Barefoot Running: Dr. Nicholas Campitelli Reviews Medical Literature That Supports Running

Excerpt From "Survey in China and India of Feet That Have Never Worn Shoes"

Amazing how many things we need to 'relearn'.  I tend to use that word frequently, relearn, we are born with instinct and reason and frequently it's beaten out of us so we're more obedient consumers, or just better lemmings.  Hopefully this - like all other things- is cyclical.  Note in this excerpt, the mention of the gap betwee nthe first and second toe.  This is something frequently discussed on the mobiltywod.com.

Samuel B. Shulman. "Survey in China and India of Feet That Have Never Worn Shoes," The Journal of the National Association of Chiropodists, 49, 1949, pp. 26-30.

The low incidence of dermatomycotic infection here noted might be attributed to the fact that most foot fungi require dark, warm and damp interdigital spaces for growth such as that provided by shoes and stockings on a foot that has no free outlet for its perspiration. In addition, these bare feet get the beneficial fungicidal effects of the sun's ultra-violet rays.

...

No instances among the barefoot feet were found of: Onychrocryptosis, Hyperidrosis, Bromidrosis, Hallux Valgus, Hallux Varus, Bursitis at the first or fifth metatarso-phalangeal articulations.

...

Almost everyone surveyed showed a marked spacing between the first and second toes such as that found on young babies. The great toe was either pointing straight ahead or slightly abducted to provide a greater weight-bearing base or, possibly, to compensate for a shortened first metatarsal segment.

...

One hundred and eighteen of those interviewed were rickshaw coolies. Because these men spend very long hours each day on cobblestone or other hard roads pulling their passengers at a run it was of particular interest to survey them. If anything, their feet were more perfect than the others. All of them, however, gave a history of much pain and swelling of the foot and ankle during the first few days of work as a rickshaw puller. But after either a rest of two days or a week's more work on their feet, the pain and swelling passed away and never returned again. There is no occupation more strenuous for the feet than trotting a rickshaw on hard pavement for many hours each day yet these men do it without pain or pathology. These figures prove that restrictive footgear, particularly ill-fitting footgear, cause most of the ailments of the human foot.

...

Baby shoes cause great harm to growing, formative feet. The so-called "sentimental" value of baby's shoes might well be dispensed with.

...

People who have never worn shoes acquire very few foot defects, most of which are painless and non-debilitating. The range of their foot motions are remarkably great, allowing for full foot activity. Shoes are not necessary for healthy feet and are the cause of most foot troubles. Children should not be encouraged to walk prematurely and should not wear any footwear until absolutely necessary. Footgear is the greatest enemy of the human foot.

Teva Zilch on Sale (50% off)!

Teva Zilch on Sale (50% off)!

I plan to try these with Injinji Socks in colder weather.  The sale is here.

$40 instead of $80 if you register at the Clymb - i used this site to gt my first pair of vivo barefoot shoes at 50% off.   James at Barefoot/Shoes reviewed the Zilch on BirthdayShoes a few weeks ago.

Sample Paleo Meals

02/10/2011 By Jedha

I thought I’d share some pictures of some of the delicious paleo meals I have been eating over the past week. The thing is, I thought the paleo diet might get boring like heaps of other *diets* often do.
But I am really enjoying the wide variety of paleo diet foods you can choose from and the interesting and satisfying meals you can create with these foods.

2 Days Paleo Meals

	Paleo Diet Breakfast Bacon, Eggs, Pan Roasted Tomato &  Bok Choy
	Paleo Diet Lunch Thai Spiced Fish with a side salad
	Paleo Diet SnackSpiced pan fried chicken (left over from last night) with avocado
	Paleo Diet Dinner Chicken with veges, smothered in pesto & olive oil
	Paleo Diet BreakfastVege Filled Omelete Fry up some of your favorite veges, a couple of fresh diced tomatoes, a bit of bacon and serve it inside an omelete.
	Paleo Diet Lunch Spiced chicken breast with sweet potato, salad & avocado
	Paleo Diet Dinner Beef bolognaise with steamed cabbage and vegetables
	Paleo Diet Snack Hot in the pan! Organic beef, gluten-free, low-fat sausages. I snacked on these over a few days dipping them in some homemade roasted capsicum sauce.

