RIFREV Article: Should I run with shoes or barefoot - is there a right answer??

By William Wragg
www.rifrev.com

Points included in the article: Why barefoot? Why shoes? Is there an in-between? Have we ever adapted to cement/ concrete? Barefoot versus Shoes the physical effects Conclusion

One of the hottest topics in running should I be barefoot or, are my shoes ok to run in? Ive found typically theres nowhere in between with opinions; its either I run barefoot or not. There are those runners who are slightly in-between with the minimalist shoes but commonly a minimalist runner is a barefoot runner whos wearing the thinnest sole possible, with the minimalist drop. Whats right? Whos right? Lets look at why we do what we do and why we run the way we run and how thats changed over time.

So we all used to run barefoot, what changed?

Human beings (Home-erectus, and most recently, Homo-sapiens) were designed to run, but not on artificial surfaces. In the exact same way a tiger isnt designed to run on concrete, or any other wild animals! So when the Western World was basically concreted over, the effects on our body from running have increased ten-fold. So, the common running injuries are not something we have always suffered from, and is why modern-day running tribes to this day like the Tarahumara in the Copper Canyons and many runners in Africa can run such extreme distances but are yet to have been effected by the injury phenomenon! - Given that they still run on softer surfaces (soil and sand).

How can running barefoot help our bodies as we run?

Running barefoot is 100% going to reduce our chances of injury on soft surfaces. Not wearing shoes automatically increases ground-feel and proprioception and thus, our bodies adapt accordingly to each surface to prevent the over-use of our bodies and reduces the forces riding up through our bodies. When you take your shoes off and run, these wonderful things naturally happen: 1) You naturally land in the Mid-foot 2) You straighten out through your hips and do not sink through your knees 3) You lift your chest and automatically want to become taller; thus reducing those pressures riding through our bodies 4) Our contact with the ground is therefore reduced 5) We automatically start to create movement naturally using our body

However, when you have a pair of thick shoes on, your senses are reduced and these natural responses do not occur! The ground forces Barefoot versus shoes! The image below, from a Harvard University Human Biology study, shoes an African runner running both with and without shoes. It also compares the force (body weight) during the motion.

The results showed that when wearing shoes, the runner was more exposed to greater forces riding up through their body. As mentioned above, the reasons being are we naturally lengthen our bodies and improve our alignment, naturally land in the mid-foot and create movement using our body as we run without shoes and these techniques all contribute to this reduced amount of force.

So why does wearing shoes increase those forces (and injuries)?

When you wear shoes, the ground feel reduces, as does your proprioception. As these senses and this feel diminishes, our bodies ability to respond to differing surfaces and increased pressures weakens, and poor technique can onset.

The shoes above are the 1972, Nike Cortez. Known in History as the first real running shoe developed for track athletes for comfort and durability, both for road running and distance running. Before this, runners tended to wear incredibly flat shoes, the shoes you would see in the film classic, Chariots of Fire. The purpose of the Cortez was obviously to protect us/ runners from injury however, there are an abundance of studies conducted since that point at the spike of injuries ever since the production of running shoes developed for comfort as being a considerable, contributing cause. Thats why injury prevalence for conditions such as Plantar Fasciitis or Shin splints have increased to an alarming degree over the past forty years!

Looking at the body: barefoot versus shoes!

Im going to take a second to look at a few parts of the body and how wearing shoes versus barefoot can cause a positive or negative effect! The foot

The foot can definitely take a massive hammer from wearing thick soled shoes. We as humans are designed to land in the mid-foot (in our arches) to absorb the ground force thus, preventing the pressures from riding up through our body to our joints, and also from damaging our feet. Wearing thick shoes, people who run too straight and dont create movement efficiently are quite often seen to over-stride and land on their heel. The heel is awful at absorbing pressures and consequently, trauma injuries such as ITB Syndrome both at the knee (friction syndrome) or on the hip are very common as are shin splints (Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome) a general term used to explain trauma in the connective tissues of the tibia. People also commonly over-activate the muscles in their feet and can seriously weaken their ankle strength and the peroneal tendons (peroneus longus and brevis) at the ankle can weaken. Not absorbing the ground forces effectively, over time, can also develop a lot of wear and tear on the foot itself and areas such as the metatarsals can become damaged, causing injuries such as metatarsal stress fractures or metatarsalgia or even Mortons Neuroma. The Knee

The knee is not widely understood, its like a musician ahead of its time. The patella is clearly used to form a joint but, like our foot arches, the knee is incredible at absorbing pressures. When we barefoot run we use the knee very effectively we do not sink at the knee and our knees and hips almost align, and we keep our knees soft by relaxing our thighs (quadriceps); allowing us to absorb a lot of the pressures at the knee, and preventing against cartilage damage from overuse, the potential onset of osteoarthritis and most commonly the onset of Runners knee (Patello Femoral Joint Syndrome PFJS). So, when we wear shoes, we tend not to be required as much to lengthen through our body and maintain a good posture to prevent pain so we start to become too relaxed and lazy, particularly when tired. Our knees start to hyper-flex and lock. This causes inflammation in the knee and the onset of PFJS or PFJ Pain or even Chondromalacia (a pain usually found between the patella and the femur, at the top of the knee). The Hip

Our long pelvises are what made the homo-erectus and what makes us, the homo-sapiens, so fantastic, at least structurally, historically, and in theory in this modern-day, at running long distances. Our hips are developed to absorb pressures that ride up through our bodies and this prevents damage and overuse potential injuries from being onset. However, because many runners today are not successfully landing in the mid-foot and often over-stride (landing in the heel) this causes pressure to ride through our body and can even cause significant injuries at our hip - For example clicking hips (or Coxa Saltans or illiopsoas tendinitis) or even stress fractures at the hip. Coupled with this, because of our modern day cultures and day-to-lives we often drive everywhere and sit for WAYYYY too long at work, causing us to get stuck through our pelvis and resultant poor posture through the hips, resulting from a weakened core and tight hip flexors. Being too relaxed and stuck through our hips further increases the pressures on our lower body and makes us a lot less efficient at creating movement, with our movement lever only really at waist height.

