Wednesday, March 14, 2007 10:21 PM CDT
The shoeless shoe
New research indicates running barefoot may strengthen muscles in the leg and foot, leading to better performance in foot races
By NATHANIEL WEST, Staff Writer
nwest@jg-tc.com
The latest research suggests that runners ought to bare their soles.
Taking a cue from the success of long distance runners in cultures where footwear is uncommon, some experts are starting to believe barefoot -- or something close to it -- is best.
One company has even introduced a shoe that simulates going shoeless, while local athletic trainers mostly concur that barefoot training -- at least in theory -- can strengthen leg and foot muscles, and thus deter injury.
Unless, of course, you prefer to run on streets covered in shards of glass.
“I can see some benefit to (running barefoot), depending on the surface they’re running on,” said Jennifer Staskiewicz, the athletic trainer from Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center who works at Charleston High School.
She noted that CHS track runners seem “most comfortable” in their thin competition shoes.
“I have heard about some of the super light (shoes) that allow the foot to go as it naturally would,” Staskiewicz said.
With this in mind, Nike has introduced the Nike FREE shoe, which developers hope will provide protection while enhancing the effects of barefoot running, according to Nike.
The impetus for the Nike FREE was an observation of the Stanford Track Team members, under the coaching of Vin Lananna, who regularly train without shoes in order to strengthen their feet.
This isn’t the first time a shoe company has tried a product that mimics shoelessness.
Geoff Masanet, coach of the men’s and women’s cross-country teams at Eastern Illinois University, recalled previous lightweight models that “didn’t fly very well because they didn’t have a lot of support.”
However, he said the idea behind thin shoes has merit, noting that many injuries to runners are a “direct result” of their shoes.
“Simplicity is better than a lot of bells and whistles,” Masanet said.
Ideally, according to experts, shoeless running would be a skill learned in childhood, and barefoot adults would thus have the foot and leg strength exemplified by runners from Kenya, for example, where running barefoot is customary.
“But with our asphalt roads, it doesn’t exactly help our ability to go out and run (barefoot),” said Masanet.
Thomas Beals, athletic trainer at Lake Land College, agreed that it might prove difficult for someone new to barefoot running to adapt.
Athletes in other countries, who are used to going without shoes, “are very well conditioned against the typical problems a person who grows up wearing shoes would typically encounter going barefoot,” said Beals, who also wondered whether the rates of orthopedic injuries are underreported in such regions of the world.
“But in a controlled environment ... I do see that there could be advantages to some sort of training with the intent of improving the strength of the lower extremities, particularly the muscles stabilizing the foot and ankle,” Beals said.
“This would have to be done very gradually, and also the person would have to be free of advanced problems, so that they are able to withstand the new demands.”
Not that running without shoes is absolutely necessary to reap the benefits of barefoot exercise, said some experts.
Proponents of the Pose Method -- a relearning of the basic techniques of running -- likewise advocated shoes with thin soles and no cushioning.
“It allows you to develop a very precise, refined feeling of interaction between the foot and the ground, while landing,” reported Pose Tech founder, Dr. Nicholas Romanov, on the Web site www.posetech.com.
Cushioning “deteriorates timing, and as a consequence, running technique, by increasing the time of support and due to this, loading of joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles,” according to Romanov.
Contact Nathaniel West at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860.
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