Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group, LLC Blog

Are Your Feet Ready? The Boston Marathon Is Back

Posted by Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group on Fri, Apr 12, 2013 @ 08:04 AM

Are your feet ready for running this summer?

You might want to think twice before strapping on those traditional clunky sneakers and running around your neighborhood.  Every year millions of Americans take up running as a way of getting off the couch and trim the mid-section only to find themselves right back where they started - but this time with back, knee and foot pain! 

Learn how incorporating barefoot training prior to your next fitness adventure will have your feet singing a much happier tune.

 

Barefoot in Boston Barefoot in Boston

 

Passage taken from Barefoot in Boston, by Art Horne

"Looks like mom was right – the cheaper shoes do work just as well, and in fact, might just be safer for you too.

If you are starting to feel like I am picking on traditional shoes and their parent companies well, that is because I am and it is about to get a whole lot worse.
In a study conducted by Marti (1989) in which he provided a questionnaire to over 5000 runners of a popular 16-km race, he discovered that expensive shoes accounted for 123% greater injury frequency than the lowest cost models. In fact, the incidence of injury while the subjects were wearing shoes over $95 were twice as high as for those subjects wearing shoes costing less than $40. There may be a number of other factors associated with injury other than just shoe cost but these results included correction for these other influencing factors such as training mileage and history of previous injury! Marti also notes that injuries were not significantly related to race running, speed, training surface, characteristics of running shoes or relative weight. In other words, the fancier the shoe, the more injuries you can expect from them!


So what do “fancy” shoes have that ordinary shoes do not?

The answer may be found in a 2001 study by McKay. Although McKay’s group did not set out to determine the manufacturing differences between lower end and high end shoes, their findings did point to one feature within many athletic shoes that may very well be to blame. In this study researchers sat courtside and watched over 10,000 recreational basketball participants as they played to determine the rate of ankle injury and examine risk factors of ankle injuries in recreational basketball players. Each participant completed a questionnaire which included questions related to: age, sex, height, weight, protective equipment (ankle brace, mouth guard, etc), shoe type (cut low, med, high), age of shoes, whether the participant performed a warm-up prior to playing, and of course questions identifying their injury history.


After analyzing the data, three risk factors emerged:
1. Previous ankle sprain – those athletes with a previous sprain were almost 5 times more likely to sprain again.
2. Players who did not stretch prior to games were 2.6 times more likely to injure their ankles then those that did.
3. Players wearing air cells in the heels were 4.3 times more likely to injure an ankle compared to those with no air cells in their heels."

 

 

BSMPG wishes the over 20,000 runners participating in the 2013 Boston Marathon the very best of luck!!

 

athletic training

 

Register for the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar - May 17 & 18th

Early Bird Prices end April 15th so run to a computer after finishing the marathon and sign up to enjoy the discounted prices!

 

Register for the 2013 BSMPG  Summer Seminar Today

Topics: acute pain, boston marathon, Christopher McDougall, Marathon Monday, BSMPG Summer Seminar, Chris Powers, achilles pain, barefoot training

Christopher McDougall talks Running Barefoot and if we were BORN TO RUN

Posted by Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group on Sun, Apr 15, 2012 @ 07:04 AM

Christopher McDougall Talks Barefoot and Why Humans Were Born to Run

 
 
Are you wondering why your running shoes resemble high heels? Ever think about why your big toe overlaps your second and why your arch really isn’t an arch anymore and resembles more of a pancake? Thinking about baring your sole? Barefoot training has recently become popularized as a potential benefit in injury prevention and rehabilitation programs. It is also purported to serve as an additional means to enhance athletic performance and running economy. However, limited clinical research is currently available to justify this practice and even less information is available describing how one may go about safely implementing a barefoot training program. This book explores the scientific and theoretical benefits concerning the merits of forgoing the modern running shoe for a simpler approach and offers real life solutions to all the obstacles standing between your feet and mother earth. Although it’s true that Americans love their shoes, what you learn about the merits of stuffing your feet and toes into these modern day casts might just have you singing a different tune – a tune your feet will certainly be much happier moving to. Welcome to Barefoot in Boston!
 
 
Enjoy Born to Run author, Christopher McDougall's TED presentation below!
 
 

 

Learn how you too can enjoy the benefits of being barefoot by reading BAREFOOT IN BOSTON, available now in both paperwork and kindle.

barefoot in boston

Topics: athletic training conference, athletic training, Irene Davis, Christopher McDougall, athletic training books, barefoot strength training, achilles pain, barefoot running, barefoot training