Escape from Orthotics...

[Spinningwoman]

Hi, I hope you don't mind a non (or not yet) runner hanging around, but you people seem to be the only ones that know about feet!
My right foot broke down about 6 years ago on a holiday in France where we spent a lot of time walking hilly streets on cobbles in shoes that let my feet slide forward into the toe. Took my shoe off by the pool to find I had something that looked scarily like an old lady bunion. I couldnt walk barefoot even without feeling like i was breaking the joint. I survived the rest of the holiday by wearing crocs and stuffing cotton wool between my toes to bring my big toe back into alignment - I wish now I'd carried on doing that! Bizarre that I could see/feel what needed to be done, but of course when I came back I saw an expert and was told to wear orthotics. Which 'worked' well - no more pain. But fast forward to this year, started a Tai Chi class and started actually paying attention to feet and balance. The orthotic started to feel like a huge lump in my shoe but when I tried to do without it or use a smaller orthotic sole the bunion came back within days. My big toe was so stiff I could hardly move it. I could see that the orthotic basically just tilted my foot so that I didn't use the big toe naturally at all.
I started googling and came across the Correct Toes website and all the barefoot running stuff. I went down to the local outdoor store and tried a pair of VFfs and found that with them on, my toe was pulled into the correct position and I could walk without pain, so I bought them for the Tai Chi and started wearing them round the house and garden. Amazing! Ordered Correct Toes and bought some shoes I could wear them in. My toe still curls across if I walk barefoot but I am hopeful that a few months of training it with the VFfs and correct toes will actually start to fix this, unlike the years of orthotics.

Now I'm getting flashbacks to the one time in my life when I was a runner, and just wondering if this late fifties lady might end up running barefoot in the grass! (ran barefoot round an empty hall the other day to see, and felt really exhilarated!). But one thing at a time. Just walking and the Tai Chi is great.

 

[Refoman]

You're preaching to the choir (at least with me). Several years ago, just prior to my interest in minimal running, I started having pain and discomfort in my legs. I went to one of those retail orthotic stores that advertise on the radio and payed outrageous money for orthotics and bought new work boots. I religiously followed the prescribed "break in" period and they did bring relief. The orthotics didn't really fit in my running shoes and I never really used them. It was about this time that I started trying minimal sunning shoes--with no orthotics. I used to joke that I had two different sets of feet; one set for running and another set for everything else. That alone should have told me something. After all of this, I started experimenting with a mid-foot strike and different shoes (Newton's and New Balance Minimus). Less than a year ago, the orthotics started to bother me. I stopped using them. After a couple of days without them, the discomfort went away.

I never make any connection between the need (?) for orthotics and proper running technique and foot strength. I've made that connection now and am more of a believer in barefoot running than ever before. When I first got interested in this, my goal was to work toward barefoot running without actually ever running barefoot. That would be nuts! I told myself, and anyone who would listen, that I was working toward a "mid-foot strike" or "minimal" running. I'm a (soon to be) mid fifities guy who had run over a mile completely barefoot this week.

As you will hear from folks on this site, take it slow and easy and listen to your body. Good luck!

 

[Barefoot Dama]

Welcome SW!
Years ago when I visited my podiatrist for some foot issues I was having(it turned out to be Morton's Neuroma)told me that I had the beggining of a bunion on my right foot. After my MN diagnose I went BF cold turkey but bought a pair of Vibram Five Fingers to wear at work because wearing "normal" shoes was torture to my foot(the one with MN) you won't belive it but my toes aligned themselves and I know it was by me changing to me being bf all the time outside work and wearing VFF at work.
I am a full time BF runner and my longest BF run is a 50K so the lesson here is if I can do it anybody can do it. I am 58 years old if that helps.

 

[Longboard]

I started running at 57, and my wife started at 57. Both of us 100% barefoot right from the start. I was advised to have surgery ten years ago on BOTH hallux joints,but never followed through. Instead I just go barefoot almost all of the time, as does my wife. She had worn orthotics all of her life (first set was as a little girl) but now goes barefoot full time.

 

[Spinningwoman]

Thanks for the welcome and the stories. The only time I ran regularly was one year about 30 years ago when I needed to get really fit for a sailing race. I ran in the park after work and then we went for two weeks in the French Jura and I had a wonderful time running on the trails there. My husband would get frustrated with me twice over on runs - once because I ran so slowly he said he couldn't keep back with me and then again when he'd have puffed himself out and I caught up with him again! I never really counted myself as a runner, though, and after the race just let it slide, partly because we moved offices away from the park shortly afterwards so the opportunity to carry on that routine was gone. I probably lucked out with shoes because the proper running shoes the assistant tried to sell me looked really ugly to me with the thick soles so as I wasn't 'really' a runner I just ran in sneakers, I think.
I've always been told I had 'flat feet' and was made to do exercises as a child but it never did anything. I was not at all sporty and got such bad shin splints during compulsory hockey I was convinced my legs were breaking or something!