Clunk Clunk Clunk (Adventure Race)

My first adventure race was this past weekend.  It is labeled a 'sprint adventure race'.  Our distance traveled was approximately 30miles.  (No way to track that since no electronic devices were allowed.  I was on a two-man team, competing in male's duo.  We made a funny team since my teammate in an excellent mtn bike rider and I am a better runner - therefore we took turns slowing each other up :).  I'm kidding, we were a great duo placing third in our division.  

Half the participants dropped out of this race or didn't complete the checkpoint assignments.  I don't fault the DNF'ers our conditions were horrible, windy, cold and down pouring rain.  I was one wrong move on a mtn bike from not finishing!  In the middle of a run we had to dive into the lake for a checkpoint and then trudge fwd to the next waypoint in wet(ter) clothes.  The rain, mud, woods, bike riding, canoeing, swimming, etc made me think about our gear selection.  

A guy in the parking lot asked me if I would be wearing my Merrill Trail Gloves for the race, I said yeah-why not.  He shook his head and it was clear that the other competitors were concerned with shoe selection as the park was called Rocky Gap for a reason.  Everyone else had thick, heavy hiking boots or low cut boots.  The lightest pair of shoes I saw were La Sportivas - which are great shoes, but the toe boxes are small!  But I looked at the half worn tread on my trail gloves (having about 1000 miles on them) and shrugged and thought out-loud 'we'll see'.

Maybe I am a little biased, but my shoe selection for this race seemed the only choice that made any sense.  In these conditions, a water proof shoe just meant "keeps the water inside your shoe".  Even the long wet grass would deposit water inside your shoe, why would you choose goretex covered shoes to keep that water against your foot?   We were waist deep in water flowing streams, a few steps later on the shore all the water was out of my trail gloves.  They don't weigh more after such a hike.  Speaking of shoe weight - which I appreciate the lightness of a shoe, AND (more so) the lightness of my steps.  People running in those hiking shoes sound like horses clunk clunk clunk.  It makes me wince.  My cadence is so quick and my feet are on the ground for such a short period of time, I don't have time to to slip.  My foot strike is straight down and straight up tap-tap-tap, there's no sagital or planar forces to send me sliding.  

When are knobby treaded, thick, inflexible shoes the correct choice? 

I, Caveman

Curiosity Videos: I, Caveman

Answered by Curiosity

1. 

   Group
   Curiosity
   From Episode 9: I, Caveman
   
   

Dynamical Analogies

I'm probably guilty of over using analogies in my daily life, I'm like a bulweavel in a.... see, there I go again!  But the "spring" can be used to represent anything.  One could string together a set of springs in a certain way to completely mimic the behavior of a building in an earthquake, or a table's jiggle'ability.  A spring's springy'ness or compliance is measurable, hang weigth from it and it extends only so far, it has a resonant frequency, etc.  these are all properties of the muscles and tendons in your "running chain" .  

The beauty of the springiness of your legs is that it's variable.  The engagement of muscles change tension, resonance, compliance of this spring.  It's a wonderful thing!  

Have you ever tried to run on a trampoline?  There's only one slow speed you can go other wise the springiness of the trampoline will push back so hard it can drive your knee into a tooth!  This is what's happening when you add 'springs' in series with your running chain.  Why would I insert a spring?  It's what you're doing when adding a springy cushion under your foot, or running on a rubber track, or spring loaded treadmill.  Cascading these compliances adds to your work load.  You are now in charge of absorbing your weight, absorbing energy returned at a different rate due to these dissimilar cascaded resonances.  

Remove the cushions and you will see!  It's less work, more economical, and more conducive to long term injury-free running.   (...more to come).

Article: Is CrossFit Only For Maniacs?

Penny's point in this article is that by watching youtubes of crossfitters she can tell that they're all on the way to injury.  She professes that 20-30min of cardio and pushup/situp regimes will allow you to 'live just as long' as any crossfitter.   She is a 'fitness expert' and has a following, and the is horrible and sad.  If she'd tried crossfit and had bad things to say, or she could cite a study to support her opinion.  It seems like people can say whatever they want these days and there's no consequences for unsupported data.  She actually ranks herself as a non-idiot, you decide.  Tide comes in, tide goes out - you can't explain that!

