Active Community: Message List - Running Barefoot

Re: Running Barefoot

guest — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 18:13:41 GMT

I too have read "Born to Run" and think it gives great insight into shoes vs barefoot running. I like to do my barefoot running as crosstaining and still do the bulk of my running in sneakers. After reading the book I ditched my orthotics and opted for sneakers without all the added stability I had become so dependent on. I also don't track the miles on my sneaks and wear them until they are dead. I started my barefoot running with a pair of VFF. I loved them so much I wore them on a 2 week raft trip and after so much time in the water with bits of grit swimming around in them, the lining got worn and uncomfortable. When I shoppped around for a new pair I was disappointed with how high tech they've become. I switched from the VFF to a pair of huaraches from invisibleshoe.com. I like the huaraches way better than the VFF. They are closer to actually running barefoot (which I do on occasion but needed something for the trails and the summer when the pavement is too hot). I'd like to do more of my running barefoot, but know that I need to take it slowly and increase gradually. Its been very helpful for working on my form. I hadn't run barefoot in a while but started having some wierd pains in my left glute so I took off my shoes and after the first few steps could feel and hear how badly my heels were slapping the ground. Now that I've been incorporating the barefoot running back into my training plan, no more pain!

Re: Running Barefoot

guest — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:37:43 GMT

Advocates claim that running barefoot improves foot biomechanics and reduces injury risk. And while studies have found that running efficiency increases by 4% while running barefoot, there is still a lack of well-designed studies comparing the incidence of injuries in runners wearing shoes with those running barefoot.

__________________

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saucony running shoes

Re: Running Barefoot

guest — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:19:56 GMT

On a related note... if there are any runners in the southeast Mass. or eastern RI area interested in learning, explring or expanding their knowledge and techinques on barefoot running, on August 28th in Sandwich Mass, the Metro Boston Barefoot Runners Meetup group is sponsoring a clinic. Assisting and speaking at the clinic will be Dr.Irene Davis. Dr. Davis is a professor of physical therapy and head of the Running Injury Clinic at the University of Delaware. She is one of the world’s leading experts on running biomechanics and injury.

You have to register with meetup.com to RSVP but open to all as far as I know ..

Re: Running Barefoot

guest — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:11:02 GMT

They do talk very briefly about midfoot but you are right, the study uses the term forefoot more exclusively.. and you are right that they show the impact of heel strike is the same shod or bare. Any runner, shod or not, CAN learn a fore or midfoot strike and derive the benefits thereof. What most barefoot and true minimalist footwear followers will tell you is it is just a whole lot EASIER to learn that technique barefoot. As they say in the study , a heel strike with a bare foot is simply too painful to do for long... it will train you instinctively to stop doing it. Learning the same thing with a 1" wedge of foam under your heel is much harder to do.

what the study does explain in great detail, and often gets overlooked is

A) The impact forces of a bare heel strike and a shod heel strike are virtually identical in magnitude and profile. Both display that same impact transient. It dispels the notion that shoes in any way REDUCE impact. According to the study, They simply don't.

and

B) The overall peak in relation to body mass is almost the same heel or fore ( although fore is slightly less) but the rate of increase of force, in biophysical context, is MUCH slower in a forefoot landing, taking almost half a second per stride to reach impact with a forefoot stride vs an almost instantaneous impact spike in a heel strike.

Re: Running Barefoot

guest — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:40:00 GMT

Wideguy wrote:

ExperiencedRunner wrote:

I would be very cautious of running barefoot. You could do some very serious damage to you feet if you were to step on glass, sharp gravel etc. running shoes do much more than protect you feet from sharp objects, then cushion the foot from the many, many pounds of force that one places on them from motion. I am concerned for the long term effects on your muscles, joints, and bones of your feet from barefoot running....
Emphasis mine... Actually that statemeent has been proven false many times. Running shoes , in fact , do NOTHING to reduce the impact forces your body feels while running. Your body still takes that exact same hit, each and every step. In fact much research is showing that barefoot runners actually DO begin to run more gently, less actual impact forces. All those cushy shoes do is block the pain until later when your body cools down.
http://www.barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/4BiomechanicsofFootStrike.html

That's a link to a study conducted at harvard that shows that heel striking runners actually absorb a double peak of impact and the impact hits much more suddenly than a barefooter.

