Shoes or no shoes…that is the question.

Hey all – hope everyone had a good winter!  It’s amazing when we sign up for spring races they always seem so far away but they do certainly creep up on us.

Working in a pedorthic clinic which deals with quite a few runners, we are definitely getting quite a few questions about ‘minimalist’  running these days.  Although this is certainly a topic that could fill a book (and has filled many books!), I’d like to answer a few questions here that we’ve recieved lately. 

(1) Is ‘minimalist/barefoot’ running all about the shoes? 

 No.  It seems that all the current research is pointing towards heavily cushioned running shoes as being the cause of many of our running woes.  Because our bodies have so many inherent tools to to be able to absorb shock, we definitely have lost some of those properties by putting a high, soft barrier between our foot and the ground.  We can see this often immediately with most people when we have them remove their shoes and run a few seconds barefoot.  In most cases, within a few seconds the body will adjust naturally by leaning forward, taking more steps (increasing cadence) and landing more on the midfoot because it hurts to land on our heels when we don’t have shoes on.  So, there seems to be little doubt at this point that running without shoes allows our bodies to absorb shock in a much more efficient manner (the way that it was supposed to).  With that being said though, most of us don’t have the flexibity, strength or technique to carry this style of running for for very long before getting injured.  Even though it’s a good change, it’s still quite a change.   And this is where we find people run into problems.   

The ‘minimalist’ shoe push is much more than just a shoe change.  It’s about learning to run better and more efficiently.  Whether someone just does some running drills (which often includes barefoot or ‘racing flat’ drills/running), works on increasing their cadence, works more on flexibility or works on strengthening, they will likely have decreased their risk of injury and also likely become a faster runner.  As someone slowly transitions to better running technique (which involves all the above principles),  they will naturally be able to cover more distance with a lower heeled shoe.

A couple questions I’ll look at next time are, “How slowly is it recommended to transition to barefoot/minimalist shoes?” and “What are running drills and how do I do them?”. 

Ryan