[pct-l] Plantar Fasciitis and KT Tape

[Herb Stroh]

Schroomer wrote:

"Born to Run," by Christopher McDougall, a wonderful sports/medical
anthropology/personal overuse injury recovery story....This
is the book that has begun to challenge what Nike and others have done to
our feet over the past 40 years and the reason all big shoe manufacturers
now have "barefoot shoe" lines.  The gist is that we've padded and
supported our feet so much that we now have a culture of people with weak
feet, a society prone to PF and a host of other injuries that were nearly
nonexistent before Nike introduced the arch support in 1970."


Can I get an "amen"??

My feet are flat, pronated, some other kind of "-anted," and I suffer from a form of PF. My feet hurt every morning. Multi-day hiking was very painful after a couple days. I was afraid that my feet would retire me from the trail, so I went to a podiatrist who declared I have "terrible feet." Not much he could do, other than orthotics he said. Tried those and there was no improvement. Put pads on the orthotics and there was no significant improvement.

Then I started researching online and discovered the barefoot running movement. Reading "Born to Run" was the final inspiration. I started walking short distances--like around the block--barefoot. I continued to slowly lengthen my walks. I bought some minimalist shoes (Zems). I started running barefoot and in the Zems. At first it was hard and I felt I was making no progress. About 3 months into my training I thought that maybe my feet were getting better. By six months I knew they were better and had tossed my orthotics. I had an arch again! I can now run barefoot 4 miles, and can do 10 miles in the miinimialist shoes. Keep in mind, I am a guy that used to wear shoes and slippers in the house and NEVER went barefoot anywhere!

There are some easy trails near my house that I hike barefoot. It is hard to describe how good the ground feels on bare feet--the cool earth, wet grass, pine needles, even rocky ground has an almost sensual feel.

As noted in Barefoot Running, any engineer will tell you the worst way to support an arch structure is with something underneath it. To do so contrary to the design. The author also notes that no shoe manufacturer can point to a study proving that their running shoes reduces injury. All those millions of dollars in research, but not one study that shows using their shoes prevents harm to the user's feet.

If you decide to try minimalist footwear go very slow and listen to your body. It is not for everyone, but for me going 'natural' was a Godsend and will keep me on the trails for years to come.

Herb