Im sorry for not
Im sorry for not participating more in this forum. I have been working 18 hours a day 7 days a week preparing for a book launch in February but no excuse Im all up in this.
WE NEED MORE INFORMATION TO HELP YOU - First I would like to preface that a lot is going on here with your case and there are many unknowns that can throw off your advice. Like...
- What do you do for a living? How long do you stand on your feet at any given time?
- What footwear do you wear to work?
- What is your BMI, height and weight?
- Can you video tape your walk and post it on this forum post? The simple instructions are in this post.
- Are we saying wearing Vibrams or other footwear is barefoot running? lol sorry I had to get that in....
VIDEOS OF YOUR GAIT WOULD HELP A TON - With this forum we are blind with respect to these details, good advice could throw off your progress. I cannot diagnose treat or recommend without a full examination etc. What I will discuss is a perspective of what I have gained from your minimal history and a blind imagination of what may be happening. What I am going to recommend is that anyone who asks a question on this forum buy, borrow or steal a flip camera to create a video of your gait, self examinations and other tests we ask you to perform. You can post these short videos on youtube, daily motion or vimeo and in fact TJ may want to start a channel for the site with these videos on them for everyone to view. It will make advise more accurate and more will learn from the forum.
PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS - First, what we forget sometimes is that moving from a protective shod environment to a less protective minimalist shoe or barefoot is a psychological stressor. The same running we used to do effortlessly can be changed by FEAR of the unprotected foot during impacts. Commonly when we fear pain during impacts with the barefoot we tend to lift the foot away from the potentially noxious stimuli, the ground hitting the barefoot. The muscles we would use to pull the forefoot away from this potentially noxious impact are the extensor muscles. A repeated contraction of these muscles in an attempt to pull away from the impact would strain these muscles. Any tension of the muscles in this area could potentially cause something I coined as "foot lock"
MENTAL STRESS REDUCES THE HUMAN SPRINGS ABILITY TO LOAD FORCES SAFELY - Also if you have stress from work, finances or other issues you may be carrying this to your sitting, walking and running. Commonly, the trend is for someone to dorsi flex the foot or tighten the extensors when you are in a lot of psychological stress. Dr Sarnos book talks about how psychological issues contribute to chronic pain patterns. He does not connect these psychological causes well to the physiological manifestations of chronic pain, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue but if you look at the body as a giant spring mechanism the ability of this spring mechanism to absorb and spring the body mass off the ground with high impacts is determined by the ability of the mechanism to load this impact into the spring. If the body is stressed it is tightened up which pre-loads the spring mechanism reducing its ability to load this force of the impact into the human spring. If the human spring recycles energy preloading it reduced recycling thus leads to increased fatigue. The body moves the mass with muscle contraction rather than elastic energy which burns fuel. The preloaded spring cannot resist the impacts of the landings as it is too tight to allow the forces to be distributed across all joints spreading out the force more smoothly. ADVISE? Relax your body of all tensions, get your pelvis and body leaned forward into a controlled fall and let the spring do the work. Why do you think golf instructors, boxing trainers and track coaches tell their athletes to relax?
FLIP FLOP - SANDAL FACTORS - Flip flops or sandals force the extensors to fire continuously during the swing phase and even during impact and through out the loading of the force of the mass into the foot. I have seen it clinically in many gait evaluations the toes do not touch the ground during foot plant and even during loading of the mass into the foot. Stand up to a full length mirror and walk towards it barefoot Do you see your toes come up before and durning landing? If you video this you can load it into your computer and move the frames slowly to observe the way your foot behaves when walking. YOu may be shocked what you see. I highly suggest you watch your walking in slow motion on film. It may provide the vivid answer to why you are in pain. Bad habits formed by leaving weights on the front of the foot during walking can cause this in running Wearing anything on the front of the foot forces the anterior muscles to fire. Its impossible for the calf (opposing muscle) to fire at the same time because of reflex inhibition. Your foot becomes like a pirate peg due to sort of a isometric event banging impact forces into the body with every step.
FOOT LOCK - The human body is an amazing shock absorber. In fact it is a giant spring mechanism. When you think about it, when we are walking, running or performing sports with impacts we are actually an object that will collide with the earth, another object. That means that these two objects will collide and in a year with 10,000 steps a day and 365 days a year it is 3,650,000 collisions with the ground and 100 Million in 30 years. Collisions of any kind will damage both objects to a degree. That is, unless we can put something in between these objects to spring off each other instead of bang into each other.
The human body and specifically the human foot and ankle has 33 joints that are moving parts with elastic connectors that act as a human spring. In fact if all joints are moving the impact will be spread across these joints reducing impact and stress overall. If any one or many of these joints are stiff or locked then the force of the landing impacts the body more abruptly or more like a bang.
