Hello there!
Stumbled across this site (and barefoot running! by accident) so I thought I'd say hello. Background information as follows (this is a bit long - sorry) but thought I'd mention everything in case anyone has any useful tips:
I've been running 26 years.
Years 1-20 no particular problems and not much attention paid to footwear - just ran in cushioned shoes (generally whatever happened to be on special offer!).
Then I started to develop pain in the balls of my feet - nothing major more of an annoyance than anything but went for gait analysis. The shop advised I was over pronating slightly and recommended switching to more supportive shoes which I did and hey presto problem solved.
Prior to this another minor niggle was that every now and then I would get very sharp knee pain in my left knee mainly when going up or down steep steps. Again not really a major problem and didn't cause a problem when running but it was becoming more freqent and after a particularly 'ouch' moment on some steep steps decided to see a physio. She was a bit vague, commented that my kneecaps pointed slightly inwards which gave me some laser treatment (which I don't think made any difference) but suggested wearing supports in my shoes might help. I tried that, switching back to neutral shoes (on the recommendation of the running shop) and once again hey presto problem solved.
( I wear the supports in running and non running shoes and the knee pain comes back if I go without them for any length of time - although throughout the summer I have mainly been wearing Fitflops and these seem fine.)
I was a little sceptical about barefoot running at first (particularly in view of how much I seemed to have been helped by adjusting my footwear) but thought it sounded like fun so recently went to a barefoot running class.
I am now absolutely hooked - only small amount done so far - I generally try and incorporate some barefoot running in two of my 'shod' runs and am building up very gradually - now up to 10 minutes on grass and 5 on tarmac.
I'm really hoping I can carry on with this - I haven't noticed any problems so far but would like to build up to doing more (for practical reasons this will probably be with barefoot style shoes- I've just ordered some Vivobarefoot Evos) and am wondering if is anything in particular I should or shouldn't be doing (apart just from building up gradually).
I suppose my main worry is that there is something defective about my knees/legs (in view of the physio's comments about my kneecaps) that can only be corrected by orthotics.
Thank you in advance!
Stumbled across this site (and barefoot running! by accident) so I thought I'd say hello. Background information as follows (this is a bit long - sorry) but thought I'd mention everything in case anyone has any useful tips:
I've been running 26 years.
Years 1-20 no particular problems and not much attention paid to footwear - just ran in cushioned shoes (generally whatever happened to be on special offer!).
Then I started to develop pain in the balls of my feet - nothing major more of an annoyance than anything but went for gait analysis. The shop advised I was over pronating slightly and recommended switching to more supportive shoes which I did and hey presto problem solved.
Prior to this another minor niggle was that every now and then I would get very sharp knee pain in my left knee mainly when going up or down steep steps. Again not really a major problem and didn't cause a problem when running but it was becoming more freqent and after a particularly 'ouch' moment on some steep steps decided to see a physio. She was a bit vague, commented that my kneecaps pointed slightly inwards which gave me some laser treatment (which I don't think made any difference) but suggested wearing supports in my shoes might help. I tried that, switching back to neutral shoes (on the recommendation of the running shop) and once again hey presto problem solved.
( I wear the supports in running and non running shoes and the knee pain comes back if I go without them for any length of time - although throughout the summer I have mainly been wearing Fitflops and these seem fine.)
I was a little sceptical about barefoot running at first (particularly in view of how much I seemed to have been helped by adjusting my footwear) but thought it sounded like fun so recently went to a barefoot running class.
I am now absolutely hooked - only small amount done so far - I generally try and incorporate some barefoot running in two of my 'shod' runs and am building up very gradually - now up to 10 minutes on grass and 5 on tarmac.
I'm really hoping I can carry on with this - I haven't noticed any problems so far but would like to build up to doing more (for practical reasons this will probably be with barefoot style shoes- I've just ordered some Vivobarefoot Evos) and am wondering if is anything in particular I should or shouldn't be doing (apart just from building up gradually).
I suppose my main worry is that there is something defective about my knees/legs (in view of the physio's comments about my kneecaps) that can only be corrected by orthotics.
Thank you in advance!