[pct-l] footwear weight, was UL danger

[Timothy Nye]

Along those lines please see the attached article.  Boots which restrict the
articulation of the ankle joint may well play a role..

On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 4:34 PM, Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com <
diane at santabarbarahikes.com> wrote:

> About all this footwear and evolution and optimal walking speed...
> Keep in mind we evolved to walk without any footwear at all.
>
> I have some footwear that has very little weight: New Balance MT
> 100s. I have some other footwear that also has very little weight:
> Feelmax Osmas.
>
> The difference between the two are the New Balance has cushioning and
> a 10mm heel. The Feelmax Osma has no heel and no cushioning.
>
> On a surface that does not require cushioning, such as a smooth flat
> surface with no painful rocks or anything to slow me down, I am
> unable to walk as fast in the Feelmax as the New Balance. To attempt
> to walk fast actually feels odd and unnatural. It seems that to go
> fast, one must begin to run.
>
> In running shoes with maximum cushioning, it feels like more effort
> to walk fast than in the lesser cushioned shoes I have. I believe
> this is because it takes more effort to fold the shoe at the
> breakpoint at the ball of the foot. In some other shoes I have that
> are not cushioned and have a slight heel rise (I have several casual
> shoes like this) I can walk very fast with very little effort
> compared to the MT 100s and the other running shoes I have. So, no
> heel rise slows me down, too much cushioning slows me down, but a
> slight heel rise speeds me up.
>
> My point is that even if they measured heavy boots and light boots,
> both kinds of boots had a heel rise. Whatever the optimal speed they
> arrived at for walking was probably influenced by the heel rise and
> possibly by other factors they forgot to add in such as the amount of
> cushioning or stiffness in the sole. Because they tested people in
> shoes, you really can't extrapolate from there exactly what is our
> evolutionary endowment. I believe that we evolved to walk slowly and
> to run when we need to go faster.
>
> Diane
>
>
>
> Books I've written:
> ~ Piper's Flight
> ~ Adventure and Magic
> ~ Santa Barbara Hikes
> http://stores.lulu.com/dianesoini
>
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