[pct-l] boots?

[Yoshihiro Murakami]

Dear Tuula

I was stimulated by this mailing list and searched scientific papers.
I found many important findings, and I wrote them in my hiking
handbook ( it will be published in April, sorry it was all written in
Japanese ).　If you want to try shoes, you need to train calf muscles
and Achilles' tendon.

I will cite simplified several conclusions of  itemized section in my book.

// clear points

Boots reduce the shock of the Achilles' tendon around 10 %. ---Rowson
S., McNally C.,& Duma S.M. 2010  Can footwear affect Achilles tendon
loading? {\it Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine}, 20, 344-349.}

Boots reduce the burden of the ankle, but increase the burdens of the
knee joint. ---
B\"{o}hm, H.,& H\"{o}sl, M. 2010  Effect of boot shaft stiffness on
stability joint energy and muscular co-contraction during walking on
uneven surface.
{\it Journal of Biomechanics, 43, 2,472} 2467-}

Thick, soft shoes are the most unstable, and thin, firm shoes are the
most stable. ---Robbins, S., Waked, E., Gouw, G.J. ,& McClaran, J.
1994   Athletic footwear affects balance in men.{\it British Journal
of Sports Medicine}, 28, 117-122.}

// not clear, but the answer may be positive

Do the boots support an ankle?  In this respect, there is no strong
evidence, but the answer may be positive based on the meta analyzes of
14 reliable studies . As Dan Jacobs posted, aircast was proved to have
supportive function. ----Handoll, H.H., Rowe, B.H., Quinn, K.M., de
Bie, R.  2001  Interventions for preventing ankle ligament
injuries(Reviews). { Cochrane Database Systematic Review},
2001;(3):CD000018.

// not clear, it may be no difference

Which are safe,  boots or  shoes? --- Anderson, L.S. Jr, Rebholz,
C.M., White, L.F., Mitchell, P., Curcio, E.P. 3rd, Feldman, J.A., \&
Kahn, J.H. 2009  The impact of footwear and packweight on injury and
illness among long-distance hikers.
{\it Wilderness Environtal Medicine}, 20, 250-256.} They studied AT
and PCT hikers and found no difference.

no difference, refined prospective randomized study --- Hamonko, M.T.,
McIntosh, S.E., Schimelpfenig, T., \&  Leemon, D. \ \ 2011 \ \
Injuries related to hiking with a pack during National Outdoor
Leadership School courses: a risk factor analysis. {\it Wilderness
Environmental Medicine}, 22, 2-6.

Those results are negative to Jardine, R.  2009  {Trail life. Ray
Jardine's lightweight backpacking}. AZ: AdventureLore Press}

// not clear, no study

Does Gortex needed for footwear? ---no study.

// clear point

Boots are generally heavier than shoes.

I had already posted the effect of weight of footwear.

If you are an average man and  the weight of your footwear is within
2kg, you need not to be nervous about the weight.

If your walking speed exceed 7km/h, the lighter footwear is better.


-- 
Sincerely
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Hiro    ( Yoshihiro Murakami  村上宣寛 )
facebook  http://www.facebook.com/completewalker
Blogs  http://completewalker.blogspot.jp/
Photo  https://picasaweb.google.com/104620544810418955412/
Backpacking since about 1980 in Japan
JMT, 2009, 2010, 2011(half), 2012
Handbook of Hiking will be published in 2013
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