You Kneed to be Barefoot

There’s another study out on what most shoes do to feet, and specifically the stress that gets transmitted to the knees. Najia Shakoor, who’s been the lead investigator on other similar studies, Walking barefoot decreases loading on the lower extremity joints in knee osteoarthritis, and Effects of common footwear on joint loading in osteoarthritis of the knee, is also the lead investigator on this one.

It shows that training in what they call “mobility shoes” (designed to mimic barefoot walking) can lessen the stress on the knees even when regular shoes are then worn.

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Footprints in Time

Last month I wrote about barefoot references in The Old Ways — A Journey on Foot, written by Robert Macfarlane, a wonderful description of hiking in (among other places) the Outer Hebrides.

It also had a description of ancient fossil footprints that keep appearing on the beach in Formby (near Liverpool).

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Desquamation

In the Wall Street Journal article that I wrote about last Saturday, Bare Feet, Gyms, and Treadmills, there was one quote there that really struck me oddly.

So I decided to investigate further.

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Adolescent Foot-Strike Patterns

There was a paper presented yesterday at the annual meeting of the American Acedemy of Orthopaedic Surgeons regarding the foot-strike patterns of adolescents and how they change depending on whether they are barefoot or wearing shoes with heavily-padded heels.

I’m not even sure what it means.

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A Toe-Shoe Stew

There have been other reactions to the Foot Bone Marrow Edema after 10-week Transition to Minimalist Running Shoes study that I wrote about in Vibram Transitioning → Bone Injury.

Let’s see what they had to say.

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Vibram Transitioning → Bone Injury

Via Runner’s World, there’s a new study out that looks at people transitioning from regular shod running to running in Vibram FiveFingers. The study is Foot Bone Marrow Edema after 10-week Transition to Minimalist Running Shoes. It will appear in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

And it shows quite a bit of injury to foot bones.

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How Barefoot Running Works

I’d like to highlight an interesting video. It is of Lee Saxby of the Vivobarefoot Training Center at the Barefoot Connections Conference.

What I found fascinating about the video is its explanations of the kinetics and the kinematics of running. As Lee explains it, “kinetics” studies the forces involved while “kinematics” studies how we shape our bodies as we move.

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Why You Can’t Climb a Tree

Oh, yeah. I suppose you can, a bit. And doing it barefoot really helps and makes it a lot more fun.

But I bet you can’t climb a tree like this:

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Beating the Spread

There’s a before-and-after photo going around showing the change in toe spread after 28 months of running barefoot.

Here it is.

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Keeping Your Feet Warm

The whole secret to CIVD is getting sufficiently warm blood down to your feet.

How warm? And how can you do so?

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I’ve Got CIVD

It’s that time of year again (at least in the Northern hemisphere). For those who cannot say “me all face“, there are other things that let you go barefooted in colder weather.

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Tetanus and Going Barefoot

Tetanus is often associated with rusty nails and going barefoot.

However, there is a lot of mythology associated with both, and I thought I’d sort that out a bit.

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Cargo Cult Barefooting

Can’t get enough earthing? But are you so addicted to the whole idea of shoes that you want to get your daily dose of quackery even when shod?

Well then, Earthrunners are just right for you.

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What You Kneed

I’ve heard story after story of shod runners who had to stop because of their knees. Then, after switching to barefoot running, they are able to take it up again, because barefoot running really doesn’t allow the kind of heel strike that thuds up to the knees that you can only get from heeled, padded shoes.

So, what do you do with that already damaged cartilage?

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Catalyst

ABC TV in Australia has a very good segment on science called Catalyst. They recently did a segment comparing barefoot and shod running, and did an excellent job showing the science and highlighting the differences.

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