The Barefoot Story

You need to know this!

In this article, I will make every attempt to help you understand how to get the most from your body. The first step is deciding that you are a vital and strong being that wants to always improve. The next step is understanding that most of what you have been told by shoe companies, exercise physiologists, physical therapists and orthopedic, podiatric and chiropractic physicians about supportive and padded footwear was not just inaccurate, but flat out WRONG!

So let's get it right, read on.

Revolution is exactly right!

What constitutes a revolution? And how is it different from evolution. Evolution is ever present and always working, making us adapt and grow stronger. But a revolution must have massive change in finite time and often occurs with effort and the challenge of once accepted ideas. If this is accurate, then we are in a revolution right now, making many of us change much of our thinking when it comes to footwear and running.

I WAS WRONG, NOW I'M RIGHT.

I knew on some level that over the past 20 years, I have been wrong about my footwear recommendations for my patients. I could give you many excuses for this. My education in school preached biomechanical control of the foot. Thousands of orthotics companies bombed me with new devices designed to limit and control almost every foot condition. Financial incentives, old biomecchanical theory and massive advertising from shoe companies, have all contributed to the creation of a universally accepted notion that has lead to many chronic foot pain syndromes.

The problem exists on a massive scale and amounts to an almost world wide brainwashing of doctors, athletes, and every healthcare provider on some level. In its most simplified stated form, the problem existed because of our willingness to accept that restriction and control of motion will lead to healthier function. Shame on us. Almost every philosophy over the past 8000 years has taught us the exact OPPOSITE. Movement equals life. Movement creates strength and it is often this inherent strength that should be relied on to control our bodies movement and produce optimal health. How many ways can this be said or thought of? The answer is many ways because anytime you go against a universal truth, you will have plenty of examples of poor consequence. Looking around our country we can see the results of alot of this bad thinking. Obesity, arthritis, disease are the obvious sequela of poor health care choices. If the logic of the obese, arthritic patient is, "I just stopped running and exercising because my feet hurt or my legs or back hurt", then you can see that the problem could be much more directly related to a "universal think" than one might have originally thought.

Think of water. It flows, it moves. Life lives in it. But if you freeze it, you have no motion, complete restriction. Like arthritis, frozen water is motionless, and without movement, you can't have life.

I had to experience a very acute case of faciitis and see for myself what really works. (See Below) About 6 months after I had a personal epiphany on the role shoes play in healing fasciitis and tendonitis, a good friend of mine recommended I read "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall. And thats when I really started feeling better about my treatment protocol and knew what I needed to do as doctor. I needed to start putting this information to use. This meant figuring out how to use it in my practice and how to promote these ideas to other doctors and the public.

"PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER SO THAT IT REALLY WORKS FOR EVERYONE IS THE TRICK. THE STRONG WILL BE FINE, BUT WE NEED TO GET THE WEAK ONES STRONG TOO."

So for the remainder of this article, I will focus on you, the patient. We need to determine if you are ready to start getting strong. If you are currently injured, you may need the support and rest afforded by casts, walking boots and orthosis. In addition, if you are relapsing after getting better, you may need further rest in the form of orthotics, heel lift, etc. If, however, you are ready to get strong, then read on and see how.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIANCE WITH PLANTAR FASCIITIS

How many times have you had to rely on personal experience to create change in your way of thinking? For me, it was in 2007 when I developed one hell of a case of acute plantar fasciitis. I looked at this as a great opportunity to study for myself the treatments that I had been utilizing for my patients over a 20 year time span as a podiatrist. I cured myself with a simple change offootwear. Here are my findings:

1. Passive stretching is much better than active stretching. It's your footwear that will cure you or cripple you. Forget about stretching your heel on a step or with a device. If you don't get into the right footwear, your going to hurt! This means wearing flat shoes without heel lift.
   
   
2. Your footwear must give you room to shift your weight to different parts of your foot in order to promote blood flow which is imperative if you want to heal. This means wearing shoes with flat, wide soles. Wide enough in the heel to allow for different foot positions.
   
   
3. Let me spell it out. Wide, flat addidas basketball high tops did it for me. I wore them everyday and the pain went away. I tried many other shoes listed here, and all they did was hurt... alot.
   
   
4. Supportive Therapy and anti- inflammatory treatments without proper footwear may only alleviate symptoms temporarily and prolong your recovery.
   
   
5. See additional information on this important topic.

How to use a foot strengthening regimen to overcome your foot pain.

