What’s with the gorilla-feet shoes? (Blog #3 assignment)
If you walk around any college town or campus, you will see an abundance of a newer type of sport non-shoe with toes. The ones pictured above are a brand called “Vibram Five-Fingers”. More like a sock with a rubber/Vibram sole, wearers report that these non-shoes protect their feet from injury, but have the feel of going barefoot.
Why I’m interested in shoes….
When I was a kid & started to grow quickly, I developed some painful structural difficulties with my feet, required several major surgeries as a teenager. So, I was required to wear really awful, funky orthopedic shoes (I’m not kidding…really ugly…). As a young girl, this was both embarrassing & painful!
A couple of summers ago, in my mid-40’s, I had to have both my feet reconstructed, complete with titanium screws. Because I was casted on each foot for 8 weeks each, I spent several months on crutches, in therapy, and sitting in a chair with one foot, or the other, propped up, for about 6 months.
So, I’m no longer interested in shoes unless they are very comfortable…I’ve gotten over the ugly shoe phobia! And I wonder if the five-finger/barefoot shoes would be appropriate for a person with previously messed up, screwed-together feet like mine!
Recent news….
There have been some spotlighted barefoot runners in the Olympics & international competitions, such as in the 1980s Zola Budd (from South Africa, competing for Great Britain) and Abebe Bikila, an Ethiopian man who ran internationally in the 1960s & 1970s. Indigenous people from many countries have traditionally run long distances barefoot.
However, recently there has been an increase in public interest in barefoot running. Whether it is connected to an organic “back-to-nature” mentality, increased attention to running & sports injuries, or current fad, there have been numerous published articles suggesting that running without shoes might be safer, and less likely to cause injuries, than running in expensive, specially designed running shoes.
Article Links:
LA Times:
Science Daily:
Barefoot running website:
Blog on five-finger shoe use, models, and sizes:
“Your shoes are killing your feet….”
“To run better, start by ditching your Nikes”
Harvard University’s skeletal biology lab
Why is barefoot supposedly better?
According to several of the above articles, such as the Science Daily 2010 above, and the Harvard skeletal biology lab, running in highly cushioned running shoes causes the runner to land on the heel (”heelstrike”), which causes more force to be absorbed by the body & its joints.
"Running barefoot or in minimal shoes is fun but uses different muscles," said Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman. "If you've been a heel-striker all your life, you have to transition slowly to build strength in your calf and foot muscles." (Credit: Image courtesy of Harvard University)
Barefoot running causes the runner to land on the ball of the foot, causing much less shock to the rest of the body. Much mention is made of the evolution of the human foot and body, as in, we are born without shoes and evolved to run without shoes. However, asphalt and concrete are modern constructions, much different to run, or walk on, than the grasslands or sand that humans evolved with as their primary walking surface.
Hence, the invention of the “barefoot shoe”, meant to feel as if one were barefoot, but with some protection from modern surfaces, potential parasitic infections, broken glass, gravel, and thorns.
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