Running barefoot: Dipping your toe

There’s nothing like good news from the scientific community to spur interest in a given exercise: We’re all open to the latest magic bullet when it comes to getting in shape or improving performance. We’re even more susceptible when that magic bullet includes the promise of health minus hurt. Which is why a study appearing last week in the journal Nature suggesting that running barefoot may help prevent injury has caused the sports medicine community to respond with an optimistic cringe.

“Taking this kind of study and dispensing advice is risky business,” exercise physiologist Ross Tucker wrote last week on his Web site, The Science of Sport. “As a friend pointed out yesterday, the media’s interpretation of this study will be a ‘stimulus plan for physical therapists and podiatrists’.”

“I wouldn’t advise anyone to throw out their running shoes and just run barefoot,” cautions  Michael Sharp, a certified athletic trainer with the The Athletic Performance Center in Raleigh.

Rare is the individual who can shuck their shoes and go totally barefoot overnight. The vast majority of us, they say, should proceed with caution.

cover_natureThe Nature study — “Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot runners versus shod runners” — found that runners wearing high-tech running shoes tend to land on their heels, barefoot runners on their forefoot. A forefoot strike, according to the study, reduces the loading rate and peak impact force, both of which are thought to lead to greater risk of injury. The study, led by Dr. Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard, was quick to note that further research needs to be done to see if landing on the forefoot does in fact reduce the likelihood of the foot, knee, ankle and hip injuries common to runners.

“Switching could lead to a variety of other injuries,” says Sharp. That, he says, is because running barefoot and changing how your foot lands will tax a whole new set of muscles, muscles that will be subject to the same overuse injuries responsible for most runners’ woes. Thus, it’s generally recommended that if you’re intrigued by running barefoot, you ease into it.

Sharp suggests you find a soft surface relatively free of puncture-wound inflicting debris, the beach, for instance, or better still, a football or soccer field. “At the end of your regular training run, do some barefoot [strides]. Maybe start with four, work up to six or eight. Go the length of the field, then jog back to the start and repeat.”

Tim Clark, a running coach in the Raleigh area, says he hasn’t bought into the barefoot-or-nothing (pardon the oxymoron) camp, but agrees that doing some barefoot running, especially for strides and cool downs, can be beneficial and therapeutic. “An unrestricted foot plant and push-off strengthens the feet and lower legs, and improves overall foot/ankle flexibility.”

In fact, that’s seen as the main benefit of running barefoot: that by offering a more honest reaction to the running surface it allows the body to build the muscles best able to deal with the demands of running. You don’t necessarily need to run barefoot; minimalist shoes that allow your foot to react to the surface can do the trick.

A couple caveats from the barefoot running community.

One, listen to your feet. “The feet are like the canary in the mine; if they hurt, chances are something else will too if you keep going,” says Josh Sutcliffe (pictured), who went barefoot in July and has logged 500 miles sans shoes since. Shoes take away the canary. By learning how to run barefoot, I’ve learned how to avoid the pain by making adjustments in real time to the way I run.”

Adds Amelia Kirkland, a triathlete and triathlon coach in Moore County, “From a coaching perspective, I’d tell my clients to try it and if it hurts, stop.”

Two, barefoot running may not be a universal cure. “I don’t think it’s an everyman’s thing,” says Mickey Fongzales of Durham has been running since middle school, initially for utilitarian purposes (“My parents wouldn’t give me rides and I didn’t have a bike”) now because she just enjoys it. People who are overweight/obese, for one, might be wise to stick with shoes.  The lack of cushion to absorb some of that excess weight could create stress issues, says former personal trainer who says she once qualified as “clinically obese.”

Perhaps more importantly, she says running barefoot may not be for people who aren’t in touch with their bodies. “You have to have good body awareness,” she says, touching on Sutcliffe’s “canary feet” hypothesis. It’s not just a matter of paying attention to avoid injury, but to improve your technique and performance as well.