 

[Longboard]

I've always been told I had 'flat feet' and was made to do exercises as a child but it never did anything.

My wife and I both have very low arches and are "over-pronators". Turns out that's the best foot type of all for going barefoot!

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Welcome!

 

[Spinningwoman]

Thanks.

 

[Longboard]

Oh yeah,
Welcome!

 

[Spinningwoman]

It's weird how fast we get 'un-used' to something. I had to go back to a pair of my ordinary size 5uk shoes today for a couple of hours because I havent yet got a work-smart black pair I can fit the correct-toes in. I could hardly believe how crammed in my feet felt.
I remember when I was a teenager in the 70s there was a craze for scholl sandals (something like Birkenstocks) and my mother warned me that if I wore them to much my feet would spread and I wouldn't be able to wear my 'proper' shoes. Looks like she was right!

 

[Phil Hart]

Welcome to the family. It may be the Addams Family, but at least we have fun. And we help people like you and me (long-term joint overuse damage) get and stay healthy. One caution - hard surfaces are much safer and more effective for a steady and healthy transition to barefoot running. Grass can conceal a world of sins in and under its lovely surface, primarily in dips and bumps on the dirt below that can play havoc with newly bare feet. I know how tempting it looks, but I'll tell you that even after 2 years of barefoot running, I'm very leery of grass that I don't know well. I just don't want you to get hurt because you were unwarned about this potential hazard. Once you find some good grass/ground, it's a wonderful thing to run on - just be sure you know it thoroughly!

 

[Spinningwoman]

Thanks. At the moment I'm just walking in the VFfs and with the correct toes as that puts my big toe in a position where it works properly. Went for a walk in vffs on the local common on Sunday with my other half - I was amazed at how comfortable they felt, despite stony paths. I can't usually wear even sandals without socks but had no blisters with the VFfs . My feet and calves were tired and achy afterwards, but in a good 'worked hard' way, not a painful 'I've hurt something' way.
I tried running about 20 yards to experiment, but realised I was too self conscious with DH there to loosen up, so I'll leave that till I'm on my own!

 

[JosephTree]

Welcome, and where are you? We don't have "commons" around my house. Are your a distaff and wheel sort of spinner, with wool and such?

I started running after half a lifetime away from it at the age of 53, and while I didn't have any notable foot pathology going on, in the last 4 years of BareFoot and Vibram running my feet have changed dramatically. I've gone from 10.5 US to 12 regular shoes, thought I still like my 42 Vibrams. I've even got arches now.

Taken slowly and thoughtfully, I think you'll see a marked improvement in how your feet work.

Good luck and welcome aboard!

 

[Spinningwoman]

Hi, I'm in Devon, UK and the 'common' is a big chunk of fairly wild high ground that would at one point in history have been common grazing for the locals animals.
I've done a few little walky/runny intervals now, first in the VFFs then barefoot. Unfortunately my feet seem to have luxuriated so much in their new freedom that the VFFs I bought originally now feel too small, so I've had to go up a size. Hoping that doesn't happen too often, but it is worth it for the changes I'm already seeing.

May have overdone it slightly this week, as I have a bit of puffiness round the outside front just below the ankle on my dodgy foot, so I will scale back to just walking for a few days. I've been walking & running round the grounds of a local stately home type place as they have fairly smooth trails and some lovely manicured grass.

 

[Spinningwoman]

Forgot to say that yes, a spinning wheel and wool type spinner.

 

[happysongbird]

What Phil said about grass and "soft semi-invisible" surfaces. Got one of my worst barefoot injuries in some lovely powder dirt. Felt sooo good until I hit a hidden rock in it, not even a sharp one, and lost a big slice of skin. Took a few weeks to heal. Now the only grass I will run in with little concern is my own, since I'm out there a lot and have a good idea of what is in it AND where the ankle twisting holes are!

BTW, I'm 52 and I was able to get back to really running and enjoying it when I began to go barefooted about 3 years ago. Was talking with a gal yesterday who is a "bare hoof" horse farrier. She was interested in my barefoot life. She said the horses are much better behaved when they don't have to deal with shoes. I said, "Me, too!"