 (check out the comments below her article)

By Penny Love Hoff: Is CrossFit Only For Maniacs? (Found here)

Just to keep me on my toes, I'm going to resist the urge to use the term "audacious radical fitness zealots" when referring to CrossFit, a strength and conditioning program for what I would call the "over-the-top" athlete. On the CrossFit website, they summarize their program in 100 words:

"Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week. Mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports." 

Okay, I agree with a lot of that. But after looking at some YouTube videos of some of the main CrossFit workouts, I'll bet that in ten years, they will have bad knees, torn rotator cuffs and more artificial joints than me. And the sad thing is that they won't be able to keep doing what they love to do, which is continue to move with ease and speed. CrossFit is a fitness craze. Virginia Heffernan wrote about it in The New York Times Magazine. She called it a "grueling online exercise regime that requires near-devotional commitment" and in my (sort of) humble fitness opinion, she is politely understating it. Of course, nothing's wrong with have a Goliath-style work(out) ethic and a lofty Olympic-like fitness threshold, but this workout is a joint-buster. It puts the "man" back in "maniac." Although I did find myself lusting after their handstand pushups and their rope climbs, their hurling, snatching and dead-lifting with near impossible speed. After all, I'm still working on mastering one pull up, but I also imagined their knees exploding on the next ever-deeper squat or their shoulder dislocating as they balanced in a dangerously unnatural angle on the gymnastic rings. My reaction could just be the mom in me. Or the CPR certified aerobics instructor. Or the non-idiot part of me. Then I had a horrifying thought. What if some of my readers who read my articles about working out look upon my fitness suggestions with an equal sense of disbelief or a similar feeling that I had while reading about CrossFit -- that the exercises prescribed are equally impossible? So the point I want to make is that nothing you have to do to be healthy is super-human --although on some rainy Mondays mornings, it may feel like it. All I believe you need to do in order to live just about as long as the CrossFit cult members is 25-30 minutes of cardio exercise (meaning that you are sweating and you could talk but not sing) four times per week, fifty crunches and twenty push-ups, modified to your knees if needed. Do these most every day. And you will live just as long. Unless there's a natural disaster and it's survival of the fittest, then the CrossFit peeps will survive beyond most of the rest of us. But that's okay with me. I'm not into sleeping on the ground and I'm not much of a survivalist anyway.

QR Code

(thanks Jen)

Get Your Kids Into Minimalist Shoes to Ensure Natural Foot Development

By Mark Cuczzella  Entire article here


Posted on 28 September 2011

As a family physician, I firmly believe that children should play in their bare feet or in activity shoes that complement natural foot development and proper biomechanics of movement. Runners, walkers, coaches, and the medical community are all awakening to the benefits of allowing proper natural foot motion to occur in all of our daily activities.  Leaders in the running mechanics, sports medicine, dancing, and yoga/tai chi communities all understand that the smartest design that will ever be developed for human movement and injury free activity is the human foot itself. Running shoe companies are adapting their product lines to create footwear that allows your foot to behave like a foot, but most have only applied this new thinking to adult models. 

...Here’s an important point to keep in mind – a child’s foot is not a miniature version of an adult’s foot. In early development, a child’s foot is widest across the toes. If our population wore shoes that were designed with this functional shape from birth, most adults would also have feet with the widest part across the toes, and the toes would be perfectly aligned with the metatarsals (long bones in midfoot). Most of a child’s developing foot is composed of cartilage, which is gradually replaced by bone. If the cartilage is deformed by badly shaped or rigid shoes, the bones will take on the deformed shape. More than 80 percent of foot problems, bunions and injuries are a result of misshaped and inflexible shoes. It’s vital that kids’ shoes allow enough room for natural growth, until the foot bones mature. This doesn’t happen until ages 18-19 for girls and 20-21 for boys. Simply put; inflexible, poorly shaped shoes are potentially harmful – they restrict the natural movement and development of the foot.