The Adam's Effective Sipes

As a profound adherent of the minimalist footwear lifestyle, I looked forward to trying out Altra’s new Adam. I found it to be an extremely versatile, balanced, and comfortable shoe that is supremely well adapted to everything you can do with your feet: from walking, to running, to just loafing around. This shoe is so advanced that just like the Adam who launched the human race, it is sure to launch a new era in minimalist footwear.

Comfort through technology

The comfort level of the Adam minimalist shoe truly has to be experienced to be believed. It seems to be a cliché that they are as comfortable as wearing nothing at all, but in the case of this advanced Altra shoe it’s very true. They are supple, flexible, and snug while still allowing plenty of room for your feet to move unhindered. The Adam seems to have taken minimalist footwear technology, design, and engineering to the next phase, and walkers, joggers, and runners everywhere can rejoice… and throw their expensive, heavy, and stultifying traditional running shoes in the nearest river!

Seamless removable footbeds

The performance rubber outsole of the Adam is what Altra has termed the BareSole, and at an almost paper thin 3.4 mm it starts to feel like an extension of your own feet. Footbeds are included to be fitted within the Adam but they can be left out if you prefer to really get that just-about-barefoot feeling when you’re walking, jogging, or running. The footbeds are free of stitches or seams so they also contribute to the heavenly level of comfort of this amazing minimalist shoe. I also never had the secure-cinch strapping budge by one millimeter all the time I was wearing them! These shoes are more secure than a Swiss bank account!

Razor sipes provide phenomenal traction

The Altra Adam not only does a great job protecting the feet from any roadside or trail hazards such as broken glass and sharp rocks, but it also provides cat-like traction on wet, slippery, and icy surfaces. The soles are molded with what Altra calls razor sipes and the best way to describe how they work is to drive your car in snow with regular street tires, and then change over to an aggressive tread winter tire. The difference is palpable as when you’re wearing the Altra Adam, you feel like you have so much traction you can walk or run anywhere at any time. Except straight up walls. Leave that to Spiderman.

Protects and cools your feet

Even though I’m writing this in Northern Indiana in January when I can only dream about heat, the Altra Adam seems like one of the best choices for barefoot runners on hot asphalt. The sole’s design and the breathable stretch fabric upper are so well thought out and engineered that the Adam should do a great job of keeping your feet cool through the warmest days on the most sizzling tarmac: The kind that would leave bare feet looking like you just walked across hot coals! On a nice hot summer day you want a nice T-Bone steak charred on the outside, not the soles of your feet!

The Altra Adam is a very impressive minimalist shoe which I recommend to anyone. It’s exactly what you want for casual and competitive running, and with the Adam shoe’s comfort, balance, and traction, it’s a natural complement to anyone engaging in my FloWalking method of better walking (http://www.flowalking.com/)!

To learn more about the amazing Altra Adam, check out http://www.altrazerodrop.com/

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One of the most notable problems that people who practice yoga have with regards to their feet is that in some positions their bare feet can slip and cause a fall. There are few things worse in yoga than doing a Garudasana Eagle Pose and end up crash landing on your beak because your foot slipped out from under you! Socks and slippers do not allow the toes to be free enough to grip and balance properly, plus they can overheat the foot causing it to sweat and slip even further.

Maximum traction, foot (and toe) flexibility, and breathability

Stick-e Yoga Socks http://www.stick-e.com/yogaaccessories.html solved all of these problems by engineering special socks specifically for the practice of yoga, pilates, karate, dancing and other athletic pursuits where maximum traction and foot flexibility is a prerequisite. Libby Andrews of Stick-e Products LLC invented this remarkable new form of minimalist footwear, and I can confidently say that she did a magnificent job. They’re really amazing!

 Stick-e Yoga Socks have cut outs for your toes so can better grip the floor or mat, and more importantly, so they can work! Most people do not think much about using their toes when walking or doing activities, yet toes are very muscular or as I say in my FloWalking http://flowalking.com/ workshops: “toes are tiny but mighty.” Men, in order to keep your self-respect, only use this motto about your toes and no other part of your anatomy.

Andrews has also designed the socks with a Stick-e bottom, so the next time you are doing the Adho Mukha Svanasana Downward Dog pose, you are less likely to end up sprawled out like a greyhound on a skating rink! The Stick-e surface held up well, even after I spent 90 minutes on the treadmill doing my FloWalking workout.

1/3 of yoga practitioners still wear basic socks or shoes

It’s estimated that yoga currently has over 20 million followers and about a third of them continue to wear socks or even shoes during their exercises because they are shunning going barefoot. All yoga enthusiasts, whether barefoot or wearing socks or shoes should try the Stick-e Yoga Socks to experience the ultimate in foot comfort, traction, and flexibility. Once you try some of the most basic yoga exercises while wearing these socks, you’ll never do yoga in any other way!

