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posted by janrinok on Saturday November 28 2015, @05:17AM   Printer-friendly
from the healthy-hippies dept.

Barefoot activities can greatly improve balance and posture and prevent common injuries like shin splints, plantar fasciitis, stress fractures, bursitis, and tendonitis in the Achilles tendon, according to Patrick McKeon, a professor in Ithaca College's School of Health Sciences and Human Performance.

The small, often overlooked muscles in the feet that play a vital but underappreciated role in movement and stability. Their role is similar to that of the core muscles in the abdomen.

"If you say 'core stability,' everyone sucks in their bellybutton," he said. Part of the reason why is about appearance, but it's also because a strong core is associated with good fitness. The comparison between feet and abs is intentional on McKeon's part; he wants people to take the health of their "foot core" just as seriously.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday November 28 2015, @05:29AM

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Saturday November 28 2015, @05:29AM (#269000) Homepage Journal

    buy good quality, sturdy shoes like Clarks, Rockport or Leathercraft. Wear two pairs of socks. Walk as far as you can, but in a city so you can find someplace to hang out and have lunch, then walk back, after the rest and the meal you'll feel fine.

    One benefit of my homelessness is that the muscle definition on my legs looks like Conan the Barbarian.

    The reason physical exercise leads you to lose weight is not directly from burning calories, but by making it feel good to get even more exercise. Couch potatoes drive cars, homeless soylentils walk.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @03:22PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @03:22PM (#269125)

      Or follow the advice of the story and don't buy sturdy shoes and don't wear two pairs of socks. Instead buy the least supporting shoe you can find or go barefoot or wear flip flops. When you pamper your feet those muscles degrade since you're no longer working them out. If you're stepping heal first, which most shoes almost force you to do, you're walking incorrectly.

      • (Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday November 28 2015, @04:24PM

        by Francis (5544) on Saturday November 28 2015, @04:24PM (#269144)

        Flip-flops cause hammer toe, if you're going to wear a sandal, it really needs to attach properly so that the toes don't have to push down to keep it from flopping off. I'm not a personal fan of sandals, but if you're going to wear them, they should stay firmly attached until you're done wearing them.

        • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday November 29 2015, @05:41AM

          by Reziac (2489) on Sunday November 29 2015, @05:41AM (#269359) Homepage

          I wear flipflops (or "thongs" as they were called in my youth) 6 months of the year as work shoes, and no hammer toe. But just like any other footwear, the trick is to fit 'em properly. They should be close-fitting but not tight, so they don't flop around and don't require an unrelenting grip. If you can't run in them without clenching your feet, they're too loose. That "Ops" brand Walmart carries now is pretty good.

          --
          And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
  • (Score: 2) by Appalbarry on Saturday November 28 2015, @07:42AM

    by Appalbarry (66) on Saturday November 28 2015, @07:42AM (#269030) Journal

    And I though that Earth shoes [wikipedia.org] had disappeared around 1975....

    • (Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Saturday November 28 2015, @11:47AM

      by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Saturday November 28 2015, @11:47AM (#269064) Journal

      Nope. Just got rebranded. [lunasandals.com] (Danger, Will Robinson! Popups!) Google shows some alternatives.

      That being said, it really is the way to go. Perhaps Soylentils would prefer to make theirs from scratch, which is very easy.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @11:24PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @11:24PM (#269261)

        It appears that anything graphical and useful on that page is behind scripts.

        If they can't find web designers to hire who aren't familiar with the concept of "degrades gracefully", I would say this is not a company with whom I would want to do business.

        Using inappropriate technology to do a task does not reassure me of their competence.

        -- gewg_

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @12:21AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @12:21AM (#269280)

          Tried disabling CSS (in Firefox: View -> Page Style -> No Style)?

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @12:51AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @12:51AM (#269288)

            That works.
            (I would have sworn I tried that; it's my usual 1st trick.)

            -- gewg_

    • (Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday November 28 2015, @03:03PM

      by Francis (5544) on Saturday November 28 2015, @03:03PM (#269119)

      I don't think people wear earth shoes anymore, or at least I haven't seen anybody pushing them recently. Earth shoes are specifically designed so that the heel is lower than the toes. I have no idea why anybody ever thought that was a good idea. Most modern footwear is designed so that the heel is above the toes.

      What I see people pushing for a lot is a neutral drop shoe where the heal and the toes are at the same height as each other. That's really how the foot evolved to work, where the toes and the heal would be at the same level on flat surfaces and at various points of the day the toes might be higher than the heel or the other way around as the terrain demanded, but not generally for long periods of time.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @11:27PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @11:27PM (#269263)

        the heel is lower than the toes

        Is it? Have you worn them?
        ...or is it simply that they aren't higher?
        (An acknowledgment that Mother Nature got the design of human feet pretty much right and that, where used, elevated heels are simply about economics, with the part that wears out sooner being made thicker so the different parts wear out at about the same time.)

