More Shoe, More Pain

Posted on March 30, 2010 by egoscuenashville

This post will also be appearing at www.myfivefingers.com as part of a four-week series I’m writing for them as a guest blogger. Thanks to Daniel for the opportunity!

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This is the first entry in a four-part series (and maybe more if we get a good response) on function and biomechanics and how those relate to those of you wearing your Vibram FiveFingers (VFFs). I will talk a lot about running and injuries suffered by runners, but if you have questions about injuries that either aren’t caused by running, or you don’t believe they are caused by running, please don’t hesitate to call or email me.

I have been fascinated by the VFFs since I first laid eyes on them. They completely go against what most of us have thought of as “normal” when it comes to our shoes. The common line of thinking is that if you pronate, let’s put you in an anti-pronation shoe. If you supinate, let’s put you in an anti-supination shoe. You need custom-made orthodics. You need more stability. The thought of wearing less of a shoe is so foreign to so many people, yet I couldn’t agree more with that thought. Years ago Nike came to Egoscue headquarters in San Diego, CA and pitched an idea for a shoe. A couple years later, the Nike Free hit the shelves. It was the first running shoe designed to allow for movement through the foot and touted “Barefoot Technology”. That was, by far, the most comfortable shoe I have ever worn…until I got my first pair of VFFs.

How many of you are struggling with any of the pains I listed above? How many of you are struggling with a pain that wasn’t mentioned? My guess is that somewhere around 75% of you reading this are hurting. If you are a runner, I’m sure you’ve been told that you “upped” your mileage too quickly and you have “Runner’s Knee” as a result. Perhaps you’re wondering how in the world you recently acquired “Tennis Elbow”, when you have been playing the game for 25 years. Or, maybe you are the weekend warrior who plays basketball every Saturday and your hip pain is chalked up to “overuse”.

But, do you really believe it? Think about it: If you upped your mileage too quickly and Runner’s Knee is the result, then both knees should be suffering instead of just one. When it comes to your tennis elbow, you didn’t get a “bad” elbow all of a sudden after all these years of playing. In addition, just like Runner’s Knee, both elbows should hurt if the game is to blame. Again, we can use the same thinking with that pesky hip pain. How can your hip pain be an “overuse” injury if both hips are running up and down the basketball court, and only one hurts, or one hurts worse than the other?

For our answer, we have to stay focused on the overall function and biomechanics of the body. For those of you wondering what function and biomechanics mean to me, I’ll tell you: Maintaining proper joint positioning (posture) throughout a movement, regardless of the activity. You are an amazingly created piece of machinery. You are designed to move, and do it without pain or limitations. And, you are designed to move BAREFOOT.

Being barefoot allows for optimum function in the body. Your metatarsals are allowed to spread, the muscles of the foot and arch are allowed to do their job, and you create a functional domino effect up the rest of the body. The ankle, knee, hip, spine, and shoulders all start to function better. Remember, “the foot bone’s connected to the leg bone…”. We can’t forget that good ol’ kid’s song when addressing musculoskeletal pain and overall function.

Take a look at these pictures. These represent our design blueprint and where our bodies should be:

Notice that in both views the shoulder sits directly above the hip, knee, and ankle (and in the side view the ear is above the shoulder). Now, take a look in the mirror and compare these diagrams with your current joint positioning. How do they line up compared to what you see? My hunch is that you’re “off” a little bit, and if my hunch is true, then I can assume that your body isn’t moving as efficiently as it can (and needs to) be.

Do your feet point out to the side? Which direction are your kneecaps pointing? You might have one hip higher than the other. And, don’t forget about your shoulders—I’m guessing they are rounded forward (if so, you’ll be seeing the back of your hands when you look in the mirror), and you might have one shoulder higher than the other in a similar fashion to your hips.

Rest assured that these deviations from the design blueprint are simply the result of muscles moving bones. All we have to do is get the muscles to engage functionally and properly to move the bones back into their designed position. We can’t brace that injured knee, or treat that pronation with corrective shoes, both of which decrease motion and function. Instead, it’s imperative that the body is allowed to function like it’s designed to. Remember that you are designed to run, jump, climb, crawl and fall…and do them all pain free.

In the coming weeks we’ll discuss how you can eliminate your shoulder pain, change your breathing pattern, and increase function in your degenerative hip simply with the combination of VFFs and The Egoscue Method. You will be well on your way to living PAIN FREE for life! If you want to get started on living life pain free, CLICK HERE to receive four e-cises that will help kick start your path to optimum health.

