Why we should run barefoot. (for Yahoobot)

[_Spurven Ten Sing]

What is so interesting about our species (and our related, now extinct hominids) is that it is likely that at some point we spent a great deal of time on the move. After our distant ancestors developed into a full time bipedal primate, and their food supplies began to vary as the environment began to change, there emerged an intense pressure to be on the move. At least part of the time, as distances between meals grew and shifted in nature from scavenging to more active hunting, we ran a lot.

Our foot structure changed to support the two human gaits with two different chains of movement to accomplish them.

While walking, our heels strike the ground first and as our weight shifts we roll to out forefoot, finishing with a toe push. Heel to toe.

While running, our mid to forefoot strikes though ground first and absorbs the greater impact of speed. We relax our foot onto the final support of the heel will little impact before flipping the foot back up under our bodies with no push. Toe to heel.

Humans continued to run, jog, and walk down prey, gather more efficiently, and could outlast any other animal. Of the running animals, humans possess the greatest endurance. Eventually, our brains (being fed steady protein) grew in size until we learned to hunt exclusively and much, much later capture plants and animals for our own use. We ceased being runners, but retained the foot chain we evolved.

Then we forgot, of course.

In the 70s, a man (whose name I can't recall and can't be bothered to look up) decided to improve on what nature had crafted. He designed a new way to run, emphasizing a greater stride, mistakenly believing that to be the greatest component to endurance. He advocated we start running the way we walked (since we can ofter walk further than we can run). Heel to toe.

But as I have shown, our foot chain was not designed to absorb high impacts heel to toe, we lack softening joints and tendons and our heel passes shock directly up our legs to the next closest joints that can bend, the knees, hip, and back.

To counter the rising rash of injuries, he and others developed the running shoe via the new company Nike. The heel was built up and raised to pad the heel. The arch was raised to prevent the feet from sproinging, and wedges inserted to prevent the heel pronating. Without a shred of evidence these monstrosities were widely marketed as injury preventing and a new fad, jogging was born.

What happened next? The foot acts like any other body part. For those who wore these foot casts, the toes that once splayed to grasp and test ground texture grew together in a clump, as arches were supported they weakened, pronation stopped altogether, and the Achilles tendon shortened to accommodate the high heel.

The problem is that the pronating, the rolling the flexing of the arch, the bending and twisting of the ankle, and the flicking of the toes were all developed to absorb shock. They are needed to run without injury. Studies conducted in the last several years have shown a correlation between running injury and the running shoe, especially those that encourage heel to toe gaits. One study has even shown that the greater the customization (that is to say the more a running shoe was designed for an individual foot) the greater the incidence of injury.

The bad, bad idea of heel to toe running and especially motion controlled shoes has caused many people, including runners themselves to view running as high impact or "bad for the knees". This is not the case, not even a little bit. Populations that run great distances and lack access to these boots (such as the fabled Rarumari, the persistence hunting !san, or the giant Kenyans and Ethiopians) have miniscule rates of injury and run far into old age and are yet the best runners in the world by far.

The idea is to allow what has developed to function and refrain from binding and tying such things into immobility. Especially when there is no evidence to support the practices. Tradition is no reason to despise that which we inherited. Conventional wisdom is worth nothing.

Ever since Ej Meh convinced me to kick off my shoes and run the way I was built to, I have fallen in love with running once again. Why won't you try it, Yahoobot?

(In case you didn't catch it, the preceding was a metaphor for what religion does to the human brain)

[_Yahoo Bot]

Because I overpronate and have flat feet. I have to have motion control shoes.

The book "Born to Run" was full of hypocrisy. Few people really run barefeet. Nothing like cutting one's foot on broken glass.

[_Spurven Ten Sing]

I run really barefoot. Long time on all surfaces. Probation is good for you and flat feet don't matter. What was hypocritical about BTR?

[_Jason Bourne]

Because I overpronate and have flat feet. I have to have motion control shoes.

The book "Born to Run" was full of hypocrisy. Few people really run barefeet. Nothing like cutting one's foot on broken glass.

Aren't there some sort of 'barefoot" running shoe now. Someone I know was the female Ironman Champ for the US army. She told me she runs flat foot to toe and the heel to toe is unnatural anc causes problems. Since she is quite a runner she seems to be on to something.

[_Jhall118]

I wear Vibrams (they are basically toed shoes with an incredibly thin sole). I love them, and they make running quite enjoyable (I hate running shoes!).

[_asbestosman]

I wear Vibrams (they are basically toed shoes with an incredibly thin sole). I love them, and they make running quite enjoyable (I hate running shoes!).

I just got a pair myself. We'll see how it goes. Truth be known, I prefer other aerobic sports to running, but running is often the most convenient activity and I don't want my brothers to run faster than me.