complete garbage piece on Huffington Post -- does anyone feel like responding?

[stomper]

Hi, the widely read HuffPo published a piece by a podiatrist today that is mind-bogglingly misinformed.

It states that regular running shoes protect runners from injuries, for which there is absolutely no evidence (see Richards et al 2009, in the Library) and that serious runners need to go to a podiatrist for foot typing and possibly orthotics.

It deserves an intelligent response, perhaps in the comments to the article, perhaps to the editors of the HuffPo. Anyone feel like doing it?

 

[twinkletoes]

There were 6 pages of

There were 6 pages of comments when I read it this a.m. and most seemed to debunk the article in favor of our bare and minimalist sporting choices. I wondered who all those people are! I scoffed too at the "orthotics" because I ditched mine in July.

 

[stomper]

hmm, okay, 6 pages of

hmm, okay, 6 pages of debunking seems like enough. Things have changed a lot I guess.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

That's great that people are

That's great that people are starting to get the truth as evidenced by those six pages, AND that the doctor will get their message.

 

[Neil_D]

Hi Huffer,There is probably

Hi Huffer,

There is probably no point getting mad at a lot of the comments that podiatrists write. There are a few enlightened ones around that have delved a little deeper and question what they are taught.

He obviously has not read the Pose running book where you learn that you use body lean and gravity to propell you forward rather than push off with your toes.

The problem we have is that until you 'learn' to run correctly the transition to barefoot running can cause injuries if you just ditch the shoes and start thrashing about on the road.

I think it took me around 6 months in the transition from shoes to barefoot, I got tendon pains, calf strains etc which a poditrist can always point to and say 'told you so'.

But perseverence and undestanding the way to run makes a big difference. Maybe the someone should ask the question about how people ran before Nike was around. Running didn't just spring into existence when these companies came on the scene.

Cheers



Neil