no
direct evidence that running shoes cause injury or that barefoot
running reduces injury,” says Benno Nigg, a professor of biomechanics
at the University of Calgary and a well-respected footwear researcher.
As for the anecdotal evidence, it’s mostly flimsy or flawed, he says.
The article about Haitians, for instance, did not account for the fact
that shoeless runners, most of whom were poor, probably wouldn’t go to
the doctor if they were injured.
So, too, looking at the percentages of runners injured over the years
is unhelpful, Tucker says, since not only has shoe technology changed,
so have runners. “In the 1970s, the only guys who ran seriously were
lightweight, efficient, built-to-last individuals,” he says. “Now,
because of the running boom, you get all sorts running — overweight,
leg length discrepancies, muscle weaknesses” and so on. “The fact that
these people can run at all is amazing, so when 40 percent of them get
injuries, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.”
No one doubts, however, that tossing off your shoes and running with
free and naked feet changes how you run. According to biomechanics
studies by Nigg and others, barefoot runners tend to strike the ground
further up on the foot. In shoes, most people are heel strikers; the
back of their foot contacts the ground first. Barefoot runners, Nigg
and other say, strike the ground closer to the front of the foot, near
the toes, and are in contact with the ground for less time.
Does that matter? “Not really,” Nigg says. Although many people
believe that striking the ground closer to the front of the foot makes
you faster, the evidence doesn’t support that idea. In one of the few
studies to capture foot strike positions among elite runners in
action, researchers at the 2004 Sapporo International Half Marathon in
Japan photographed 283 runners about midway through the race. Seventy-
five percent of the racers were landing on their heels. Another 24
percent landed at about mid-foot, meaning near the arch of their shoe.
Only four of the 283 runners landed on their forefeet, and they
weren’t the four fastest. |
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| Charlie Pendejo... |
| Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 3:05 am |
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pithydoug (what's with the lisp?), quoting NY Times blog:
Quote: the evidence is all anecdotal
....on both sides. As, despite all the thousands of man-years of
research in exercise physiology, biomechanics, and so forth, nearly
all of the useful information is, on most aspects of running.
I'm certainly not bothered by a paucity of Hard Science firmly
supporting the case for no (or minimal) footwear, when there's
comparably little Hard Science lined up behind Asics and Nike and
their $150 ludicrously complicated, rigid, bulky "running shoes" which
are half moon boot, half temporary cast for your feet.
On balance, arguments in favor of barefoot or minimalist running tend
to appeal more to my intuition and analysis than those for
clodhoppers, but far more importantly my experience backs it up, for
me. Best I can tell, most runners who move toward less shoe end up
happier and often less injured, with exceptions typically being those
who rush it. But of course this is a self-selecting population and
who knows if the same would apply if everyone were forced to give up
their 12 ounce clunkers for more reasonable shoes. |
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| Tim... |
| Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 7:16 am |
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Charlie Pendejo wrote:
Quote: pithydoug (what's with the lisp?), quoting NY Times blog:
the evidence is all anecdotal
...on both sides.
I wouldn't argue with that.
The human body is an amazingly adaptable machine and the fact that we run
differently in shoes shouldn't, I think, be taken as evidence that running
is shoes in "bad" or running shoeless "good".
One thing though that cannot be denied is that "no shoes" weigh less than
"any shoe" and that hanging weights on the ends of your legs will affect leg
speed. This fact makes me curious as to my potential running speed if I can
run well without shoes.
I may get bored with the experiment but it's fun finding out what one can
do, particularly if the long term reward might be fewer injuries.
Tim |
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