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The premise of The Egoscue Method is postural therapy: realigning the body to its original design blueprint through proper functional muscle engagement and without the use of drugs, surgery or manipulation. John Elder is the Clinic Director and Owner of the Franklin, Tennessee location. John found the Method at the age of 16 after suffering for two years with a bulging disc in his lower back. He has lived the last 16 years pain free and the last 5 years as an Egoscue Therapist sharing his story of hope with others throughout the south. Contact John today by emailing johne@egoscue.com or by calling the Nashville at 615.771.8556.

Nike Makes Barefoot Breakthrough

From the day in 1970 that legendary University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman poured rubber onto his wife's waffle iron to create a new running shoe sole, Nike has been a company dedicated to pushing the technological envelope in search of shoes that cushion, support and protect athlete's feet.
Which is why its emphasis on running barefoot is so unexpected.
The Sporting Geek
Of course, Nike is still a shoe company, so it isn't suggesting literally running barefoot. Instead, it's marketing a line of running shoes and trainers called Nike Free. The footwear is designed to emulate the motion of running au naturel.
The shoes had their genesis in a design brief submitted to Nike's "Innovation Kitchen" by the company's product people, who were asking for a new, lightweight training shoe for serious runners. The cooks in the Kitchen, Nike's incubator for new projects, took that limited description and started asking around to see what sort of shoe people might be looking for.
During the course of their conversations with athletes and coaches, some Nike designers ended up talking to Vin Lananna, who was then the track coach at Stanford University. While discussing the Stanford program and his success there (Lananna's 2002 men's track and field team won the school's first NCAA outdoor title since 1934), Lananna mentioned the unusual training he did with his athletes: He had them run on grass without shoes.
"He said that it kept his athletes stronger and healthier, and prevented injuries," recalls Tobie Hatfield, senior engineer for advanced products at the Nike Innovation Kitchen. "And since they were injured less, they could train more. He was sure this training was giving them an edge."
There was just one problem.
"We said, 'That's great, coach, you're taking our shoes off to get better,'" says Hatfield.
Tossing aside the shoes wouldn't work for Nike's business. But Lananna's observations stuck with Hatfield and his team, and eventually spurred an extensive biomechanical research project to see exactly what happens when we run barefoot.
Nike researchers brought in 10 men and 10 women to run barefoot on grass to see exactly how the body reacts without shoes on. They were videotaped with high-speed cameras to capture their movements, they had reflective markers attached to their joints to allow easy calculation of joint angles during their stride, and they even had wafer-thin pressure sensors attached to the bottoms of their feet to measure their impact with the earth.
At the end of the experiment, Nike had the most comprehensive picture of the biomechanics of barefoot running ever developed.

"There was a very unique pressure pattern that came from running on grass," says Jeff Pisciotta, a senior researcher and biomechanist at Nike's Sports Research Lab. "Everything was happening at the ankle and the foot, that's where we saw the changes. There was a much greater range of motion at the ankle and foot as well. It was like an airplane coming in for a smooth landing -- they were using the whole foot, very naturally."
The challenge was to translate that barefoot experience, which promotes good biomechanics for runners, to a shoe. After all, that's not what most running shoes are designed for.
"Our existing shoes are designed to protect your feet -- from stepping on things, to cushion the blow from running, to provide stability," says Hatfield. "When you add all of that up, you take away a lot of motion."
The company's solution was elegant: Nike cut deep grooves into the sole of the shoe, allowing an outrageous amount of flexibility compared to normal running shoes.
As a result, the sensation of running in Nike Frees is noticeably different than the feeling you get wearing other trainers, with much more motion of the foot through the stride. The shoe is padded to protect against poor landings, but it does seem to promote a softer stride.
"We didn't want to release something at first that would be potentially injurious to people," says Hatfield. "We went in between completely barefoot and our highest-stability shoe."
That's why the current model is dubbed the Nike Free 5.0 -- it's halfway between barefoot (a 1 on Nike's scale) and traditional shoes (which rate a 10). The company plans to release models that more closely emulate the barefoot biomechanics; in fact, a new 4.0 model is now available in selected outlets.
Even in a company as committed to technological innovation as Nike has been over the years, the Free project -- which so radically re-conceptualized the shoe's purpose -- met some resistance at first.
"I wrote a quote from the Tao Te Ching on my whiteboard," says Pisciotta. "It said, 'Forget what you know.' I started to realize that this was a unique concept, and that you don't really always know what's going on."
"We definitely had to prove ourselves," adds Hatfield. "There was some skepticism here. That's why this is probably the most-tested concept that Nike has ever released."
The shoes aren't meant to be a runner's only trainers, but to be used in tandem with other shoes (Nikes, one presumes). The goal is to strengthen the feet in the Free shoes, and then take that strength to more traditional designs.
"These are kind of a weight room for your feet," says Hatfield.

by Mark McClusky