So, can we wear shoes and not get injured!!!!???

YES, YES, YES we can. But to this point, we have not learned internationally
and as a population to do so and at this point our bodies have not really started to show evolutionary signs of change to adapt to these surfaces, either. But thats what the Running Injury Free Revolution is all about. In order to run effectively on hard surfaces you first of all have to understand how to create movement naturally, and without using power and thus, over-working our bodies. You then need to understand what the optimal postural positions are and why a good alignment is so important. Finally you need to understand how to land, and what part of body causes each injury and why? So when a pain onsets, we know how to stop that ASAP, and prevent those pains from becoming injuries. One thing we cannot do if we ever want to stop the common running injuries is RUNNING LAZY. Running Lazy is not using our bodies effectively and simply relying on our shoes to do all the work. Buying new shoes to prevent pains therefore is a lazy quick-fix and in order

to actually stop the pains from ever on-setting we have to teach our bodies to do the work, not our equipment or accessories. When I ran my 50 Marathons in as many days, I found it fairly easy and didnt get any pains. The reason was, plain and simple, because of my personal injury history I understood how each part of my body worked, how each pain came and how to as quickly as it onset, put a stop to each. When you run thinking in this way, with a good education and knowledge about your body, even if the ground feel is less, you can prevent any running injury! Its also how I ran my 50 marathons in the same pair of shoes that were already 6 months old at the start of the event!!!

So, do I barefoot run?

I do a little bit of barefoot running, I also own a pair of Vibram Five Fingers that I learned to run injury free in, and love to do a little bit of barefoot running. However, I run only on grass or in safe, screened concreted areas. I dont think Id feel confident running in the dark because of the risk of needles, dog mess and big rocks. But barefoot training is incredible! As soon as you take off you immediately get taller, land in the mid-foot, reach out through your hips and chest and bring your hip to the sky. The body is designed to run barefoot but, with the modern-way adaptations (silly adaptations in my eyes, except for roads) to concrete the Earth I guess we have to adapt. I 100% suggest taking off your shoes for at least A SHORT TIME EVERY WEEK listening to your body and how it adapts without shoes. To become an injury free runner on concrete you need to understand how the body does what it does and how it responds accordingly and theres no better way than taking your shoes off and giving it a go!

The Conclusion
My conclusion is that the World has changed and with that, so has our footwear. If the World was still all sand and soil there wouldnt be this debate, and wed all run without shoes, but it has changed. Our footwear has therefore adapted to this change and we need to learn how to work with these changes as well. I definitely suggest giving running barefoot or wearing Vibram Five Fingers or at least minimalist shoes a go. In terms of learning how to run injury free, I also 100% endorse buying a pair of Vibrams or learning barefoot or, probably the safety most efficient method, learn wearing minimalist shoes on trails (or softer surfaces, like grass). Once youre able to learn the Running Injury Free Techniques its then a matter of transitioning those Techniques in to a pair of road shoes.

My Personal shoe preference and advice

I have found minimalist shoes to be an excellent choice for trails running. Minimalist shoes, because of the minimal drop, have excellent ground feel and it helps you, almost forces you, to become a better runner. It also helps your calves, feet and knees to really strengthen and helps develop all of those small muscles in your lower body structures. However, particularly if you cover long distances, when transitioning to road, minimalist shoes can be too weak in terms of support - and if youre not landing perfectly in the midfoot, plantar Fasciitis can loom. Though if youre only doing say up to 20 miles, a minimalist pair of shoes, such as the Nike Free Runs, could be good. I think beyond that I would opt for a more comfortable neutral shoe. I have to say, I am deeply against thick soled shoes. Shoes advertised and designed to prevent: Over-pronation, over-supination, exaggerated inversion or eversion, I find to be an easy option, but often the wrong option, the same for orthotics. I think theyre a massive factor for injuries today and having your shoes do the work for you is a massive recipe for disaster. Im sure there are certain RARE circumstances where theyre necessary but, instead of answering a problem with an accessory, learn how to running properly and efficiently and stop those pain from on-setting the first place with good technique and a better overall knowledge of how the body works!

I have to state, this is what I have learned. People will have differing experience and peoples physical structures differ. So your experience may be different from all of your friends so play around, try different shoes, and try barefoot and eventually youll find what best suits and best fits you.

If you need any further information on how to run injury free, please feel free to contact me on the information below and check out our online resources at www.rifrev.com
William Wragg
Running Injury Free Specialist Running Injury Free Revolution (RIF REV) www.rifrev.com e:will@rifrev.com.au will@bodyleadership.com.au m: 0435 864 000 a: 401 Old Cleveland Rd, Coorparoo