Initial impression: Did not give them much thought and kind of considered them weird. I also assumed that running in them would cause at least shin splints due to the pounding on the pavement.
In April this year, I was running between 3 to 5 miles, four times a week. I had been doing this routine consistently for months. At that time, I had a very mild pain in my left knee; not something to worry about, but something to keep an eye on. Also, regardless of how much stretching, my right calf was always tight, as in, ALWAYS.
One day, I walked in to have my back adjusted at the chiropractor, and saw a picture of the Vibram Five Fingers on my doctor’s computer. I asked him what he thought about them, and he went off singing their praises.
He said he thought they were great. When I asked him about the pounding of the pavement and injuries from that, here’s what he told me:
“when we run in the traditional shoe, we run with a heel strike; the heel hits the pavement first, then the foot rolls forward. Even though momentum is carrying us forward, technically, when the heel strikes, we are forcing our body to “stop” with each strike, and the impact runs up to our joints; the ankle, knee, and hip. This repeated impact causes wear, tear and injury.
With minimal shoes, or barefoot running, the foot strike is mid-foot first, then the heel touches lightly after. This causes a shorter stride with a forward momentum. The positioning of the body with this strike has the impact moving away from the body, not running up the leg. So, there is actually a decrease in injuries by using these shoes.”
Intrigued, I went to REI and talked to a sales guy who wear nothing other than these shoes. He confirmed what the doctor had just shared with me. He added the following:
“I sometimes hear people say that they were injured using these shoes. When I asked them about their running routine, they would say that they bought the shoes, then ran the distance that they normally ran.
This is crucially important to know before you run in these shoes. No matter how far or how long you have been running in traditional shoes, you need to go back to couch-potato and build yourself back up as if you were a beginner runner. These shoes have you use tiny muscles in your feet and legs that were never used before. You need to build these muscles up and allow your foot and body to acclimate to the different foot strike.”
I decided to try on a pair. The first time I tried them on, my foot cramped up. They also felt really strange. But, I decided to buy a pair, and a friend of mine bought a pair later that day, and we both went back to the beginning with running.
It took us six weeks to go from “couch potato” back to running the five miles. On the negative side, I developed two large blisters on both inside lateral feet. (They healed, and I have not had any issues with blisters since then.) But, on the positive side: within the first two weeks, my knee stopped hurting, and about six weeks later, as I was standing at my kitchen sink, I felt something like a rubber band snap, and a rush of release on my right calf. The tightness was instantly gone, and I have not had either issue return.
Trained for and ran the half-marathon. My feet physically hurt after the run, but felt perfectly fine the next day.
Now, when I run, I feel more grounded and stable. I am actually afraid at the idea of ever having to run in a traditional shoe again. There’s no going back!