Plantar fasciitis and barefoot running

April 10, 2010

What is the relationship between barefoot running and plantar fasciitis?
In the research by Liebermann et al published in Nature, in the discussion they made the somewhat remarkable claim that:
“Furthermore, many running shoes have arch supports and stiffened soles that may lead to weaker foot muscles, reducing arch strength. This weakness contributes to excessive pronation and [...]

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Why I Chose to Remain Anonymous

April 1, 2010

I have chosen to remain anonymous for one main and one minor reason.
The main reason is that I wanted to make this site about the issues and not the person. I wanted to expose barefoot runners for the claims they make and not who they are. One thing you learn really quickly about the barefoot [...]

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“Barefoot Runners Get More Stress fractures”

March 18, 2010

Well they don’t really, but why can I not make up that headline like that as the barefoot running community do it all the time (see Intellectual Dishonesty). Surely if they do it, why can’t the rest of us do it? Mainly because we are not that irresponsible and dishonest.
But, here is my logic behind [...]

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Who is opposed to barefoot running?

March 11, 2010

Who is opposed to barefoot running? The barefoot running community have a track record of playing the person and not the ball and always like to go after or criticise the perceived opponents of barefoot running rather than rationally discuss the issues. Why do they have to criticise these opponents? Is barefoot running really that [...]

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Minimalist shoe vs conventional shoe for plantar fasciitis

March 7, 2010

I got am email asking me what I thought of the recent study in the Physician and Sports Medicine about those with plantar fasciitis improving more in barefoot or minimalist shoes (Nike Free) compared to conventional shoes. Here is the abstract:
Plantar fasciitis is a common injury to the plantar aponeurosis, manifesting as pain surrounding its [...]

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Motion control shoes may reduce the injury risk in runners

March 4, 2010

I wonder how the barefoot running community will respond to this one? Despite claims by the anti-running shoe lobby, there is NO evidence that running shoes do any harm (see: Intellectual Dishonesty), now we have some research that shows that motion control shoes do some good. How will they respond to that?
Here is the abstract [...]

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Is barefoot running the norm or default?

March 3, 2010

I just wish there were more hours in the day to write about this. The barefoot runners need to follow Confucius’s advice:

When in hole, it’s a good idea to stop digging

They continually provide copious amounts of material to demonstrate how irrational and illogical they are. I have so much to respond to and there is [...]

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Do barefoot runners fly in aeroplanes?

March 3, 2010

We have all seen one of the arguments that they love to make to support barefoot running. The argument goes something like: We were created to run barefoot. We are not born with running shoes. Because we were created that way then we should run barefoot. You know the story that they try to tell.
We [...]

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The lack of evidence for running shoes? – you can’t have it both ways!

February 27, 2010

Who can remember the media flurry and hype on barefoot running sites when Craig Richards published his systematic review last year: Is your prescription of distance running shoes evidence-based in the British Journal of Sports Medicine? Here is the abstract:
Objectives: To determine whether the current practice of prescribing distance running shoes featuring elevated cushioned heels [...]

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Do running shoes weaken muscles?

February 25, 2010

That is what the barefoot running community and the anti-running shoe community would have you believe.  You see this claim being made all the time on barefoot running websites, books and on running forums. We know that the barefoot running community are really good at all sorts of intellectual dishonesty, should we believe them on [...]

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