Superlative for FloWalking

I recommend Stick-e Yoga Socks to all my patients who do yoga, but now I’m able to encourage people on yet another activity which these amazing socks are absolutely perfect for: All of the features that allow Stick-e Socks to provide such superlative advantages when practicing yoga are equally applicable to individuals who are engaged in FloWalking [http://flowalking.com/]! The additional comfort, freedom, control, and traction allowed by the Stick-e Yoga Socks can be a boon to any FloWalker! Let me leave you with a bit of yogic wisdom: Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape!

To learn more about Stick-e Yoga Socks and Andrews’ other amazing Stick-e products go to http://www.stick-e.com/yogaaccessories.html

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Some people consider the fact that more and more people are successfully running barefoot some kind of scientific enigma. The “Free Your Feet” graphic below makes some of the science behind barefoot running easy to understand simply and eloquently. This artistic and pleasantly graphic interpretation of the various statistics and historical facts which support barefoot running makes some exceptional points:

Bulky Shoes Are Failing Us – Running while wearing athletic footwear exerts more strain on the joints of the leg and foot than walking in high heels!

The History Of Running Shoes – The Tarahumara of Mexico can run for two full days, covering up to 300 miles non-stop, wearing only leather thongs or tire strips!

The Science Of Barefoot Running – A comparison of the heel strike which is predominant when running with shoes vs. the more relaxed position of the bare foot landing on its ball.

The graphic goes on to show that traditional running shoes have been proven to create an extra:

• 54% hip rotation torque
• 36% knee flexion torque
• 38% knee varus torque

The graphic does close with a warning that transitioning to barefoot running is a process which should be done gradually, starting out with brief jogs before graduation to longer runs. It’s a recommendation which I heartily endorse!

Check out the entire graphic at: http://www.xraytechnicianschools.net/free-your-feet/

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FloWalking [http://www.flowalking.com/] has become a career dedication for me. I have seen such remarkable positive effects from people adopting this revolutionary new way of walking that I am compelled to do everything possible to spread the word so that as many people as possible around the world will be able to enjoy its considerable benefits.

Some of the latest medical research has demonstrated a link between the posture and poses you adopt in your everyday life. This is an hitherto unsuspected link to hormonal balance in your body based on your physical actions. I’ve just written a post at [www.flowalking.com/2011/11/a-simple-secret-to-walking-longer-faster-and-harder] discussing these important clinical studies.

Researchers have proven that persons and animals judged to be physically stronger and more powerful than their peers are found to have higher levels of testosterone and lower levels of cortisol in their body. Consider testosterone Popeye’s Spinach and cortisol Superman’s Kryptonite and you’re starting to catch the drift.

…If we can have high testosterone and low cortisol not only could we delay or better endure the pain of muscle fatigue and thereby walk further, faster and harder, but we would likely boost our immune system, prevent high blood pressure and improve our memory.

Check out that post and let me know what you think. The prospect that posture has hormonal benefits is certainly an astounding new development in medical science and one that promises future breakthroughs in the field.

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Photos show a young woman with a tumor in the big toe of her foot.

Every so often people come to see me with the most interesting foot problems. Most recently, a young woman came to see me with a tumor in her foot. 

Having seen my share of cancers in the feet of my patients, that was my first concern. The Worst Case Scenario is the way that we doctors are trained to think. Most days I provide my patients with reassurance: “it isn’t fracture”, “you do not need surgery” etc.

Giving reassurance is great. It eases a patient’s anxiety and they feel better, even if their foot is still sore. It’s like a verbal placebo. I’m sure that if someone marketed a talking box that had a reassuring doctor’s voice telling prospective patients that everything is alright, medical workloads would diminish considerably!

Telling a patient they have a tumor or fracture or need an amputation is difficult. In fact, some sources say that the term “cancer” is one of the most terrifying words there is in many languages. People fear cancer more than “heart attack” or “stroke,” even though these can also be lethal.

When my staff tells me I have a phone call from a pathologist, it is rarely if ever good news. Pathologists are like the tax collectors of the medical industry: Everyone knows they have to pay taxes but whenever they call you, get ready to feel the pain. Even though I try to be positive, I have found patients are generally grateful when I promptly tell them bad news.

Fortunately, in this young woman’s case, the tumor turned out to be benign. She went on to heal up well and has never seen this ugly beast again. Below are the surgical photos and a photo of the woman’s foot when it was all healed up.

Warning: They are very graphic so you might not want to scroll down to see them if you just had a big meal.

Though I find such cases interesting, I hope no one reading this has to ever deal with this type of problem.

I recall an experience I had as young intern. At a meeting one night at the hospital I had asked an older doctor, “Did you see anything interesting today?” He replied, “No, and that’s just the way I like it.”

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As we get older we lose the awareness of our bodies we had when young

As the creator and prime evangelist of FloWalking, I am committed to raising awareness to as many people as I can about how walking can affect every part of your body. A proper walking motion can ease pain, prevent injury, and help bring on a state of total health and fitness, while the wrong walking motion can cause severe problems which can drastically affect your entire life.

