In a sentence: Running shoes may be responsible for running injuries adn the best way to run may be barefoot.
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peter
Pretty good article. Although a few of their "findings' seem to be correlations, I would tend to agree that running (and training) barefoot is probably better than in shoes.
Just start off slowly. Our feet have been trapped and weakened for years, and hitting the pavement in bare feet from day one will cause some serious pain.
Interesting. I always run in my frees. I would go barefoot if I had grass or clay tracks around, but instead all I have is hot concrete to run on (or a treadmill).
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Interesting read. I'm not a runner but I'll wear crosstrainers as my everyday walking around shoe. On occasions I'll wear Chuck's and the first day my feet will be sore. But after a couple of days they actually feel better and a little stronger. And I'll always use Chuck's for lower body workouts. I'll have to try barefoot sometime.
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> caused by people running with shoes that actually make our feet weak, cause us to over-pronate (ankle rotation) and give us knee problems.
For me this is the key sentence in the article. The best running shoes have arch supports that prevents pronation which prevents injuries....particularly those pesky shin splints. If I ran in bare feet my feet would naturally pronate (because I have worn shoes with some arch support my whole life and I do not have the musculature to support them).
If, on the other hand, I grew up without arch supports, I would probably not need the expensive shoes to prevent pronation because my foot and leg muscles would be adequately developed.
The point that runners are supposed to strike with their heels is incorrect, IMHO. Beginning runners are often recommended to strike with their heels first because it gets them out of the habit of letting their toes hit first (probably the natural gait). If the toes hit first running significant distances, it won't be long before your calves tighten up and you're out of commission for a few weeks. The goal of experienced distance runners is a midfoot strike which can be attained eventually when you have run for a longer period of time and can more easily tune your gait.
My advice for runners: buy shoes with good arch supports , (over)stretch your hamstrings, do calf raises to develop those muscles that get neglected through arch supports, run on softer surfaces when possible
I'm not a big runner at all, but run 5ks here and there and run to lean up or just have fun when the weather is nice. After reading the article and the comments here I notice that I run mostly with heel striking first, so I've tried to make the center of my foot strike first and don't think I'm having much success. I end up on my toes mostly and wear out my calves very quickly.
Are there are run 'thoughts' or exercises I can do to help the center of my foot strike first? I'm wearing Nike Frees.
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"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." -- T.S. Eliot
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."-- Aristotle
Your calves will tire very quickly at first for awhile, but that's because they're weakened from heelstrikes and shoes in general. Try shortening your stride, though; I know I was overreaching before I started running in my Vibrams. Also look at POSE running on YouTube (not worth paying for it).
This is my personal favorite gateway article. More info here, too
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Lean forward from your ankles (body in line) and at some point you'll naturally move a foot to keep balanced - learn that feeling - the books (Chi running or POSE) tend to say that is key - it is more about keeping your feet under your COM than foot strike - and think of picking up your feet (hip extension/hamstring curl) rather than casting your foot forward (hip flexion/knee extension). Or just run barefoot across some grass and notice what you do with your gait.
those who do have weak feet, will these foot exercises help? if anyone knows? I know we can train grip strength, can we train feet strength? especially for those who wear shoes all the time. can someone talk about training feet strength other than just walking barefoot? how about shin exercises (usually the calves are the strong muscles and shins are the weakess, which causes shin to burn when running sometimes)
Running shoes... a waste of money and worse?
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