I have spent my entire life running with footwear on, thinking this was the only method to run. Nearly a year ago, I had an injury in my leg that prohibited me from doing any running or training at all. I was too anxious to wait for my leg to mend, I wanted to run, and I had to find a way to make this occur. My injury started at my calf muscles traveling all the way down to my Achilles heal. I was troubled that if I kept running I would permanently injury my leg. Initially, I researched different categories of running shoes that were offered. They all advertised several claims but how could I find the right shoe and would it work after I spent a great deal of cash? While I was researching for sneakers I stumbled on people who jog with no shoes on, referred to as “Barefoot Running”.
I started a new objective in my research. I wanted to find out about barefoot running. What were the benefits and were there any downsides. I discovered that people have been running like this from the time when humans came into being, where running shoes have only been around for about the last century. How come we as a culture have been programmed to have on shoes to be able to run? The thought of being able to run barefoot had never crossed my mind. Would my toes be able to handle the tenderness? Would there be any pain? I already had an injury, would this make it worse or healthier? This was an idea that I also knew would initiate countless looks and stares.
The discrepancies in the two types of running are profound. Running with sneakers on, causes your heel to make contact with the ground first, followed by the ball of the foot then toes. This is how we generally move. With barefoot running, the ball of the foot touches the ground first then the toes and finally the heel if it touches the ground at all.
If you look at a runner who has shoes on, then you will see their step is ahead of their body thus creating a great deal of shock with each hard hit with the heel to the earth. This may be what is producing some of my tenderness and injuries? A jogger who is running barefoot more often than not has their stride below their body. This means the ball of the foot strikes the earth even with or somewhat behind the rest of the body. This takes a great deal of pressure off of each strike to the ground and each stride looks very normal and painless.
My study on barefoot running stateted that someone new to this style should start off with a short run of 5 minutes or less. This could then be followed with a gradual build of time and miles. Well, this was worth a try. Seeing as I cannot run my regular way maybe this distinctive technique may proof helpful.
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