Review of Dr. Lieberman's Book

[Longboard]

This weekend's Wall Street Journal included John Hawks review of Daniel Lieberman's book " The Story of the Human Body".
From the article:
"The author, a Harvard evolutionary biologist, is a true expert in a system where architecture and history intersect: the human foot. He ably describes how behavior and anatomy can lead to foot injuries in long-distance runners. In his interpretation, the anatomy of the feet and legs are well suited for running, but in ancient cultures people never wore shoes or ran on pavement. These barefoot runners used a softer stride, landing springily on the ball of the foot instead of hard on the heel. Skipping the jolt of heel-strike helped to buffer the feet, legs and hips against repeated stress injuries. Today's runners train differently, counting on thickly padded shoes to absorb shock. By leaning on technology, runners face a new mismatch between anatomy and behavior. Padded soles and orthotic inserts perniciously treat the symptoms of foot injuries instead of building stronger feet."
Full article here: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB20001424052702304337404579211982393204624

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I'll contact him to see if he would like to do some giveaways, although he'd probably be too busy to ship them out.

BTW, you have to have an account in order to read the article.

 

[Longboard]

I do not have a subscription, but here's the secret:
If you Google
News for wall street journal daniel lieberman hawk review


The first hit will be the link that works. I copied and pasted the link in my post, but I also cannot read it there w/o a subscription.

 

[Sid]

bit.ly/1jEr9SQ

 

[Longboard]

Thanks Sid, that link woks perfect without a subscription.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Sid is sneaky.

 

[stjohnthegambler]

I'm hesitating because of this: "landing springily on the ball of the foot instead of hard on the heel" Why/how is the running on the balls of the feet still being perpetuated? Or is it just misreading, ie if not heelstriking then therefore must be on the balls of the feet?

 

[Bryan Harris]

I'm hesitating because of this: "landing springily on the ball of the foot instead of hard on the heel" Why/how is the running on the balls of the feet still being perpetuated? Or is it just misreading, ie if not heelstriking then therefore must be on the balls of the feet?

I didn't quite understand that either. A lot of people I talk to about barefoot running seem to think the heel never touches the ground at all. I wonder if they read stuff like this and misinterpret the meaning.

I also don't get how a high-fat diet causes diabetes or how humans crave fat. If anything eating a fatty meal will make me feel full and sated.