I thought I could share my story here and get some feedback and commiseration.
I'm 44. I started barefoot running about 8 months ago. Like many of the barefooters I have met, I caught the bug from the book 'Born to Run'. The case he makes FOR barefoot and against standard thick soles shoes is so convincing, that I started barefoot running before I had finished the book.
Before, I would have thought running was a tedious thing to do. As a barefoot runner it was an experiment. I was not a runner before, so my ramp up was slow, and I feel this helped me avoid the pitfalls barefoot runners fall into when they first start. By the time I was doing any real mileage, my feet had acclimated. I started in Sprints, then moved to Bikilas. I ran a 12k, then 2 half marathons.
My only issue with barefoot was I tended to get blisters and sore feet. Which I thought was an acceptable trade off to all of the other problems shod runner have.
Still, I thought I'd work another shoe into my training routine and got a pair of Merrell trail gloves. After 3 days resting after running my last half, I thought I would try a couple miles in the Merrells.
That night I started noticing pains in the top of my foot, near the metatarsals. Most aches and pains get better with rest, but this felt a bit different. The pain started to get worse, and I started to fear it might be a stress fracture.
Cut to emergency room visit and an xray. The ER doc said the xray looked ok, but admitted general docs find the foot a mystery. He gave me a referral to podiatrist.
The podiatrist was a young man. I told him how long I'd been running, and brought in my shoes to show him. I asked him the question i was dreading:
“Are we going to look back at barefoot running in a couple of years and say what were we thinking?"
He said, "We already have."
I expected there would be differences in opinions, and that if I saw a couple of podiatrists and sports medicine docs, I could eventually find one that fit more of my "world view". But this doctor, trained in sports medicine was young, and seemed open minded . He told me in talking with his peers, and at conferences, the consensus is 100% in agreement. Barefoot is bad. And by extension, barefoot is good for their practices. Even though the first doc gave my xray a pass, the podiatrist said early stress fractures can be hard to see without a MRI, and if they get worse, they can lead to more serious issues and longer recovery time. He used the terms Stress Response and Stress Fracture. He landed on Fracture to impress upon me some seriousness.
The podiatrist showed me my foot structure, my high arc translated to the area causing me pain was getting the brunt of the impact. I probably run about 25 miles a week... and I am not fast. So I don't fit the profile of the leet runner who straps on a pair of five fingers and goes overboard and gets hurt. So this was unexpected.
Cut to his recommendation...skip the half I was planning for the end of the month. Rest for a month then get a pair of thick soles, conventional shoes with orthotics.
So... I feel a bit bummed. Running on a wedge of rubber doesn’t seem like it will give me the same experience. And not sure if it will address my issues or just create new ones.
I don't want to ignore this medical advise, but I kind feel like this with be a all of nothing decision.
Thoughts?
I'm 44. I started barefoot running about 8 months ago. Like many of the barefooters I have met, I caught the bug from the book 'Born to Run'. The case he makes FOR barefoot and against standard thick soles shoes is so convincing, that I started barefoot running before I had finished the book.
Before, I would have thought running was a tedious thing to do. As a barefoot runner it was an experiment. I was not a runner before, so my ramp up was slow, and I feel this helped me avoid the pitfalls barefoot runners fall into when they first start. By the time I was doing any real mileage, my feet had acclimated. I started in Sprints, then moved to Bikilas. I ran a 12k, then 2 half marathons.
My only issue with barefoot was I tended to get blisters and sore feet. Which I thought was an acceptable trade off to all of the other problems shod runner have.
Still, I thought I'd work another shoe into my training routine and got a pair of Merrell trail gloves. After 3 days resting after running my last half, I thought I would try a couple miles in the Merrells.
That night I started noticing pains in the top of my foot, near the metatarsals. Most aches and pains get better with rest, but this felt a bit different. The pain started to get worse, and I started to fear it might be a stress fracture.
Cut to emergency room visit and an xray. The ER doc said the xray looked ok, but admitted general docs find the foot a mystery. He gave me a referral to podiatrist.
The podiatrist was a young man. I told him how long I'd been running, and brought in my shoes to show him. I asked him the question i was dreading:
“Are we going to look back at barefoot running in a couple of years and say what were we thinking?"
He said, "We already have."
I expected there would be differences in opinions, and that if I saw a couple of podiatrists and sports medicine docs, I could eventually find one that fit more of my "world view". But this doctor, trained in sports medicine was young, and seemed open minded . He told me in talking with his peers, and at conferences, the consensus is 100% in agreement. Barefoot is bad. And by extension, barefoot is good for their practices. Even though the first doc gave my xray a pass, the podiatrist said early stress fractures can be hard to see without a MRI, and if they get worse, they can lead to more serious issues and longer recovery time. He used the terms Stress Response and Stress Fracture. He landed on Fracture to impress upon me some seriousness.
The podiatrist showed me my foot structure, my high arc translated to the area causing me pain was getting the brunt of the impact. I probably run about 25 miles a week... and I am not fast. So I don't fit the profile of the leet runner who straps on a pair of five fingers and goes overboard and gets hurt. So this was unexpected.
Cut to his recommendation...skip the half I was planning for the end of the month. Rest for a month then get a pair of thick soles, conventional shoes with orthotics.
So... I feel a bit bummed. Running on a wedge of rubber doesn’t seem like it will give me the same experience. And not sure if it will address my issues or just create new ones.
I don't want to ignore this medical advise, but I kind feel like this with be a all of nothing decision.
Thoughts?