Even Lieberman, the Nature study author, agrees that running barefoot or in minimalist shoes isn’t for everyone. Asked what he would advise in the wake of his study, he replied, “People should have fun and do what they want.” He, too, cautions against making a wholesale transition to running barefoot.

“My big worry is that people are extremely likely to develop Achilles tendonitis if they transition too fast. It is vital, absolutely critical,” Lieberman adds, “to transition slowly and carefully and not all at once.”

Sharp, the athletic trainer, said another injury concern with switching too fast is plantar  fascitis, or irritation and swelling of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot, a common source of heel pain.

The incentive, though, to incorporate some degree of barefoot running to a running routine is strong. Considering that 40 percent to 60 percent of runners are injured in any  one year, the allure of running injury-free is huge.

And while most barefoot runners say they run for fun, not for competition, there’s evidence that running barefoot can make the competitive even moreso.

“I’ve been taught from USA Triathlon, my coaching certification, that all your power for running should be generated from the pelvic girdle, not from the legs,” says Kirkland. “And running barefoot seems to enforce that, at least for me.”

9 thoughts on “Running barefoot: Dipping your toe”

  1. AAAAAAARRRGGGGHHH! Not football fields!!!

    Ahem. Sorry, I’m part pirate.

    Seriously, though, if you want to run lightly it MUST HURT to hit the ground hard. If it doesn’t hurt to land hard, you’ll land hard. The whole barefoot-ending-injury-thing relies on learning how to eliminate all thudding, skidding, jolting, and jogging. That’s why hard surfaces are best. Barefooters have been singing the praises of concrete and asphalt for years, but for some reason no one hears the tune.

    Try jogging barefoot in place in the bathroom or kitchen. Somewhere if you land hard it will be noisy. Jog in place as quietly as you can. Presto! You now have a new insight into one of the objectives of a barefoot runner.

    As far as self-awareness goes, trust me. You’re never more self (and sole)-aware than when you’re standing, barefoot, on a hard surface, about to run. When you try it for the first time, you feel EVERYTHING. It’s a little overwhelming, but your feet keep you in check from doing too much.

    Lastly, this barefooter thinks competition is fun. Almost as fun as long, rambling, blog commenting.

    1. With three kids, I frequently find myself jogging in place outside the bathroom. Seriously, though … .

      Today was not a good day to run barefoot in the Triangle — cold rain with intermittent slush. So I ran for 35 minutes in shoes, but concentrated on landing on my forefoot. On uphills and even slight inclines it was easy, in fact, it’s seemed counterintuitive to land on my heels. The flats required more concerted effort, the downhills more so.

      I was surprised by how quickly my body adapted to the new style, and even more surprised by how effortless it seemed. In “Born to Run,” Chris McDougall’s running coach tells him that if his running feels hard, he’s not running correctly. In addition to being more effortless, I noticed that a forestrike caused me to pitch forward slightly, thereby improving my posture and making it easier to breathe. I’m guessing that’s part of what made the run seem easier as well.

      1. Instead of focusing on the landing, focus on the lifting. If you count your cadence, count the lifts not the landings. If your feet are underneath your torso, you’ll land with the mid-foot naturally.

        Me, not a fan of this weather. This guy would be all over it, though:
        http://www.barefootrunner.org/

        Shoveling (in boots) was my long run today.

      2. Hey Joe-

        This is hardly about running barefoot…just wondering if you’ll be posting something about today’s Krispy Kreme challenge. A unique event, to say the least.

      3. Alas, I only found discovered that it’s RIGHT NOW late yesterday (via a release from the Triangle Transit Authority stating they were altering routes as a result of the KKC) and have other plans. And yeah, that’s definitely not an event you want to do barefoot. I’m guessing the N&O will cover it, and there are some former N.C. State Technician photogs who usually do a great job of covering the race in graphic detail. I’d start Googling “Krispy Kreme Challenge 2010” later this afternoon for coverage.

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