        ...and, to my eye, that isn't the -primary- difference from more conventional shoes.
        Earth Shoes are foot-shaped.
        They don't squish your toes into a weird pointy containment.
        (I wonder how much less strange my toes would look if I had worn foot-shaped shoes since childhood instead of forcing my feet to adapt to the shape of the footwear available, which follow the current fashions.)

        -- gewg_

        • (Score: 1) by Francis on Sunday November 29 2015, @05:01PM

          by Francis (5544) on Sunday November 29 2015, @05:01PM (#269452)

          That's what earth shoes are. You're not going to consciously notice it, but it is there. And it's a real pain to measure accurately.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by ticho on Saturday November 28 2015, @09:47AM

    by ticho (89) on Saturday November 28 2015, @09:47AM (#269048) Homepage Journal

    Going for a hike on an uneven terrain - forest, hills, mountains - has a similar effect - all the little muscles around your foot have to compensate for the uneven terrain every step, making your foot stronger and overall. This is why trail running is recommended even for runners who normally only run on roads.

    • (Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:32PM

      by Francis (5544) on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:32PM (#269084)

      No, it really doesn't. Hiking boots are designed specifically to prevent that from happening. They're designed to provide a ton of stability and support. Both of which mean that your feet aren't getting a proper work out. The pads of the feet shrivel to virtually nothing compared with what a healthy foot should have. If you're walking on gravel and it hurts, that's why, the pads of the feet are supposed to be thick enough that it doesn't hurt. At least with typical gravel, probably not with glass and the like.

      Trail running is recommended because there's a lot of up and down motion. Given that running is literally the most dangerous sport anybody engages in, it's beyond me why anybody would want to up the ante by running on trails. I remember when I was a kid a couple of kids at a local church camp went missing. They were found a while later, they had run off the side of the mountain when they had missed a turn.

      I can't think of any other sport where people expect to get hurt with such frequency.

      • (Score: 2) by ticho on Saturday November 28 2015, @06:19PM

        by ticho (89) on Saturday November 28 2015, @06:19PM (#269173) Homepage Journal

        Yes, hiking boots are designed to prevent a lot of stuff, but not 100%. Compared to walking on e. g. Asphalt, it is stil by far better workout for your foot. As for the rest of your comment, we will just have to agree to disagree - in my opinion, running is the healthiest activity you can do, provided you do it correctly.

        • (Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday November 28 2015, @08:18PM

          by Francis (5544) on Saturday November 28 2015, @08:18PM (#269205)

          The statistics on running don't lie. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1439399 [nih.gov] .

          The injury rates are just shocking. I can't think of any other sport where people are so accepting of injury. Plus, the work out you get isn't even that good.

    • (Score: 2) by bart9h on Monday November 30 2015, @01:51AM

      by bart9h (767) on Monday November 30 2015, @01:51AM (#269566)

      I do just that, but usually barefoot. I wear hiking boots mostly when going long distances with a heavy backpack.

      After you get used to it, your soles will grow thick, and will be able to handle most rough terrains.

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by kurenai.tsubasa on Saturday November 28 2015, @11:42AM

    by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Saturday November 28 2015, @11:42AM (#269063) Journal

    The foot is truly a fascinating organ. Its skeletal structure and musculature are truly complex. Now, I don't have a foot fetish, but I can easily see how one might come to have one of those. The organ has evolved over millions of years, and even now as I stumble half-drunkenly while waiting for liquor stores to open, I can appreciate how the subtle muscle and tendon actions in my foot keep me from having a total klutz moment.

    It works in tandem with (what remains of) my inner ear to activate muscle groups I'm normally not aware of even having! This thing can solve the inverse pendulum problem with finesse, and it somehow keeps me upright despite my best efforts to disable its functions. Even if I stumble, it will compensate, applying pressure at the exact spot to keep me standing!

    Go run (almost) barefoot sometime. Just run like when you were a kid. I don't even need to invoke the Amazons here. Take the example of the Tarahumara tribe. In his book Born to Run, Christopher McDougall writes about how some were offered Western “running” shoes and summarily rejected them in favor of simple footwear jury rigged from scrapped rubber tires.

    The modern running shoe is a nightmare for our inborn reflexes. It “protects” us from injury, but it is actually the cause of most running injuries. It silences our sense for the ground, and we compensate in all the wrong ways leading to, yes, the dreaded plantar fascitis.

