Its been very busy here so I haven't had time to respond to any of the feedback to my post. I'll try to hit all the major points here.
A number of people responded about the Nike Free 5.0's merits and demerits as a "barefoot" running shoe. I started a new thread about this topic which you'll find at:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=438911 Martytram posted:
I play alot of outdoor soccer where the shoes provide very little support compared to regular running shoes. I imagine running in my cleats is very close to running in flats. The Free comes in a lot of flavors; the running version is really designed to help you develop the stabilizing muscles to run forward, not for the lateral movements that soccer requires. There is a "trainer" version of the Free, but for running on grass and making quick turns, my guess is the drills you've been doing since you were a kid, which involve making tight turns while running around or between a set of cones, do a much better job developing the ability to maneuver quickly on a soccer field.
jabroz01 posted:
I've developed a near-constant burning/tearing sensation in my lower right leg - whatever that muscle is between my achilles and my calf. Soft tissue damage is very common in people who try to transition to a forefoot strike too quickly. I have been wrestling with the damage I did to my legs for several months now. The treatment that's been most effective for me is ART, active release technique. Go to
www.activerelease.com to find a practicioner near you.
Markus Mucus posted:
I think what articles like this fail to address are that some people are just born with legs/feet/hips which are misaligned and no amount of strengthening will fix them. I didn't address this explicitly, but I completely agree. Some people are born with bad feet. Many, many more develop bad feet by mistreating them -- wearing high heels, for example, or shoes that are too tight. But at some point the damage gets so bad that your body cannot recover, and needs some kind of external support. Stabilizing shoes and/or Orthotics are the only options for some people, unfortunately.
These people back in the caveman days would likely have been food for some animal since they weren't able to run longer distances or whatever. I would bet even the caveman had shin splints and running related injuries. True they might have been selected out, but I think that would be a lot less common than you'd think. This isn't an anthropology forum, though, and all my arguments for or against would be speculation. I don't think cavemen (or plains-men, where we spent more of our evolution) got shin splints anywhere near as often as modern north americans, though.
Jim posted:
Lee, another suggestion to improve muscle strength in the small muscle of the foot and ankle/calf area is to use a wobble board or instability pad to strengthen these areas. I agree with you that using a wobble board and doing all the exercises that you describe in your post would benefit many, many people, and certainly helps develop many of the muscles that runners need to stabilize themselves. However, I would also say that there's a LOT to be said for activity-specific strength development. That is, to develop the strength to run, you have to run. For example, squats are a great off-season exercise for cyclists, but in season most coaches have their athletes on bikes climbing hills, not in the gym doing squats.
OT in CA posted:
I assume you can reference an anthropological study that backs this claim? Did we evolve to run barefoot? Sure. Did we evolve to run 5-15miles/day? Highly unlikely. Walk/trot/run/amble/carry mixture, yes. Run, no. Call it "travel" then, instead of "run", the general argument isn't affected all that much. How many Americans "travel" further than the walk from their front door to the car every day?
Mises posted:
Humans almost certainly didn't evolve to be runners or arrive at our present state because our ancestors were good runners. Even the very best doped up runners of the present day are no match for any quadripedal predator in speed or ability to rapidly change direction. You misunderstood. I completely agree that almost any predator can outrun a human over short distances. However a human can outrun almost any animal we choose to prey on over long distances. We are cheetah food, but we can hunt down a gazelle or zebra. My contention, backed by some anthropology that I've found over time) is that we evolved to run down prey animals over long distances and have enough of a "finishing sprint" left over to throw a spear or some other weapon to make the final kill.
JackAttack made several posts that I need to paraphrase a little (sorry Jack) which basically say that modern running shoe "technologies" that are supposed to help runners actually cause more injuries.
I have to disagree with you Jack, but I think it's a problem of selection not a problem of technology. Yes, a LOT of people are running today and getting injured while doing it. I would contend that without modern running shoe technologies, most of those people would not be running at all. If we all had to run in Chuck Taylors or moccasins, there would be a lot less injuries because a lot fewer people would even start. Further, the cushioning and stability in modern shoes allows people to form a false sense of security, so they push beyond their limits while training. Their injuries are a result of improper training, not the fault of the shoes. While I agree with you about many of your points regarding the effecto fo modern shoe technologies on running form, I believe that for the mass market, those shoes help a lot more than they hurt.
Lee Silverman
JackRabbit Sports