Barefoot Running

[Blueberry]

Is it in the ball of your foot?

Google "dropped metatarsal head". Didn't I write up an exercise program somewhere on TE for that? (in fact, wasn't it for *you*?)

Anyway, folks feel the "pebble" on hard surfaces and when the muscles that are supporting the met arch fatigue and the met head starts dropping.

Here's the linkey: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showp...2&postcount=40

I saved it last time you posted it. This is *most definitely* my problem. Quick question: I assume the thumbs are towards the outside of the foot on the top during the stretch?

[KnottedYet]

Quick question: I assume the thumbs are towards the outside of the foot on the top during the stretch?

Yup. The thumbs end up kinda on to the outsides on top and the fingertips are kinda in the middle on the bottom. Almost like you are pushing upward on the dropped met head with your fingertips while pushing downward on the sides of the foot with your thumbs.

I always think of cleaning Dungeness crab when I do this... y'know after you've taken the top shell off and you are breaking the crab into left and right halves. Mmmmmm, crab.....

[KnottedYet]

Oooh, this paper is a lot of fun! http://webh01.ua.ac.be/funmorph/kris...t_al_2009b.pdf

You can order it through a journal service ($$) if you have trouble getting the pdf above. Footwear Science vol 1 No 2 June 2009, 81-94

A fun stat mentioned in passing in that paper: 88% of healthy women in a USA study were wearing shoes smaller than their feet! (Frey, 1993)

[OakLeaf]

Oooh, this paper is a lot of fun! http://webh01.ua.ac.be/funmorph/kris...t_al_2009b.pdf

You can order it through a journal service ($$) if you have trouble getting the pdf above. Footwear Science vol 1 No 2 June 2009, 81-94

A fun stat mentioned in passing in that paper: 88% of healthy women in a USA study were wearing shoes smaller than their feet! (Frey, 1993)

.pdf came through fine for me.

That statistic is kind of "no duh" to me. Women's non-athletic shoes are made to stay on your feet by compressing them all around. Shoes that aren't too small, fall right off. Even when I was wearing athletic shoes that were two sizes smaller than the ones I wear now (which are just barely on the edge of being wide enough), I had to buy my dress and casual shoes a size or two smaller than that. Now that I'm not working, and living in pretty casual areas, it just isn't worth it to me to buy new shoes for the two or three times a year I need them, so whenever I do need to wear them, I feel like Cinderella's step-sisters. "Do I cut off my heels, or my toes?"

I wonder what the percentage would be if they limited the query to athletic shoes.

[KnottedYet]

I wonder what the percentage would be if they limited the query to athletic shoes.

I'd bet it would only be a bit lower for the general population wearing athletic shoes, maybe 50%, judging from what I see around me on the bus of women wearing fashionable athletic shoes. (big toes trying to leap out of the top of shoes, pinky toes lapping over the edge of running shoes)

Of course, there's a self-selection bias in an athlete and their athletic shoe-only sample, because people who run would most likely be fit better just because of the nature of the activity.

I would imagine some athletes (like cyclists) would have higher proportions of too-small shoes than others (like runners).

The Frey study was just around the time Birkenstocks were very fashionable among teens here in the PNW. I sometimes wonder how much that fashion blip influenced the shoe designs that are popular now. (young growing feet that got to spread out during the end of adolescence resisted being jammed into tight shoes in later decades?)

I'm already seeing a wave of injuries from MBT and MBT rip-off shoes, just like there was a wave from the Nike shock and Z-coil shoes. Folks who get injured by shoes leave the sample, but low-grade irritation gets accepted as part of the fashion price.

[Becky]

I'm already seeing a wave of injuries from MBT and MBT rip-off shoes, just like there was a wave from the Nike shock and Z-coil shoes.

What sorts of injuries are you seeing? I'm fascinated by these shoes, in a "OMG-why-would-someone-buy-those?" sort of way...

[KnottedYet]

What sorts of injuries are you seeing? I'm fascinated by these shoes, in a "OMG-why-would-someone-buy-those?" sort of way...

Ankle sprains, ankle strains, broken ankles, ankle tendonopathies, and.... a broken arm.

Yes! A broken arm! Z-coil heel caught on an object and patient fell.

Z-coil and MBT are very unstable shoes, among other shortcomings (don't get me started) so they can absolutely freak out the lower leg. What drives me nuts are the little old ladies on limited income who got sucked in by unscrupulous salesmen and blew $200-$300 on shoes that they end up hating and which hurt them. I've had more than one tell me the shoes are a disaster but they continue to wear them because they cost so much. They want to get their money's worth. Breaks my heart.