That study is more of a comparison of heel to forefoot. It appears from the graphs that heel striking is the same whether barefoot or shod, and the same is true of forefoot. But heel striking appears to have a "dual peak" which forefoot does not. The peak impact seems to be pretty much the same for all four modes. Interestingly, it does not deal (directly) with midfoot striking, which is the mode many barefoot runners fall into. I thought that was a big shortcoming of the study.

Len

Re: Running Barefoot

guest — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:02:50 GMT

ExperiencedRunner wrote:

I would be very cautious of running barefoot. You could do some very serious damage to you feet if you were to step on glass, sharp gravel etc. running shoes do much more than protect you feet from sharp objects, then cushion the foot from the many, many pounds of force that one places on them from motion. I am concerned for the long term effects on your muscles, joints, and bones of your feet from barefoot running....

Emphasis mine... Actually that statemeent has been proven false many times. Running shoes , in fact , do NOTHING to reduce the impact forces your body feels while running. Your body still takes that exact same hit, each and every step. In fact much research is showing that barefoot runners actually DO begin to run more gently, less actual impact forces. All those cushy shoes do is block the pain until later when your body cools down.

http://www.barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/4BiomechanicsofFootStrike.html

That's a link to a study conducted at harvard that shows that heel striking runners actually absorb a double peak of impact and the impact hits much more suddenly than a barefooter.

Re: Running Barefoot

guest — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:54:45 GMT

I'm a new, Super-Clydesdale runner, tipping the scales at 275. I've been running barefoot since I started in May with the occasional exception of wearing my VFF's on rainy days when the cars kick a lot of sand into the road. Curently only up to about 2 miles at a 13m/m pace but it feels so natural and for guy my size to be out 3 days a week with essentially no pain ... I can barely stand wearing shoes now.

Add me to the Barefoot lists

Re: Running Barefoot

guest — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:34:34 GMT

i read an article entitled "Running barefoot versus running shoes" that discusses about Steve Magness' interesting article about the link between injuries and impact forces and how running shoes companies want you to think that they’re inhibiting it.

Running barefoot has been all the craze lately, what with the release of vibram and all, it’s very interesting to see where this will go, I don’t think running shoes companies will go down without any fight, though, if they’ll go down at all!

Re: Running Barefoot

guest — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 05:06:08 GMT

Thank you for sharing your experience! If you haven't already, I would highly recommend that you pick up "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall. Very good material about barefoot running and society's need to return to it.

Cheers!

Re: Running Barefoot

guest — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:17:10 GMT

I went to the American College of Sports Medicine conference last fall and saw Dr. Lieberman's presentation on the evolution of running...pretty neat stuff! He had a cool video (narrated by David Attenborough of course!) of an African tribesman running down a gazelle or some other form of horned running beast. This guy ran this animal to exhaustion, killed it, and ate it. Go Humans!

Anyways, Dr. Lieberman's lecture touched on running barefoot (he runs barefoot in Cambridge, MA....not exactly the "safest" place for feet) so I decided to give it a shot. Put my shoes on my hands and cooled down barefoot. Running barefoot is just plain fun. I've been running barefoot and with VFFs ever since. But the problem with barefoot running is that it is fun...you may not realize that you're hurting. Went too far a few times and I paid for it with some pretty good calf and metatarsal pain. Just like anything else, you've got to ease into it. I started just doing portions of my runs barefoot and eventually progressed to barefoot/VFF only. I'm running around 60 mi/wk without complications (fingers crossed.) Give it a shot, you may like it!