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altherunner
Canada
511 Posts |
 Posted - 09/03/2010 : 21:00:43
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Hello! I became inspired to try barefoot running ater reading "Born to Run". I ran all summer in a light sandal, and have started to run
in a moccasin called runamoc. There is no padding in them, and I run long distance on the pavement. My feet feel much more "alive", not like 2 stumps. You have to run differently, landing on the side/midfoot, not on the heel.I am posting this because it is something that would have caused a big tms attack in the past. |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2010 : 10:20:48
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I just played barefoot for a week in a Grass Court Tennis Tournament and it was heavenly! Others were slipping and sliding while I had a sure footing. I kidded around that I had been prepaing for it by letting my toe-nails grow  . A week, barefoot on the grass, is the equivalent of 50 chiro visits, (that is if I beleived in chiros, which I don't).
In my ruuning days, there was a rugged nature boy, who ran all the races barefoot, in the streets, including marathons, and frisco's streets are quite grimey.
The American Indians and the African runners used to do all their training barefoot, and the Kenyans are winning all the races. I don't know if they still do, now that they can afford to buy shoes.
DR. SARNO'S 12 DAILY REMINDERS:
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6415
TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
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Edited by - tennis tom on 09/04/2010 11:22:31 |
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altherunner
Canada
511 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2010 : 11:16:40
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| Hi Tom. I agree with you on the chiro visits. I seem to have free movement in my lower body, as well as more feeling and flexiblity in my feet. I run barefoot on grass, but with minimal footwear on the road. |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2010 : 12:36:44
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I'm sure wrld will weigh in on this. My attitude is one of caution. I've read that plantar fasciitis, which normally comprises around ten percent of running injuries, is cropping up in numbers far greater than that in those trying barefoot running, or some variant...
I suspect Born to Run has oversold the idea. Some of us are 'born to run" some of us less so. Many Kenyans are wonderful runners because they have the bodies for it. They're bio-mechanically suited for it. But a 6', 220 pound accountant with flat feet might not do so well without shoes....
Human beings are a very diverse species, and I think it's helpful to keep that in mind...
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Edited by - art on 09/04/2010 12:38:34 |
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whitehead
USA
20 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2010 : 14:30:03
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Funny you should bring this up! I've been wearing the Vibram five finger shoes for about six months now. I love them - they make walking more fun and pleasurable -- and I'm in them pretty much all the time.
I should point out I'm not a runner, I just walk in them, often for 5 mile+ distances. About four months into trouble-free use of the shoes, I met a poditriast along a hiking trail who asked about my shoes. He was quite aware of the concept and told me he disapproved of it, that people would eventually develop a pain in the forefoot because of some bone there hitting against hard surfaces. He then pointed down to the running shoes he was wearing and told me they were the most padded shoes on the market, and that that was what a lot of people needed.
Curiously, about a week after this chance meeting, my left forefoot began to hurt when walking, right where he said it would.
I've been trying to convince myself that this is TMS for two reasons: 1. Dr. Sarno classifies fascitis as TMS, and I think any foot doc would diagnose this as fasicits, 2. it seems a classic power-of-suggestion thing that I got the pain shortly after a poditriast predicted this would happen in users of minimilist shoes.
Anyway, I'm left scratching my head over this one. I can believe that what Sarno says is true -- that fascitis is TMS. But these shoes are not anything he had had any experience with. My strategy right now is to just keep doing the long walks in my Vibram five fingers -- the pain isn't that much -- and it periodically seems to go away while on the hike. Plus, the pain doesn't really kick in until a half hour or so.
I notice I have a classic fascitis symptom -- when I get out of the bed in the morning, the forefoot hurts as I touch the floor, then it goes away after a while.
Anybody care to weigh in on whether this is or isn't TMS? |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2010 : 16:39:01
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I'm confused. Plantar fasciitis is generally mid-foot (along the tendon) back to the heel. Ball of the foot is often metatarsalgia...Both can be genuine injuries at times, but also very frequently TMS.
Sounds like you're talking about metatarsalgia. That someone pointed to a spot on your foot and predicted that's where you'd be injured, and now you feel pain in the exact spot, would definitely make me suspicious.
