[pct-l] PCT Barefoot - Resources

[Paul Mitchell]

For anyone who is interested, here’s some resources on barefoot hiking.  Lots of good info, just not the specifics we’d need to really assess the reality of long distance PCT hiking.  It doesn’t take much reading & contemplating on the subject before the logic that evolution made feet that are better off on their own makes a lot of sense.  I’m personally completely sold on the idea, I just want to know how to deal with the specific challenges of the PCT, and whether I can get my feet ready in time for 2010.

 

Cheers,

- Potential178

 

This FAQ is a great place to start:

http://www.barefooters.org/faq/

 

Published papers & articles

http://www.barefooters.org/medicine/

http://www.barefooters.org/key-works/KeyArticles.html

 

A few interest quotes from various medical sources:

 

Going barefoot is natural. Yet some non-barefooters actually think it's unnatural and that humans, alone among all the other species on the planet, have feet that are somehow uniquely inadequate and fragile.

 

People who have never worn shoes acquire very few foot defects, most of which are painless and non-debilitating. The range of their foot motions are remarkably great, allowing for full foot activity. Shoes are not necessary for healthy feet and are the cause of most foot troubles. ... Footgear is the greatest enemy of the human foot.

 

Compared with the hairy skin of the thigh, plantar skin required approximately 600% greater abrading loads to reach pain threshold. ... We conclude that plantar skin is well protected through sensory feedback from abrasive injuries when barefoot. This information combined with previous reports suggests that risk of injury when normally shod individuals perform barefoot locomotion should be low.

 

The modern running shoe and footwear in general have successfully diminished sensory feedback without diminishing the injury inducing impact, a dangerous situation.

 

Despite the modern engineered running shoe, a sports medicine clinic reported a large series of running-related injury referrals with an average weekly mileage at the time of injury of 19 miles for women and 27 miles for men. Practitioners of sports medicine have observed injuries in runners using every shoe model available. The above reports can hardly be considered an endorsement of the modern running shoe as a protective device.

 

In addition, in barefoot populations running-related injuries are rare, which indicates that humans adapted to barefoot running run with lower impact than the unadapted group referred to above. This also suggests that the lower extremity is inherently durable and is made susceptible to injury by footwear use.