The Edge

 “Six million years of evolution created the perfect foot, and then we started wearing shoes”, Vivo Barefoot marketing literature.

 The evolution of mankind has reduced us from running in order to survive, to an extra-curricular activity that is considered important for health and wellbeing. Running has been largely influenced by footwear manufacturers in recent Ireland, where there has been a large scale move towards shoes offering comfort, cushioning and structure. Whether a weekend warrior or a full time athlete, the average runner strikes the ground 600 times per kilometre, and overuse injuries is a repetitive problem. Shoe companies make large claims about their ability to “cure” these problems, yet overuse injuries have only increased for the last thirty years despite significant financial support and scientific research into developing “better” running shoes. Clearly someone somewhere has made a mistake?

In fact, this large scale move into supportive footwear has been questioned in the literature for many years, with studies as far back as 1987 suggesting that injuries of the lower extremities are substantially higher in people that wear shoes compared to those that don’t? More recently, there has been an increase in the amount of in depth research in this area, and surprisingly it almost conclusively concludes that running shoes offering structure and cushioning are a large cause of injuries due to weakened structures and higher impact forces. I’m sure it doesn’t make sense, that a “softer” shoe that controls “bad” movements is the thing causing injuries, so let me explain the reasons behind the madness;

When we run in traditional shoes, we tend to land heavily on the heel, which causes a large impact up through the body while also causing our ankle to sharply drop inwards. Our feet, which normally adapt to the surfaces underneath, have wasted away as a result of lack of use and now lack a strong “arch” in which this movement can be controlled. As a result, our ankle rotates aggressively causing the knee to do the same, and our foot slaps down heavily onto the toes in the same instance. Couple this with a jarring force coming up through the heel on each step, and we have a recipe for the large amount of injures we see today.

How then does this change by taking our shoes off? The instant we discard our soft running shoes, we almost immediately change to our natural running cycle. Instead of a jarring heel strike with our foot too far in front of our body, we automatically bring our feet underneath our hips and land softly on the forefoot or midfoot, naturally selecting the softest way to land. This immediately starts to have positive effects; we strengthen our feet, legs and arches because they are being used as nature intended, we use our calves like big elastic bands to help “spring” us forward, we bend our knees more and use less energy per stride, and we almost half the amount of impact per foot strike then when our soft, cushioned shoes were supposed to be doing the work for us. Considering you are also saving up to 130 euro, it’s not a bad deal, all things considered.

Naturally, the recent literature questioning traditional footwear, as well as publicity from the bestselling book “Born To Run”, there has been a significant movement towards barefoot or barefoot-simulated running.  Products such as Nike “Free’s”, Newton’s, and Vibram “FiveFingers” are becoming available and claim to offer minimalist or altered designs that promote a more natural running gait. Why? Because the shoe company experts were now telling their designers that less is more. Maybe this is an approach we should all be subscribing to, so next time you’re heading out the door for a run; consider leaving your shoes behind. Just remember that your feet and legs are weak, so take your time with the transition, and before long you will have that effortless stride you’ve always dreamed of.

What is the best way for people to get into running barefoot?

    For most people this will have to be a careful and gradual change. We have spent most of our lives wearing traditional shoes and to a certain extent our feet have “forgotten” how to operate effectively, our arches have dropped, the muscles in our lower legs and feet have wasted and we have lost full function in our toes. I suspect that a full change from shod to barefoot running is possible in one month, but at the major risk of overuse injuries because of the significant change in running technique and muscle function. Therefore I would strongly suggest a very slow change over the period of several months. A lot of shoe companies are producing transitional shoes with much less support and structure than the traditional designs, and these are a good place to start. Begins with some light walks and wearing the shoes around the house, and after a week or two I would suggest one or two very light runs of no more that 15 minutes. When you begin running, concentrate on keeping your back straight and bring your feet down UNDERNEATH your hips, and not out in front. Overextending your stride is the easiest way to cause a heel strike, and this is largely the reason shoes have caused so much problems in the past. Instead to to land softly on your midfoot or forefoot, running lightly is the key to our natural running form.

After building up a month of running in the transitional shoes, begin to spend a lot of time walking around the house barefoot, a great exercise for strengthening your foot arch is to practice picking up marbles from the floor with your toes. You should use the same progression here, start with some light walks around the neighbourhood, moving into short runs and then progressing your running time very slowly. If your feel get sore, get a golf ball and use it to ease the tension in your feet and lower legs by rolling it over the muscles forcefully. Finally, don’t try and force your body to do anything unnatural with your technique, the change will almost happen automatically. Your stride will be shorter and faster, and you will tend to find absolutely no heel striking when there is no soft shoe on your foot.