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wrldtrv
666 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2010 : 18:51:40
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Whitehead, I agree with Art that your forefoot pain is not PF. Sounds like Morton's Neuroma (the nerves between the metatarsals), but maybe TMS instead because of the nocebo that dumb podiatrist planted in your mind! By the way, I would land more flatfoot, not forefoot.
Art, I've heard the naysayers talk about PF becoming more common in barefooters, but I would like to see the evidence. By the way, Chris McDougal, the author of Born to Run is a huge guy, probably 6'5" or so and heavy (he mentions it in the book), so that contradicts the "barefooting only good for a smaller person with ideal feet.
I have not been barefooting recently because I have been training for a marathon next month. But, I have completely changed my running style so that I run in shoes as though barefoot. I land mid-foot. Instead of getting new running shoes every few hundred miles as the shoe co's scare you into thinking necessary, I have probably put at least twice as many miles on the old shoes. I ran 53 miles last week (more than ever) and the PF that plagued me for months gave hardly a peep. |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 09/06/2010 : 10:26:47
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quote:
Originally posted by wrldtrv
Whitehead, I agree with Art that your forefoot pain is not PF. Sounds like Morton's Neuroma (the nerves between the metatarsals), but maybe TMS instead because of the nocebo that dumb podiatrist planted in your mind! By the way, I would land more flatfoot, not forefoot.
Art, I've heard the naysayers talk about PF becoming more common in barefooters, but I would like to see the evidence. By the way, Chris McDougal, the author of Born to Run is a huge guy, probably 6'5" or so and heavy (he mentions it in the book), so that contradicts the "barefooting only good for a smaller person with ideal feet.
I have not been barefooting recently because I have been training for a marathon next month. But, I have completely changed my running style so that I run in shoes as though barefoot. I land mid-foot. Instead of getting new running shoes every few hundred miles as the shoe co's scare you into thinking necessary, I have probably put at least twice as many miles on the old shoes. I ran 53 miles last week (more than ever) and the PF that plagued me for months gave hardly a peep.
I think only time will tell. That there are reports of a big increase in PF among barefoot runners is it seems to me, reason for caution. Unless one wants to posit some sort of running shoe company conspiracy that is, something I'm not wiling to do without evidence.
I just don't think there's any question that some runners have more efficient mechanics than others. I'd be surprised if your typical heavy-footed, overly pronating big guy is going to do well without shoes, your author notwithstanding..
I consider myself an average runner, not particularly fast or efficient, even in my best day. Back in the mid-80,, I had a series of ankle sprains culminating in an actual fracture. At the time I was entirely ignorant about running shoes and couldn't figure out what the cause was. Turns out I was running in shoes meant for much a much more efficient runner, shoes I had no business wearing. Once I went to heavier motion control shoes, I stopped spraining my ankle... |
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whitehead
USA
20 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2010 : 14:05:55
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| art & wrldtrv, I stand corrected, what I was posting about isn't PF, it's metatarsalgia as you suggested, which Dr. Schubner lists as TMS. I think your feedback on the nocebo effect helped me adjust my attitude, because, yesterday, more assured that it could be TMS, I took a 2-1/2 hour hike in my vibrams that yeilded very little forefoot pain, none, in fact, for most of the hike. |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2010 : 14:19:46
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Just to give you even more encouragement...I recently had a flareup of metatarsalgia which made no sense to me given my running schedule at the time...that is, no big increases in mileage or speed. In fact, due to a hamstring problem, it was the opposite...
I decided to treat it as TMS and inside of just a few runs it was almost completely gone...
But those are the easier supposed injuries. I mean, you're not going to cripple yourself (much:>) running with ball of the foot or toe pain. A hammie on the other hand, if it's real, can end your running career if you rip it badly enough.
Ouch. |
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altherunner
Canada
511 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2010 : 11:31:45
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| I decided to run a marathon this weekend in my moccasins. It was fine, except I didn't tape my feet, or wear socks, and I got some big blisters and had to walk the last 6 miles. I didn't really train for it, I signed up Saturday and ran Sunday. Today, I had the usual aches and pains and stiffness, nothing too bad. I tried using a lotion made of DMSO. It realy helped, I am surprised. DMSO can dry your skin, so you have to put a moisturizer on after. |
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barefoot running
