Remember the running craze in the 70′s? Millions of American’s started running (myself included – ok, being 33 yrs old I also leaned to walk the year before I ran) and haven’t stopped. But millions more did stop – because of pain. Then running got a bad rap.
“Too much impact”
“All that pounding breaks down your body”
“Bad for your knees”
“Causes injuries: shin splints, stress fractures, patellar tendinitis, hip pain, back pain”
The running shoe industry tried to “fix” the problem by offering more and more “advanced” shoes with more support, more cushioning and more gimmicks but injuries only increased.
The fitness industry offered alternatives to running by inventing the eliptical trainer, Arc Trainer, TreadClimber, Precor Adaptive Motion Trainer, Versa climber, and many others. These offered “all the benefits of running without the impact” or did they?
In the last 4 years running has been making a comeback. But there is something different about this new running craze. People aren’t wearing the newest, most advanced, and most supportive shoes anymore. Instead they are running with very minimalist shoes like Five Fingers or Vivo Barefoot or without any shoes – just skin to ground the way we used to run thousands of years ago.
Many of the people who are leading the barefoot running craze are former runners who had stopped running because of injuries and are now claiming running barefoot has allowed them to run pain free for the first time in years (or decades!).
Is this possible?
Why would running barefoot reduce injuries?
Can just walk out their door and start running barefoot and expect to no longer have the aches and pains they previously had?
The following video Egoscue Palm Beach Gardens shared on their blog recently helps explain many of these questions. Lee Saxby, Chris McDougall‘s running coach in his book Born to Run, explains the improper running form many people have traditionally used and how to change the two basic mistakes people make. The first is learning the correct rhythm and the second is learning the correct posture. Try the drills Lee walks you through and see how your running changes and then do your Egoscue menu and compare. Have someone else watch your running posture and compare before and after your Egoscue menu.
Is it easier to hold proper posture?
What changes do you feel?
After you watch the video let me know what you think by commenting below. Happy pain free barefoot running!
Run Pain Free 