Barefoot Running causes Neuromas

LavaRunner

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Jun 4, 2010
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I feel really safe to say this judging from our small statistical sample and the percentage with possible diagnoses of neuromas.

Just an observation
 
I TOTALLY disagree.  I

I TOTALLY disagree. I developed neuromas from wearing shoes, shoes with a tight toe box and shoes with heels. My neuromas definitely became a problem once I started running (in shoes) and doing step aerobics (in shoes), never when I was barefoot, and I was barefoot at all times throughout my life when I was allowed to be. In fact, all the information out there on neuromas state shoes as the first culprits of Morton's Neuroma.

Morton's Neuroma is a condition caused by the shoes we wear, whether they be high heels or running shoes with high heels, most often from the enclosed toe box of the shoe. The heels in our shoes place too much weight on our forefeet, and the toe box compresses the width of the forefoot. I now understand that shoes confined my feet and prevented my toes from splaying properly. This confinement caused the nerves in my feet to be compressed between the metatarsals which made the nerves in my feet grow.

When running in shoes, at the last part of running in shoes, I could get barely over a mile most time (1-3 if I was "unlucky") before I had to take the shoes off and call it a day. Running barefoot allowed me to get up to 17 miles before I had to stop running for the day.

Other contributors of MN are:
  • Wearing high-heeled shoes or shoes that are tight or ill-fitting, including those that box in your feet and place pressure on your toesHigh-impact athletic activities, such as jogging, that may subject your feet to repetitive traumaInjury to your foot
We tend to forget sometimes that some of the ailments that we barefoot runners experience are also experienced by the shod runners. The Injuries Forums are loaded with stress fractures, Morton's Neuromas, ITBS, etc. We shouldn't think that because a group of barefoot runners experience an injury that that injury is only prevalent in barefoot running. We forget that there's a much larger shod running community out there sometimes. I'm guilty of that as well sometimes.

Were you diagnosed with MN yet, Lava? I hope not.

BTW, Lava, did you get my email?
 
 i agree with TJ except that

i agree with TJ except that she said the same thing Lava said :) barefoot running can help in the development of neuromas. some studies have linked barefoot running on hard paved surfaces to neuromas but the same studies also find neuroma rates fairly high in shod running.

like TJ said running injuries run rampant in both categories but in the shod world most of them will find some sort of immediate and short term relief from things like orthotics where we as barefoot/minimalist runners are stuck with nothing but rest which is frustrating. i personally think that frustration is what makes bf injuries seem like such a big occurrence.
 
I agree with TJ on this.  The

I agree with TJ on this. The little research that has been done shows that shod runners land with a much higher impact forces. That can't be good.

I think one of the problems here in America is that the few people who do run barefoot are former shod runners. So we don't really have the benefit of running barefoot from early childhood. I suspect that a lot of problems are avoided if you can avoid shoes in the first place.
 
Exactly Matt.  If I never

Exactly Matt. If I never picked up running in shoes but ran barefoot from the get-go, would I still have neuromas? NO! If I never put on a pair of shoes in my life, would I have neuromas? NO! I'll bet my bottom dollar on that. My developing neuromas not only came to me BEFORE I became a barefoot runner but was the WHOLE REASON why I BECAME a barefoot runner. In fact, my neruomas began developing way before I even became a runner. I'm 43. I've had neuroma sensations for about 24 years now, and I've only been running for almost 7 years. Although I was barefoot as much as was possible to be, when I did choose shoes, the ones I chose were wrong for me...I chose poorly...and now I'm paying for it. Same with running shoes. They suck!

Jimmy, where did I state that I believe barefoot running leads to neuromas? If you mean that "High-impact athletic activities, such as jogging, that may subject your feet to repetitive trauma," those studies if peformed (I'm positive) were done on SHOD runners. As Matt stated, we tend to place more force when running shod than running barefoot.
 
Bfr running doesn't cause

Bfr running doesn't cause neuromas' people cause them, mostly from bad running form. Same goes with shod. I am no expert by any means, but I don't think you have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out.



People blame everything and everyone for their problems, but the bottom line is the rest of the fingers point back at yourself! It's human nature not to accept responsibility for your own actions, it's far eaier to find a scape goat so you want feel like you let yourself down. But it's all good, life is fun and we screw up, no big deal right? ;)
 
I am just spawning

I am just spawning conversation. Some might call it trolling except there seems to be a lot of neuroma talk in the Barefoot sector, more than I have seen in other forums.
 
You get plenty of neuroma

You get plenty of neuroma talk in the Injuries Forum at that "other place," trust me, and most of those folks are shod.
 
Guess I never spent much time

Guess I never spent much time in the injuries forum over there. Every time someone brought up barefoot and injury they seemed to correlate the two. Maybe that is what I am doing from a narrow perspective of only Barefoot.

I should get out more ;)

Maybe visit the Ultra or trail runners more
 
Here's an email I was

Here's an email I was reminded of today that I received over a year ago. Ben from Ted's group was wishing to help me with my neuroma problem. It may work for those of you in the early stages of a neuroma (Morton's Neuroma) problem:

> Please get a copy of Active Isolated Stretching by Aaron Mattes and do

> the Ankle-Foot protocol (pp. 76-85) morning and evening. Whenever you

> can, have an assistant do the assisted Ankle-Foot protocol with you.

> (pp. 146-158) [Active Isolated Stretching available at

> stretchingusa.com]

> Mattes reports excellent results with Morton's over his 40 years as a

> therapist and feels that surgery is usually not needed as long as a

> serious commitment to AIS stretching is first attempted.

> Feel free to contact me with any questions.

> Be well,

> Ben Fury

> Bettercise