STEP 1 RELEASE THE SPRING IMPACT RESISTANCE MECHANISM - The first step to restoring this natural spring mechanism is to remove every single spasm in your foot, calf, thigh, hip and lower back area. Because all joints stack and interact with each other if the foot is not moving according to the way it was designed as a human spring then these protective spasms have to extend into the floors above To think anything different defies the laws of nature, physics, engineering and common sense. I will give you perspective on this. What I do to release all the muscles of the lower extremities is take my thumb pad start at the origin of the muscle and put deep pressure into the muscle down to the bone if possible holding the pressure (extreme pain in the beginning) feeling the pain subside in chunks until you feel nothing but pressure. Next move another thumb print over This is also called a CUN or chinese inch. This allows for thorough application of treatment to release these spasms. A tennis ball does provide some benefit but it is not as targeted as a thumb print, you cant get to the deeper fibers and you cannot get into the crannies of the body like the pad or edge of the thumb.
If we assume that your extensor muscles and tendons are stiff and your calf muscles are stiff and painful as you said that means that both the flexors and extensors are pulling simultaneously. These muscles are suspension muscles meaning that they suspend the structures from above like the San Francisco Bridge cables suspend the bridge. http://www.hamiltonbackclinic.com/blog_workshop/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/fig10.jpg The pulling will stiffen or even lock the foot spring from the top leading to increased impact forces on your foot.
NO INSURANCE NO PROBLEM - The procedure costs about $__ per 15 mi
nutes and is grueling for a doctor who really knows what they are doing $___ may seem like a lot but attorneys and other professionals who have years of insight and perspective are paid this rate. The problem is that it sometimes takes 1 - 2 hours on really chronic cases to go through the entire lower half of the body one time. You are going to be hard pressed to find a doctor who is willing to take the time to do that and who has the office time, hand strength and stamina to park over the top of you all day? So, you are better off doing it yourself You will discover a lot about your body which you already have after some Karen made the recommendation to get in there and do it
HOW DO YOU FIND THESE SPASMS THAT LOCK THE MECHANISM? They hurt. We have to assume you dont have a broken bone or a DVT. When you find a painful spasm you trace it down to its insertion using the google image function locating the approximate location of the muscle tendon you are working on.
FOOT - CALF - THIGH - HIP - RELEASE = SPRING RELEASE HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE? It takes as long as it takes. Typically I have to pass through all muscle spasms at least 10 times to release them but sometimes more. I equate this to a pain exorcism in a way but the pain on pressure reduces about 10% each pass. You park yourself on the ground or on a couch and just go at it.
YOU HAVE TO DO WHAT IT TAKES - Doctors do procedures based on your maximum insurance reimbursement per visit and their schedule They dont do what it takes. It may take 10 - 30 hours of work to fully release the spring mechanism. Most give up after 10 treatments at 15 minutes per visit. Im just getting started and you never give up. Sometimes the body is so locked up from floor to head that it takes this long to reverse out these protective reflexes that lock up the impact resistance mechanism. You do what it takes to achieve near perfect mechanics because that is what it takes to run with impacts of 500 - 1000 pounds for thousands of collisions. I know you may not like to hear that but stop complaining and get to it... You want to achieve greatness you have to have the will to make it happen.
FOOTWEAR - IMMOBILITY BOOTS - CROCKS - What I recommend is that you stretch your foot into plantar flexion, rotation, inversion, eversion, abduction and adduction any chance you can get. I am doing it now at my desk. We already know that you are dorsiflexing too much because your extensors are spastic and in pain.
OBJECTS ON THE FOREFOOT STRESS THE EXTENSORS - When you put anything on top of the foot like a heavy boot or crocks then the extensor tendons have to work harder to hold the crock, sandal, boot or what ever on the foot so it doesnt fall off You need to do the opposite and allow the foot to be as relaxed as possible so it can plantar flex down to allow the mid foot forefoot to land first before the heel.
A RELEASED, RELAXED SPRING LOADS MORE FORCE - When the foot is relaxed this will allow the maximum force to load into the spring mechanism. Hookes law of physics state that the deeper the spring can load the more energy it returns. I will add another slant to that by saying that the deeper the spring loads the more protection it provides the colliding objects at higher speeds (faster running) Force of Landing is equal to the weight-mass depending on how fast its traveling. If you want to run faster you have to be able to take up more force into the spring and its suspension system muscles.
STRETCHES - People recommend dorsiflexion stretching which stretches the calf. That is like saying that all we need to do is bench press. When the foot impacts the uneven ground it moves in many directions to allow your mass to be positioned balanced over the spring mechanism. You have to scizzor stretch the toes against each other, plantar flex stretch, dorsiflex stretch essentially stretch the foot in every range of motion that it moves. This will allow you to 'FEEL" where joints are stiff or locked, where all tendons are tight and painful and that means you will know more about where you need to work. Its a self examination approach that allows a more accurate self treatment approach. Just find a comfortable place to sit on the floor and get in there and start working out these painful spasms and releasing these tight joints.