YOU CAN'T WEIGHT LIFT WITH YOUR FEET, BUT YOU CAN MAKE THEM STRONGER USING THE RIGHT FOOTWEAR.

More importantly, we now know you can make your feet much weaker if you insist on wearing the WRONG footwear. What is the wrong footwear? The answer is any shoe that overly restricts your natural foot motion. You may be a shoe addict. Addicted to comfortable, padded tennis shoes with external or internal arch support. Like a person that takes prozac all the time for "depression", you might think that ANY foot fatigue or discomfort is bad. So the only real opportunity you have to strengthen your feet is when you walk barefoot. But, you say, "my feet hurt when I walk barefoot. They are tender and I have to step very lightly." To this I say, non-sense. You are simply not in shape. You're weak from the ankle down and probably have or will go up in shoe size and, at some point, be convinced that orthotics are the only hope you have of being comfortable.

Lets take this logic a step further. If you are weak and don't like exercise, you will get weaker, of course. As you get weaker, you may take to lying in a hammock for a hobby and always seek relaxing vacations. Next, comes injury, muscle fatigue, soreness, and finally various forms of temporary or even permanent convalesce.

If you are thinking, "I'm already too far gone and my feet will never be the same." You may be right. But what's great about achieving foot strength is that you don't have to join a gym or pay big money for a special piece of equipment to start. You simply have to make the commitment to start wearing different shoes.

The best starting point is to evaluate your current condition by going to your doctor if you have a chronic problem that needs to be treated. On my website, I address treatments that can help you get better. For now, I am going to assume that you are healthy enough to walk barefoot, even if it doesn't feel as good as your shoe. Next, you should evaluate your current footwear. Instead of starting with the shoes that hurt you the worst, I want you to start with the shoes that are the most comfortable. Do these have built in support for the arch? Do they have thick padding for the heel? Do the soles have air or gel or cushion cells? Next, go to your dress shoes. Are you always wearing the same dress shoes. What is the heel height of these shoes? Can you turn your foot and walk on the outsides of your feet easily. Do they bend well? Can you walk comfortably on your tip toes across a long room? Now I am not here to tell you to throw out every shoe that you discovered in the above exercise. In fact, I will say that you can keep and wear them all and be ok. But only if you supplement there use with footwear designed to strengthen your feet. So hold on to your arch supports and thick shoes, but lets start thinking of them as comfortable hammocks that you can walk in for relaxation, AFTER A NICE WORKOUT IN YOUR NEW STRENGTHENING FOOTWEAR.

So what is this new footwear and how does it work? Currently Vibram Five Finger shoes are leading the way in this category. They actually look like a second skin for your feet and they simulate barefoot walking with protection from sharp foreign objects. This means you can wear them out - mountain climb in them and even run a marathon in them. The advantage here is that your small foot muscles, and the tendons from the larger leg muscles are going to get strong as you wear these. You can literally see these changes occur over time. Your achilles tendon will stretch out and strengthen, you will have strong peroneal tendons and tibial tendons that support the arch. As you walk in these, you still have to be cognizant of where you step and this will lead to better proprioceptive response and reflex response. Legs will get stronger. Over time you will feel it.

So what's the down side? For starters you will have to get used to them. Not that hard to do.

Now lets look at some other footwear that will help you get stronger. Nike Free and Newton footwear is built like conventional running shoes but without the excessive technology that restricts motion and overly pads (dulls) your proprioception. Runners across the country are adopting a new "Chi" or "Barefoot" running style. This involves running mechanics that put much less stress on your legs, and back. Read Chi Running for more on this.

Dress footwear is often the biggest stumbling block when it comes to foot strength shoes. My personal research on this is not finished but I do have some strong recommendations. I really like many basketball high tops, but I know this is impractical. Clark makes a dress shoe called the Desoto. I really like the Desoto boot for all the reasons that I like high tops, but this is a shoe that can pass as a dress shoe. Please see the list of dress shoes in this article pack.

The Shoe that fits

By now you should have the idea that shoes can have two roles:

1. To function as a comfortable relaxation device, fully or partially supporting your arch, relaxing your tendons and padding your sole.
   
   
2. To function as a foot and leg strengthening device, allowing your foot motion to occur naturally and without restriction. Allowing for your leg muscles to fire in stretched position and allowing you to use your proprioceptive instincts to balance and control your gait and movements.

Because no shoe can be built with both of these functions, you need to alternate your footwear so as to take advantage of both. As you do this, you will see that the stronger your foot gets, the more you will like being in natural and unconstructed footwear.