    Just run. It's what your body evolved to do. Trust it to do what it can do. Feel the ground beneath your feet and cherish it.

    • (Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:35PM

      by Francis (5544) on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:35PM (#269088)

      With a few caveats, the surface makes a huge difference, shoes give you traction and the ability to stop on smooth surfaces, running barefoot means you need more distance to stop.

      The other thing to worry about is stress fractures. For people that don't walk barefoot already, it can take quite a while for the muscles and the bones in the feet to build up to the point where they can handle running. Best take it easy, make sure that the arches are activating and that everything is well before doing the running. Children don't have to do that because they haven't been walking around in shoes for decades. Shoes themselves are a mild form of footbinding as they prevent the foot from moving in a natural way.

      • (Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:53PM

        by opinionated_science (4031) on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:53PM (#269098)

        Indeed, if you have the opportunity to read the mountain of clinical information that now supports the hypothesis that in the 70's the rash of big heeled running shoes caused the vast majority of injuries. I could not believe my ears when a runner explained that "heel to toe" was how they were taught to run.

        Human evolution has been shaped by our ability to run continuously. Not necessarily very fast , but long distance. Look at any 4 legged animal: they cannot eat or drink while running.

        • (Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday November 28 2015, @02:59PM

          by Francis (5544) on Saturday November 28 2015, @02:59PM (#269116)

          I think a lot of people don't realize that running requires a lot of actual knowledge. Heal strikes are probably the worst thing you can do when you're running. Most of the other stuff is more about efficiency than anything else. In general you want to be moving smoothly. You want to be moving up and down and side to side as little as possible. Smoothly, quietly and gently are really the keywords here. If you're moving in an efficient way, the body knows how to handle that for miles and miles, but if you're insisting on "pounding the pavement" the pavement is going to be pounding back.

          When I'm in the park, and I hear somebody jogging behind me, I like to try to guess the sex of the runner. Most of the time it's obvious, but occasionally there'll be a man with a lighter than usual step or a woman who hits the ground too hard.

          People also forget that the core is hugely important to efficient running, especially the muscles of the back that help maintain upper body stability as there's a huge amount of mechanical inefficiency that can come from being off balance.

          Running should feel good. Human evolved to run and we're some of the greatest runners of the animal kingdom, it's a shame that we've largely forgotten how to run properly. It should feel good, smooth and like we were meant to run forever. If it genuinely feels like that, then chances are good that you're doing it right.

          • (Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Saturday November 28 2015, @05:50PM

            by opinionated_science (4031) on Saturday November 28 2015, @05:50PM (#269161)

            I sort of agree. I never knew there was so much to running (A competitive swimmer speaks...!), but a great deal of the information was incorrect in the recent past and has dissuade generations from running.

            • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Francis on Saturday November 28 2015, @08:20PM

              by Francis (5544) on Saturday November 28 2015, @08:20PM (#269206)

              Strictly speaking, when we're very young we tend to get most of it right instinctively. It's as we grow older and pick up bad habits of motion that things get bad. Children used to spend just about all day running around with short rests to gawk at something interesting. The main reason they could do it is that their mechanics were pretty good. If you ever see children walking or running, you'll probably notice that they don't do it the way that adults do.

              Just like nutrition, we tend to bollocks this up with a lot of un-scientific bullshit from poorly designed studies and call it good.

              • (Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Saturday November 28 2015, @09:28PM

                by opinionated_science (4031) on Saturday November 28 2015, @09:28PM (#269241)

                yes, and the fact that as children we wear shoes, means our feet grow differently according to our environment. Though I am encouraged as an adult that slow retraining is possible, and I can manage >1hr with no problems!

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:56PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:56PM (#269100) Journal

      You wrote this comment on a cell phone while half drunk? Your hand may be the winning organ.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @03:27PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @03:27PM (#269128)

      The sensory processing in the brain for feet and your genitals are right next to each other. A little neuron cross over and your feet become highly erogenous zones.

    • (Score: 2) by TheLink on Saturday November 28 2015, @06:31PM

      by TheLink (332) on Saturday November 28 2015, @06:31PM (#269178) Journal

      The modern running shoe is a nightmare for our inborn reflexes. It “protects” us from injury, but it is actually the cause of most running injuries.

      Just run. It's what your body evolved to do. Trust it to do what it can do. Feel the ground beneath your feet and cherish it.

      I don't think our bodies were evolved to run on concrete or tarmac. Especially if they are really hot - which is common in warmer climates.