STEP 2 - STRENGTHEN THE SPRING SUSPENSION SYSTEM MUSCLES - TRAIN THE FOOT AND BODY IN ALL RANGES OF MOTION FOR A BALANCE OF STRENGTH - Next, what I find interesting about runners is they most always run in straight paths. That is, unless they are running on trails that meander a lot. Treadmill running is straight and that is that. The human foot is no different from any other body part It needs balance of strength in all ranges of motion which means you have to run in circles, zig zags, figure eights and side motions to balance the strength of the landing muscles like the peroneal and tibialis muscles or what I call the spring suspension system muscles. Also by landing the foot in a relaxed state in these directions other than straight it provides a natural release of the joints keeping them from locking The joints lock with fatigue from sustained contraction.
We never asked what you do for a living If you stand on your feet for extended periods of time you could be fatiguing these impact protection muscles making them too weak to absorb the forces of landing
STEP 3 - STRENGTHEN THE SPRING IMPACT MECHANISM - SOME OF YOU SHOULD NOT BE RUNNING - Just as much as you shouldnt be picking up the 100 pound dumbells and doing bench or curls with them. Your body is not strong enough to absorb the impacts of the mass of your body colliding with earth at a force of 500 - 1000 pounds Some of you have no business running because your spring protective mechanism cant even absorb 1-2 x body weight. The way to find out is do a gait evaluation. This is where the flip camera comes into play. Take off your socks and shoes and be in shorts. Have someone stand in front of you and film you from 10 feet standing naturally. Hold the camera still only filming from the feet to the waist. Walk towards the camera and turn around and walk back. Then walk faster the same path there and back. Post this on youtube and then post the link on this site for us to see. Thank you
FOOTWEAR UNTIL YOU HEAL- Many doctors will tell you that you must wear footwear to run. Forhowever does a shoe really support you perfectly during running when you have a weakness? NO Does it allow you to get stronger? NO Take the shoe off and do not run. Do strength training of all muscles of the foot and light drills in the directions other than straight running to provide balance of support of the landing muscles. Footwear companies would like to see 300,000,000 US citizens wearing their running shoes running when most dont have the suspension system strength and the fully released human spring mechanism to absorb these high force landings.
FOOTWEAR AS A BRACE - Its a brace which is needed only when your foot muscles cannot do what they are designed to do. Would any trainer recommend you lift a weight 30 percent higher than your one rep max but do it with some elastic shirt so you can say you did it? NO! That is not prudent advice. DO THEY RECOMMEND A WRIST SUPPORT AND ELBOW BRACE FOR BENCH PRESS? Why not brace the entire body when weightlifting? We should also wear a helmet in case we drop the weight on our head.
You need to train your foot muscles HARD! When you brace the body it doesnt have to brace itself and the supportive muscles weaken This is called
POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE ADAPTATION I
say stay barefoot to see where you stand. If you have pain walking barefoot get on the floor and work on your feet instead of walking the dog. Then train these muscles with bands, cables, drills with increasing speeds and prepare your foot for impact resistance of 4-5x body weight first.
If you have a strong spring mechanism and it is completely free from spasms and stiffness or locking of any joints and a suspension system muscle group that will allow the forces of the landings to be absorbed by the natural spring you can run for miles on solid pavement (concrete included) I do. Those that tell you that you can get a stress fracture are right when you do not have a healthy spring mechanism. Problem is that the shoe takes away the natural spring which is designed for that purpose and give you an artificial spring (cushions - shocks (dont get me started on those!) that replace what they take away.
PREPARATIONS FOR RUNNING OR IMPACTS INTO THE SPRING MECHANISM - Because wearing shoes logically throws off your human spring mechanism you need to recondition your feet before each run. When I started I meticulously went through each floor of my body releasing every muscle before I ran. I did this for 3 months. Ocassionally Id feel a twinge when running because i did not spend enough time in this area What I would do is stop right there get on the floor and push my thumb into the area of the pain and traced out every spasm. When I resumed running again it was like someone put magical springs on my feet NIGHT AND DAY! on the impact I felt and finished the run no problem. That night I gave that area extra work to prepare it for next time. Do you have a doctor living in your home? NO. You need to learn how to do this to make these minor adjustments to your mechanism so your running is with ultimate spring precision.
BALANCED FOOT TRAINING - I RECOMMEND TO MY ATHLETES AND FOR MYSELF TO RUN THE ENTIRE TRAINING ROUTE IN A ZIG ZAG PATTERN TO INSURE THE LANDING MUSCLES ARE WORKED AS EVENLY AS POSSIBLE
I suggest everyone who is taking up barefoot running do an assessment of spasms in their lower extremities by simply pushing into the muscles using a few print outs from google images to release every spasm they can until they are gone. Then go for your run. Impact forces of 500 - 1000 pounds for 6200 impacts (10K) will take their toll with a locked spring.
6200 Impacts of 750 pounds of force as a Bang and Twist or a Spring and Roll - you decide
Preparation is the key to success in any endeavor
YOU MUST PREPARE YOUR HUMAN SPRING MECHANISM FOR THESE IMPACTS - GET TO WORK
Dr James Stoxen DC AKA - The Barefoot Running Doctor www.barefootrunningdoctor.com
