Running Shoes are bad

[Krakalakachkn]

All the latest footwear engineering in your running sneakers might not mean a thing when it comes to preventing injuries. The latest barefoot running study in the journal Nature deployed 3-D infrared tracking to gauge the difference in foot strike between shod and shoeless runners, Scientific American reports. Here's a modern-day meme summation of the findings: "Shoes? You're doing it wrong."

Runners who wore sneakers ended up landing heel-first 75 to 80 percent of the time. By contrast, barefoot runners usually land toward the middle or front of the foot -- a dramatic difference that recalls the more natural foot strike of early Homo sapiens. Needless to say, early humans certainly were not born to run wearing Nike or Reebok.

The heel-landing without shoes means a painful collision force of 1.5 to 3 times human body weight. But cushioned sneaker heels have allowed runners to change their stride to high-impact running, and likely open up a whole world of pain involving foot and leg injuries.

"Most people today think barefoot running is dangerous and hurts," said Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and lead author on the study. "But actually you can run barefoot on the world’s hardest surfaces without the slightest discomfort and pain."

Lieberman and his colleagues point out that modern running shoes did not come about until the 1970s -- a fairly late invention that latched onto that then-new fad known as jogging (or "yogging" as Ron Burgundy says). Now contrast several decades of sneakers with a human body that evolved barefoot running over thousands of years, and you begin to see a potential problem.

 

More bad news for sneakers came last December, when the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation found that running shoes can increase joint torques at the hip, knee and ankle. Their study suggested that even going for a run in high heels was better for preventing joint injuries than tennis shoes.

Runners who fear years of soft treatment giving way to foot calluses still have options. Certain footwear such as the Newton Running shoes or the Vibram Five Fingers permit runners to readjust their foot strike back to the more natural way, or simply act as a second tough skin to protect the foot in the latter case.

One more unstated benefit of running without sneakers -- you'll never, ever have the temptation of wanting to remove your toenails.

[Alys Kinch]

Their study suggested that even going for a run in high heels was better for preventing joint injuries than tennis shoes.

 

I've seen the like demostrated on discovery channel, but I just had to cringe at this section, especially since my chiropractor told me to never wear high heels.

[Graendals favourite]

Also, tennis shoes are certainly not for running. They are for tennis, or indoor sports. What is important in tennis is that you can spurt both forward and sideways immensely fast without risking a sprain.

[JenniferL]

I'm still not running outside barefoot. Shoes protect your feet from broken glass and sharp rocks when you run on the street. Also? There's poop out there.

[Thera500]

Damn it.I just went and bought a new pair the other day. :'(

[Francesco Robinson]

Obviously, running barefoot is very dangerous. Need to wear at least some shoes.
 

[Francesco Robinson]

Choosing shoes is always a problem for me. I have a fairly large foot size and it has always been difficult. But I found a lot of useful information for choosing shoes.  You can look here  a bunch of articles about the best shoes. I recommend everyone to read about shoes here. I have already become a real expert in this field. If you have any questions, you can ask them to me.

[jerryz]

Different people may have different choice,what suit you would be the best for you.Recently i found a brand called dream pairs,the shoes is comfort and with decent price, also nike air max series and NB running shoes is also good for walking.

[Cass]

@Krakalakachkn /anyone

 

Have you run with Newton Running shoes or the Vibram Five Fingers?

 

I'm so curious to hear actual reviews!

[Krakalakachkn]

lol Cass going for the deep cuts.

 

Yeah I've run with Vibram Five Finger.  It's my preferred style and I love them.  There are various styles so some models have thicker soles and are heavier duty. 

 

I will say if you want to transition to a more minimalist style then you need to be sure to start slowly and make sure to stretch you ankles thoroughly beforehand.  Also I never had problems transitioning to barefoot style but after I wore my second pair out I had about 3 weeks I spent running with tennis shoes while I was ordering my next pair and running with tennis shoes's support really messed up my ankles. 

 

I like the minimalist style. 

[Cass]

1 hour ago, Krakalakachkn said:

lol Cass going for the deep cuts.

???

 

Quote

 

Yeah I've run with Vibram Five Finger.  It's my preferred style and I love them.  There are various styles so some models have thicker soles and are heavier duty. 

 

I will say if you want to transition to a more minimalist style then you need to be sure to start slowly and make sure to stretch you ankles thoroughly beforehand.  Also I never had problems transitioning to barefoot style but after I wore my second pair out I had about 3 weeks I spent running with tennis shoes while I was ordering my next pair and running with tennis shoes's support really messed up my ankles. 

 

I like the minimalist style. 

 

Interestingggggg, ta for the reply!