      So my recommendation is to ignore the barefoot running fools and learn to use modern technology wisely. Pick good shoes, run with shoes, BUT learn to switch to running properly with forefoot strikes instead of heel strikes. That way you get the benefits of running barefoot while getting "soft friendly ground". Do it gradually to build up strength and toughness with lower risk of injury.

      Imagine if you step on a thumbtack or worse stuff. It's better to replace a shoe than have to wait for your foot to heal. The CDC claims that people can get hookworms by walking barefoot on contaminated soil: http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/hookworm/ [cdc.gov]
      Perhaps the CDC are wrong, perhaps they are right. But if they are right you should take your shoes off before stepping into your home that way you can walk barefoot in the safer confines of your home (you may need indoor protection in some scenarios [1] ;) ).

      The technology has had some issues but it still works better if you use it right.

      [1] http://www.cnet.com/news/legos-anti-lego-slippers-have-extra-foot-padding-for-protection/ [cnet.com]

      • (Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Saturday November 28 2015, @08:01PM

        by linkdude64 (5482) on Saturday November 28 2015, @08:01PM (#269202)

        Vibram FiveFingers seem to be a good compromise

  • (Score: 2) by Techwolf on Saturday November 28 2015, @03:26PM

    by Techwolf (87) on Saturday November 28 2015, @03:26PM (#269127)

    People laugh at folks wearing sock with sandles. The joke is on them however, wearing sandles once in a while, even with socks for cold weather, will prevent yellow foot funjus over the long term. Stuffing your feet in a hot moist environment 12+ hours a day with no break will lead to problems like this.

    • (Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday November 28 2015, @03:38PM

      by Francis (5544) on Saturday November 28 2015, @03:38PM (#269131)

      That's mostly just a problem if you have poor circulation and sweaty feet. The only time I've ever had problems with foot fungus was when I was living in an extremely hot and humid part of the world and my feet would spend half the day sopping wet if I didn't take my shoes off to let my feet dry out.

      But, normally in an office environment, the temperature isn't that hot and you aren't doing that much physical activity. So, for most people it isn't an issue and for the rest, that's what foot powders and socks are for.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @11:41PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @11:41PM (#269267)

      s/sandles/sandals

      Dude, you really do need a spellchecker.
      A dictionary wouldn't be a bad idea either. [soylentnews.org]

      -- gewg_

  • (Score: 2) by richtopia on Saturday November 28 2015, @04:31PM

    by richtopia (3160) on Saturday November 28 2015, @04:31PM (#269146) Homepage Journal

    I'm really lazy so it will never happen, but I keep telling myself that I should start running, given there is a park near with a groomed running trail. Does anyone have recommendations for the minimalist footwear? I am tempted to just go in socks.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @06:12PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @06:12PM (#269170)

      Merrel shoes have some pretty good minimal soled shoes. Or the toes shoes.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @07:36PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @07:36PM (#269196)

      https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_Converse_sneakers.JPG [wikimedia.org]
      they wear out in about 3 months of intense wear on concrete, and you can feel mostly every little pebble...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @11:50PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2015, @11:50PM (#269268)

      If all you need is to keep stuff from poking into your flesh, these have been popular for many centuries: Moccasin [wikipedia.org]
      I wore them a lot as a teen.

      -- gewg_

    • (Score: 1) by tftp on Sunday November 29 2015, @02:23AM

      by tftp (806) on Sunday November 29 2015, @02:23AM (#269314) Homepage

      I sometimes run short distances (around the block) in well fitting, old dress shoes - when I am at/near work. It's not ideal, but in the end the key to running is you, not your gear.

    • (Score: 1) by terrab0t on Sunday November 29 2015, @05:46AM

      by terrab0t (4674) on Sunday November 29 2015, @05:46AM (#269360)

      There are brands of minimalist shoes for both running and regular wear. They're all pretty good. Go to a forum for barefoot runners and look for reviews.

      I'm on my second pair of Vivo Barefoot running shoes for a while. They're good, but I've been told a pair of aqua socks will work as well as anything marketed as a minimalist running shoe. These are thin rubber shoes for wind surfing or sailing. Apparently you can get them at Walmart for $20.00. The popular Vibram Five Fingers minimalist running shoes were originally sold as aqua socks.

      I recommend you wear socks with your running shoes. Yes, it puts another slight layer of cushioning between you and the ground, but without a constantly changing pair of socks your running shoes will build up foot odor that's nearly impossible to get rid of.

      Having said all of that, I only use shoes for running when it's cold. The rest of the time I run completely barefoot. You should start in minimalist shoes—and have a pair for winter—but eventually you want to be running barefoot.