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RE: Basic Prehab for Runners; Strength, Stability and Flexibility
Somewhat related question to this...what's your take on running shoes? Are you more in line with the barefoot camp or are you more traditional minded? I'm very curious about barefoot running. I walk all the time and everywhere in very minimalist shoes. I've found it very comfortable and rarely do I wear anything different. And I have noticed how the difference in shoe does affect heel strike and form. Is it worth trying, is it hype? Is it bad science in your opinion? Is Tarahumara style the way to go? What is your opinion? I also tend to be more into trail running than running on pavement. Maybe should add that detail.
Great question. First and foremost, like with a lot of things in running and injury rehab/prevention, some things just don’t work for everyone. I personally love barefoot running, and I think there is good science supporting the idea that it’s the healthiest way to move. No need to be too technical about that — our bodies evolved just like every other creature, and they evolved to our current form long before shoes were invented. From there, our feet will have the right strength and flexibility to support walking and running if we use them properly. One problem with this is that you can’t just go from wearing shoes your whole life to not. Especially if the shoes you’ve been wearing have lots of support, or a raised heel. Shoes make our feet stupid — I’ve heard that is something that Chinese people say, but perhaps just in the Tai Chi world. I walk in very minimal shoes. Product plug — check out Xero shoes if your interested. They make a minimal canvas shoe that I love. I wear them to work, and I have also done intense hiking in them in places like the Grand Canyon. I like feeling the terrain. I also run in minimal shoes, but I have a weird relationship plantar fasciitis so I sometimes wear shoes with a little more cushion, but never a raised heel. That takes us into a slightly different topic. Regardless of whether someone likes to run barefoot or with minimal shoes, a raised heel changes your entire posture and center of mass, which in turn effects technique. Nike invented the raised heel running shoe because they thought heel striking was natural, and so more cushion on the heel would be good. But that just made it feel more comfortable to heel strike, and as I’m guessing you’ve read, likely led to more injuries. But again, you can’t just go from raised heel shoes to flat shoes overnight. By walking and running in raised heel shoes (trying to find men’s dress shoes without a heel is almost impossible) your Achilles’ tendon shortens, so making the switch can lead to pain and injury. BUT that said, when my plantar faciitis has flared up (I’ve learned it does so when I do big jobs on my house, up and down ladders all day, etc) the only remedy that has worked for me is hiking and running in my flat minimal shoes. Plantar fasciitis is really tricky by the way, and I’ve heard of about 20 different remedies and it seems like the trick is finding the one that works, so I’m not advocating minimal shoes as THE solution for anyone. Well, I hope that answers your question :)
Thank you. That's a good answer. And you said it so eloquently, too. ' Shoes make our feet stupid'. Haha. That's the first I've heard that. I think I've thought it before. Seems a pretty obvious conclusion if you disregard the past (50?) years of marketing.
Little history plug just for fun: (I'd love to see that exhibit.)
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/running-shoes-date-back-to-the-1860s-and-other-revelations-from-the-brooklyn-museums-sneaker-show-180955967/
Yeah, I really started reading one day on this subject, and I guess, over time, I've gravitated towards more minimalist shoes. It's gotten to be all that I wear. Like when I go hiking, I've got to where I'll have on a very thin and flat rubber soled boot, or shoe, even sandal. I suppose I prefer anything that feels the closest to nothing on my feet. I've got a pair of Dr. Marten's boots I've all but worn out; the kind with the new lightweight rubber sole. It's almost a shoe-boot. The Chuck Taylor of boots. They're just heavenly to walk in. (Now my well-meaning mother, who had me shod in a rather expensive and specially fitted pair of uber-padded Brooks running shoes in my HS cross-country days, cringes every time I tell her all the miles I've trod in those shoes, but I'm totally sold on my more minimalist alternative. And, maybe worth noting, the best runner on my team did have a habit of running barefoot at practice; and I thought it was the quirkiest thing anyone could do at the time. But they also consistently won races and even took our guy's team to the state championship, which they won, twice. And now when I think back on it, they had the most fluid and graceful form of anyone, too.) So my go to hiking shoe/boot is either those or a pair of Palladiums. But now, I can even find the Palladium sole to be a bit much. Still, one thing I've noticed with this sort of shoe is that they've worn evenly, perfectly even, and they've formed into a shape that shows my feet are moving near their full range of motion. They're not stiff.
I think studies like this are what proves it:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0131385
The difference in the feet of un-shod vs. shod runners is so telling.
I have a partner who's lucky enough to naturally have the un-shod type of feet. And one interesting fact is that he lived his childhood pretty free-rage and barefoot; and as an adult has walked nearly everyday, and often barefoot then as well. Now, I know, it sounds like I'm betrothed to a caveman. It's possible that I am. But, it's also possible those cavemen were onto something with that whole "no-shoe" business.
But yeah, I get your view. It's something you work up to doing. And, I think I've heard it said by few a different people now that once you've mastered proper form, it's not so much the shoe that makes the difference. It's more that you're running properly, and if you've always got a fat pad of rubber under your heel, you're never going to feel the ground enough to figure the proper mechanics of that out.
I guess what I'm trying to say is I already knew the answer. The answer seems common sense obvious. But I was curious of your opinion. And I do appreciate you telling me. I think this is becoming more mainstream knowledge nowadays, thankfully. Good marketing sure is a hell of a beast to contend with, though. I mean would you have believed twenty years ago they'd have us buying bottled water someday? It's madness, I say. Madness. :P