BEWARE OF ALL SHOE ADVERTISING

You must heed the warning "beware of shoe advertising." Many companies will sell shoes under the guise of "unconstructed" or "natural", but in reality, they are not really what they claim. We are not talking about increasing air flow or simply making shoes lighter, we are talking about making them work like your bare foot. Or at least allowing for your barefoot to function more like a barefoot.

USE YOUR ORTHOTICS TO REST YOUR FEET. DON'T BECOME OVERLY DEPENDENT ON THEM.

Orthotics have a purpose. They control motion or accommodate for uniform pressure. They can help rest an injury and in some cases greatly slow down some degenerative processes. They are usually used to prevent excessive pronation which can help with balance and align the body. Thats good. So if your doctor says you should try orthotics, then try them! But if your doctor fits you with orthotics and tells you not to worry about loss of strength, then you need to find a new doctor. Ok.

If you are running for exercise, then you need to read below. The Shoe that fits

1. Vibram Five Finger
2. Nike Free
3. Newtons
4. Terra Plana
5. Earth Shoes
6. Clark Desoto boots
7. Clark Desoto shoes
8. Ugg boots
9. Flat Keds
10. Addidas High tops

These shoes are the ones I personally recommend to strengthen feet. The V5's are top priority and should be the very first choice. Earth Shoes, Terra Plana and Desoto boots are good for dress use and can be worn year around. Notice that none of the above mentioned shoes have any heel lift. That's because stretching the achilles tendon is everything when it comes to achieving strength.

YOUR RUNNING STYLE

Are you a barefoot style runner, or a heel to toe runner? If you already run barefoot style in Nike Free, Newton or Vibram Five Finger shoes, then you are going to be running much longer than the "heel striking" heel to toe runners.

BAREFOOT STYLE RUNNING BOOKS
Chi Running by Danny and Katherine Dreyer
Run Training by Ken Merke

BAREFOOT RUNNING GURU'S
Ghisallo Running
606 North and South Road (at Delmar)
University City, MO 63130
314-727-4786
www.ghisallorunning.com

Recommended Shoe Websites

LISTED HERE ARE THE BEST WEBSITES I COULD FIND FOR FOOTWEAR DESIGNED TO STRENGTHEN YOUR FEET AND LEGS.

As you surf these sites, you will see that many of the styles represented here also boast realignment of the back muscles. The best way to purchase footwear is to actually go to a store that has sales people that know their stuff. I frequently refer my patients to Ghisallo Running. The web site is Goghisallo.com.

First let look at the Vibram Five Finger footwear. Vibram Five Fingers: Discover the Barefooting Alternative. This design won Time Magazines invention of the year and is proven. I believe everyone should try a pair of these and wear them.

Now lets list the sites that feature the athletic and running models that are barefoot. Nike Free models can be seen here: Store.nike.com. They seem to be popular because of the more conventional look.

Next, I want you to look at the Newtons: Newton Running - The Science of Motion. These are a great design that will take a runner that is used to more conventional running shoes and turn them into a chi runner.

Now lets look at an up and coming running shoe that looks real good. Terra Plana. The Evo may take off. Only time will tell.

Ok. Now it's time to look at some companies that make shoes that will work for more dress up occations. The first is Earth: Earth Shoes: Comfortable Stylish Shoes, Exerfit, Health Shoe. These are built with a 3.7 degree dorsiflextion allowing the achilles tendon to stretch and the shoulders and back to align. They may take getting used to, but they will passively stretch your achilles making them great for avoiding tendonitis and plantar fasciitis.

Next is Terra Plana. I really like the vivo barefoot line here. Again, these shoes will take some getting used to, but they are great for building strength and look cool too.

Now lets look at some more conventional builds. The Clark Desoto boot is a "mucker" that I really like. The heel height and forefoot are a bit more padded making them a good transition shoe for people that are currently undergoing treatment for a foot condition. They will increase strength.

Finally, lets look at a shoe that should have never gone out of style. The Nike Cortez. This is a case of "they had it right the first time!" Now it's back and may once again dominate.

One last bit of advice Your feet will only get stronger if you actually spend time on your feet in the shoes. Initially, you might not feel so comfortable wearing them, but as your feet get stronger, you will get used to using your muscles again. Note: Newton also has some good info on getting used to barefoot footwear that is worth reading. Newton Running - Adjusting to the Shoes.

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