 

I'm procrastinating an assignment, so had a look at a couple of studies that basically support what you're saying about starting slowly, in the sense that they give pretty rotten odds for stress injuries if you do transition...

 

Basically they both show a correlation between use of minimalist shoes (Vibram Five Fingers being the ones tested) and a the development of bone marrow oedema over 10 week periods, when transitioning as advocated by Vibram...

 

One of the studies (link) had 10/19 in the test group develop bone marrow oedema, and the other (link) had 8/18 (vs 1/19 in the control group); with a couple of the Vibram group also developing stress fractures... which, honestly, sounds pretty rough.

 

But, as a positive, the latter trial also showed that the runners trialing the minimalist shoes developed increased abductor hallucis (intrinsic foot muscle) size (which -unrelated article- may help maintain arch height and control excessive pronation/preventing overuse injuries...), and total running volume was maintained (by all runners).

Looks like those who developed the oedema also had significantly smaller muscle size (predominately women), so they suggest that foot muscle sizes is 'appears to be important in safely transitioning...'

 

I saw no mention of ankles so far! Other than one (which I think you reference?) that suggests increased joint torque at hip, knee and ankle from more usual shoes  - though they also suggest that joint contact forces might be affected by shoe compliance to the point where it offsets  increases in joint torque...

 

What sort of terrain do you run on, and how far? Do you find a difference in the distance you can run in minimalist? How much do you miss the 'spring' in the step from cushioning? I like to run a mix of trail with road when I have to, and farrrrrr, but have inflammatory arthritis and so am prone to self-destructive joint tissue ? Trying to figure out how to keep running with minimal damage/pain is tricky!!

[Cass]

Also, I wonder how they go with high-impact sports, like netball?

 

I expect you'd need pretty strong intrinsic muscles to make up for the cushioning a traditional shoe provides in those cases?

[Krakalakachkn]

As far as I'm aware I never developed oedema.

 

Before I started running with Vibrams for a few years I played a lot of pickup sports on grass fields and almost always played barefoot.  I always noticed how sore my feet were the next day (obviously the more I did it the less sore I was) bc I was using muscles shoes don't let you use.  Once I started running with Vibrams I ran almost entirely on trails (sometimes tracks or fields) because running on concrete gives me shin splints and is very uncomfortable for me - regardless of shoe. 

 

I've never run a marathon and the most I've run in one go was 8 miles.  Straight jogging isn't, from what I have read, good for you.  Walking and sprinting are, however.  So these days (maybe 10 years after starting to use Vibrams (and I'm 29 yrs old)) I often will run walk and spring occasionally, just like athletes do in soccer and ultimate frisbee, on trails.  I like wearing Vibrams bc I like feeling the trail - although occasionally that results in stepping on a sharp rock (I wear the very minimalist style of Vibram).  I definitely land on the balls of the my feet more and I think my running is better with them on compared to shoes.  I'm more aware of my movement and the trail.

 

Running is a high impact activity, so idk about how to continue it w/out unacceptable pain unless you run on very soft surfaces?  Maybe you could mix in sprints and walking on a grass field?  Also exercises on grass that cause you to move laterally to build up your resistor muscles.  Then maybe after doing that for a while you could transition to running in Vibrams or another minimalist shoe. 

 

Have you ever tried swimming or rock climbing?  Both are incredible exercises that are low impact and great for you.  Rock climbing develops all sorts of esoteric muscles and it's fun too.

[Krakalakachkn]

Oh, the ankle thing was weird.  I didn't tear anything I don't believe, just messed it up somehow.  I ended up having to stretch it pretty seriously for months.  It had seized up and become very immobile.  Took a while for it to feel better and then a few years later - last year - I suffered an unrelated high ankle sprain on it.  It's my unlucky ankle! 

 

I played several years of Ultimate in Korea and now that I'm back in the States and transitioning back to Vibram trail running I think my body is still unused to Vibrams and I'm having to go slow again.  Which is fine.  Half of the reason I want to run is to be in the woods and be doing something active, even if I'm not setting personal speed records ?

[Zorlon]

As an aside, most shoes are bad. Look at the grotesquely curled and bent knuckled toes common among folk in well-shod cultures and contrast them with the finger straight toes of the sandal-folk. No your Big Toe and it's buddy Index Toe are not meant to bulge at the knuckle and slant outwards as though they were following the contours of a shoe.

 

And the less said about the horrors wrought by pointy toed shoes the better.

 

[Talya]

After many injuries over the years which ended in a knee op over two year I have changed my running style so that I don’t put my heel down first. I still have other injuries which prevent too much but I have found it better running toe first as though I was bare footed. 

Maldonado need to ensure that you have strong glutes...it’s important to run from there not your legs...if that makes sense, I know what I mean