Okay, I can appreciate the appeal of running barefoot on a beach, especially a pristine beach.
But the physician in this video has convinced me that running everywhere barefoot is NOT for me:
Seriously, are YOU willing to expose yourself to these risks?:
- Stress fractures — from overloading your metatarsals
- Neuromas — nerve irritations — between your toes
Please leave a comment here. Thanks!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Dr Mahoney,
Please don’t dismiss barefoot running because of your fears of neuroma or stress fractures. When done properly and responsibly, its perfectly safe. Many runners have made the switch and are happy they did. Additionally, even more people are able to run ONLY because they ditched their shoes. These people have tried for years to run in shoes and all they got were injuries.
An alternative course of action could be to warn your readers of the potential risks but also highlight research articles which show the benefits of barefoot running as well as the drawbacks of shoes. The work done by Dr. Lieberman at Harvard and Dr D’Aout at the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp are some recent examples.
You should encourage folks to look at the research and try it for themselves before you dismiss it based on a 10 second “video blurb” by a physician in a 5 minute “news” video on a FOX television program.
Sincerely,
Sean Gavor
Sean,
You make some EXCELLENT points. Thank you for your thoughtful comment!
Kirk