Is BFR just trading one set of problems for another?

The growing pains go away

The growing pains go away after time, read a year +. But there is always pains as you increase your mileage in prep for a race etc...

Don't worry, it does get better.
 
I think that this is a great

I think that this is a great thread.

During my conventional shod running days, out of the most recent 6 years of it I was injured for more than 3.5 years!

When I started to go BF I was still on the tail end of plantar fasciitis. Not a hint of that now.

I too am fairly new to BF, a couple of months or so. I've certainly had a few minor tiny injuries but they've only lead me to take an extra day or so off so far. Fingers crossed that's all it will continue to be.



The worst problems I've had so far was from running to a place in minimal shoes to get to a site I wanted to try BF! I should have stuck to completely BF.



I too sometime wonder what on earth some new pain or other is from time to time but as I carry on with the BF I've become use to this. I'm sure that it's just my feet adapting, trying to put things back where they should have been all along.



So far I :love: the whole thing, not because of the occasional blister or whatever of course, I love it because it allows me to keep on running. What more could anyone ask for?
 
Yeah I'm still right in line

Yeah I'm still right in line with what I said in my last post about this. I'm still getting "injured". The last round was about of tendonitis in my left foot (aka TOFP). It forced me to stop running for a week and then back into my frees for the last two. Its frustrating but now is feeling better and I can work my way back up on the BF mileage again. Something else I happened to notice in my TOFP searchings through the forum is that shortly after terrible TOFP problems there are posts from the same people about how much their feet are still changing and how drastic it suddenly seemed to happen. Coinicidence maybe, but an interesting one that supports my theory about some injuries not really being injuries, but inevitable problems caused by your body restructuring itself.
 
This week I am up to 3.25

This week I am up to 3.25 beautiful BareFoot miles and feeling pretty dang good about the whole thing. I did my first back-to-back BareFoot runs and felt great. Shinsplints are gone. Knee pain is gone. Initial ankle injury from TMTS in VFFs is gone. For a little while there I was getting very impatient with the mileage, but now it seems to be coming more easily. I actually tried to run in my Brooks about a month or so ago just to get more mileage in, but that was a BIG mistake, so I put a stop to that after two attempts. I also am just starting to feel my stride 'click' for a decent amount of time during my runs. It is definitely getting there and no signs of injury on the horizon!! (knock on wood)

I think the possibility of injury is always there, no matter what sport you choose. BF running is no different. What I don't like is getting injured for no apparent reason, like what kept happening to me in shoes. I have noticed a lot of changes since going BF and, for me, there is no going back. I even started hiking in my VFFs, which has been fantastic.

I also agree with the pains of training and restructuring. Some pain is inevitable, but those are different pains than injuries.
 
I concur with Abide.  3

I concur with Abide. 3 months is still quite early in your muscular restructuring process. I still have the growing pains in my calves, mostly, but my feet and ankles, too. I know I've upped my milage when I do my foot stretch / ankle rotations in bed before getting up and they feel so....needed.

The pain is minor to what I recall I experienced in my brief attempts at shod running over the last feew years. Those were agonizing!
 
The abrasions I have at the

The abrasions I have at the bottom of my feet after this morning's 3.0 mile run are still less painful than the shin splints, ITBS and hip-flexor issues I've had over the years. If I could figure out how to post pictures, I'd have a doozey for the board.

Cheers,
 
Joseph, thanks for checking

Joseph, thanks for checking back in. It's always interesting to hear how people are progressing.

I know what you mean about putting the shoes back on and finding it counterproductive. That's one disadvantage of going BFR... it can ruin you for shoes. Oh well. :)
 
The patience part has been

The patience part has been the hardest for me because it is just so fricken enjoyable to run BF.

Beyond that there's not much to say that hasn't been said other than thanks to everyone for a meaningful thread.