Barefoot/Minimalist VS Shoes

So you may or may not have read my personal story as to why I'm so big on barefoot/minimalist (b/m) running. In that post I promised this post, which is geared towards showing you the pros and cons of b/m vs shod running. So I'll begin with a figure.

16 million people every year are injured running. This is pretty astounding because running, for the most part, seems pretty laid back. You head out and cruise around town or through a forest or chill on a treadmill for a while, you stop, then go on with the rest of your day. It's not like you're playing a game of pickup tackle football, or organizing underground cage fights right? So why so many injuries?

For a long time, people just brushed it off by saying that running is bad for your body. It was a risky exercise that shouldn't be over done and was better off being left out if you wanted to keep your knees till you got old. If you look closely, this could be right. I mean running is a high impact activity. Every time you place your foot on the ground, it's stopping. It generates an impact strike that must be absorbed by your heel, ankle, shin, knee, hip, lower back, upper back, chest, shoulders and neck. So you are basically striking the bottom of your foot repeatedly with a hammer. So the action is the problem. Or so most podiatrists and shoe companies would have you believe. If it were the act of running that were the problem, then they would be able to justify 200 dollar shoes, orthotics, and every other bogus technology that they push on people who just want to be able to go for a jog without burning platars fasciitis or achilles tendonitis flaring up on them.

Fortunately for us, the action is not the problem. It's the technique. Here's a little test you can do to determine whether or not you can run with natural technique. First of all, stand up and make sure there's plenty of space around you and above you. Now jog in place for ten seconds. Now do a vertical jump into the air and land on both feet. Then answer these questions:

1) While jogging in place, did you land on your heel?
2) When you jumped, did you land heel first?

I would be willing to be that the answer to both of those questions is no. Why? Well that's obvious, if you jog in place on your heels, it would A) look weird, B) feel completely unnatural, and C) probably hurt your knees a little bit. Same with the jump.

You see, our forefoot is incredibly flexible and the tissue that connects it to the rest of your leg is springy. This makes your forefoot (or midfoot) the perfect shock absorber for all of the impact that's created by running with conventional, heel striking, technique. If you don't believe me (for some reason) here's a video for you to check out.

This video explains a lot of what I was going to write, so I won't bore you with repetition. I will however address a few things the video doesn't explain. For instance if the heel strike is bad, then what's the problem with shoes? Don't they charge so much money in part because they reduce impact? 

I assume if the shoes actually reduced impact then maybe they would be worth the money, but they don't reduce impact, they reduce pain. I don't have the source and I'm feeling a bit too lazy to go upstairs to find the book, but in Born to Run Chris McDougall tells of a study pertaining to runners injuries and shoe costs. The study determined that the higher the cost of the shoe, the higher the rate of injuries occurred. The fact is the impact remains the same, and the course of the impact remains the same. The heel is jarred to a stop and the rest of the body takes the beating, you just don't feel it because you're stepping on a marshmallow. This makes sense because pain is your bodies way of telling you to stop doing something, or change something because damage is being caused. If you can imagine running barefoot on your heels for more than a couple of meters without pain, then you obviously haven't tried doing it. The first couple of barefoot blocks I ran were a mix of complete concentration followed by brief pain as I lost concentration and reverted back to my old running form, followed by concentration again (which always brought comfort). 

Rather than writing and detailing how to run barefoot, I'll let this video by Erwan LeCorre do it for me.

I'm sure I'll add more to this topic later, but for now I'll finish up with Robs list of Pros and Cons

Barefoot

Pros

-Reduced risk of injury

-Easier to run due to natural running technique

-Strengthens foot and ankle muscles

-Encouragess mindfulness in running and attention to surroundings

-It's free!

Cons

-Takes foot conditioning to be able to run long distances without blisters

-May limit your options as to where you can run

-People will look at you weird

Minimalist (Vibram Five Fingers/Luna Sandals/etc...)

Pros

-Offers foot flexibility and technique with the added protection of a thin rubber or leather material

-Relies on natural running technique rather than power running technique 

-Strengthens foot and ankle structure

-Encourages mindfulness and attention to surroundings

-Can be as cheap as a pair of flip flops tied to the foot with a shoelace (what I use :D)

Cons

-Some people still might look at you weird.

-May be somewhat cold running in winter/fall

Conventional Running Shoes

Pros

-Socially acceptable

-Comfy on the bottoms of your feet

-warm for running during cold seasons

Cons

-Greatly increases your chance of injury (to any lower body joint or lower back) by promoting poor technique

-Weakens the foot due to built in support and lack of flexibility. 

-Can be insanely expensive

-Relies mainly upon power running (Build stronger legs to push harder and faster, long stride with heel strike) 

That being said, with the correct pair of conventional running shoes, it is possible to emulate natural running technique. It's far more difficult, but possible. A big problem however is the shoe itself restricts the mobility of your foot which is a very dynamic and flexible structure. Think of when you put your arm in a cast, the muscles around it weaken due to inactivity. I say go barefoot or minimalist and allow your foot to flex and grasp and bound as it is designed to. 

I'll probably write more on the subject at a later time, but for now, I'm off. 

-Rob