I've read a few articles lately that discuss how modern shoes tend to do our feet, knees and legs no favors because we end up with very weak foot muscles. This makes sense to me because when Kent and I spent a week on Little Gasparilla Island off the west coast of Florida a few years ago, I took very long bare-foot walks along the shore and had the sorest muscles in my toes! I didn't even know I had muscles like that there.
Yoga—and to a lesser extent Pilates—has strengthened my feet a lot. In yoga, you really use your toes, arch muscles and the entire foot in the various poses, while in Pilates, you are constantly pointing your toes. So my feet are much stronger. But my running shoes don’t let me use my feet when I run, and I feel very disconnected from the pavement.
My dear friend, Laura Haney, runs barefoot for just this reason (see also here). She’s struggled with knee issues a lot and the bare-foot running has ended all that. Well I am a bit vain about my feet and don’t want huge ol' calluses plus to be honest with you, I would never ever ever run barefoot in Boston. You just never know what you’ll step on! So this week I got a pair of Nike Free 5.0.
They are very different shoes, I’ve run in them once so far and so far I really like them. It will take some getting used to, feeling the pavement this way and really using my feet when I run. But I think it’s good for my feet, my knees and my entire body.
1 comment:
Yours are the one with the pink check, yes?
If you ever feel you need more arch support, try a pair of the Dr. Scholl's jel inserts. I know the commercials are silly, but I have very high arches and those are needed in most shores that I'm going to use for a lot of walking.
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