[pct-l] Ankle Strengthening

[Yoshihiro Murakami]

Dear Robert

It may be my turn, because I am the exceptional man, wearing mountain boots.

Confronted to the boots vs shoes discussion, I searched several
scientific papers. And I found several important points.

1. "one pound on your foot equals five on your back" is wrong. This
wrong idea was found in "Complete Walker I, and IV", and Townsend's "
the backpacker's handbook", because they cited the classical
experiments, carried out with very heavy boots ( 5 Kg and backpack
weight was 25 Kg ). These are very different from recent boots. Many
boots weight less than 1 kg.

2. According to the recent research, the energy consumption of boots
is equal to that of shoes when we are walking at 4-5Km/hour speed,
because our walking is described by the dynamic walking model. Most of
the time, our leg behave as like inverted pendulums.

3.  High-top boots  reduced peak Achilles tendon tension by an average
of 9.9% when compared with low-top shoes. This research design was
ideal one. So, This may be a firm scientific evidence.

4. But boots affect gait, and increased the joint loading at the knee.
So if you wear boots, you need a slight modification of walking style.

5. There is no evidence of ankle support for boots. Townsend denied.
But, I think there is some support. So, I am always wearing boots. If
you wear high-top boots, you feel more supports.

6. The training at the rough ground may strengthen your ankle, but it
may take several years, or ten more years.

My recommendation is:

  1. Light weight high-top boots.
  2. The training on the rough ground with the boots.



-- 
Sincerely
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Hiro    ( Yoshihiro Murakami  村上宣寛 )
facebook  http://www.facebook.com/completewalker
Blogs  http://completewalker.blogspot.com/
Photo  http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/CompleteWalker/
Backpacking since about 1980 in Japan
JMT, 2009, 2010, 2011(half).
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