I’ve just written a post on the FloWalking site that should be of interest to anyone with feet:

Do you know where your feet are? This may seem like a silly question, but many people look down at their feet as they walk. The main reason for this often unconscious habit is because these people lack a good, healthy sense or awareness of where their feet are in space at any given time. These people are likely to have a poor awareness of most of their body.

These people may know they are walking from Point A to Point B, but they have little sense of the specific movements their body parts are doing to take them there. From the neck down, they might as well be a blob. Given the latest statistics which show an all-time historical high in the number of obese and morbidly obese people, it seems that most people are blobs. Fortunately FloWalking is better than a shot of Antiblobicillin.

To find out more about the FloWalking revolution for health, fitness, and just plain feeling great, check out my post over at http://flowalking.com/2011/11/the-most-overlooked-aspect-of-walking-and-fitness/, and get your own shot of Antiblobicillin. It’s effective, it’s free and there is no fast talking TV announcer claiming that “side effects may include Mange, Restless Pinky Syndrome, Smellie-Pheet Disease, or Werewolfism.”

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Fox In Socks is a Dr. Seuss book I just read to my five year old son. I doubt Seuss based the book on a real fox, but if the good doctor were still alive he could write the true-life story, Doc In Socks, about Dr. Steve Gangemi. Gangemi is a chiropractic physician who has earned the moniker Sock Doc from his habit of wearing only socks or even going barefoot in his chiropractic office. Unlike other habits that could land you in jail, shunning your shoes isn’t only legal, it is good for you.

Gangemi has been trained in a variety of specialties ranging from functional neurology to applied kinesiology. Although he does not specialize in the treatment of foot ailments, he believes that healthy people have healthy feet which do not require cushioned, supportive shoes. Gangemi proposes the concept that feet can send you signs and signals about your overall health, and that these clues are well worth pursuing in order to arrive at a state of complete health, literally from head to toe!

Gangemi states that the feet are the foundation of your body. With approximately 7,000 nerve endings in each foot, feedback from your feet can affect your overall health. Any foot impairment, injury, pain, dysfunction, or the wearing of footwear can (and often does) impair sensory feedback, balance and y muscle-skeletal function. Given that we take thousands of steps a day, day after day, the end result can be injury, arthritis, pain or other problems.

Gangemi also explains that an ache in one part of our body may be (and often is!) the result of a problem somewhere else in the body. For example, he explains that pain in your knee may be due to a muscle imbalance in the foot, improper footwear, poor diet, or even stress.

One of the fundamental tenets of his practice is that rarely will an unhealthy person not present with problems in their feet, and it is these bases of the entire human anatomy which can reflect and influence the health of the organism as a whole. Wearing improper footwear can disrupt the normal walking gait, and that can have a knock-on effect which can point to problems being experienced elsewhere in the body.

Gangemi prides himself on dealing with his patients’ health problems on a cause oriented individual level, and highly recommends the barefoot lifestyle. He believes that everyone can benefit from walking barefoot, not just multiple sport athletes and dedicated runners. The wearing of built up shoes featuring supportive orthotics and plush padding benefits few if any people, since going barefoot equates with improved lower leg function and balance which has an impact on overall health.

Steve “Sock Doc” Gangemi’s website (http://sock-doc.com) is a treasure trove of information on every aspect of educating athletes and other interested people about injury, prevention, and treatment to help them live longer and healthier lives. Gangemi provides cutting edge information on injuries, training, racing, nutrition, gear and much more.  Dr. Seuss would be proud of him. And so am I.

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Dr. Nirenberg wearing his Vibram Five Fingers

Mark Anders is one of those top journalists who live the sort of romantic adventurous lives the rest of us can only dream about. Whether he’s surfing the Zambezi River, racing mountain bikes in the 24 Hours of Moab, or is embedded with Navy SEALs in desert war games, he brings to his readers a vivid portrayal of the esoteric experiences to be found in the most exotic locales on Earth. Mark’s work has been featured in Life, Wired, Popular Science, Outside, Men’s Journal, New York, and many other major magazines. He recently wrote an article for the American Council on Exercise Certified News which dealt with an University study of the benefits of minimalist footwear for runners.

Mark writes that John Porcari, Ph.D., and Caitlin McCarthy, M.S., researchers from the Exercise & Health Program at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, conducted a study on 16 young adult female subjects who were habitual joggers and free from injury. Two weeks before the testing each was fitted with a set of Vibram FiveFingers Bikila model, and asked to run with that minimalist footwear three times a week for two weeks. Once this “breaking in” period was passed, the test runners were brought into the laboratory at the University for 3-D motion analysis under three separate conditions: barefoot, with the Bikilas; and with New Balance 625 running shoes.

The results of the testing showed that all 16 subjects landed primarily on their heels when wearing the running shoes, while half of the subjects became forefoot strikers when wearing the Bikilas or running barefoot. Even though the researchers were encouraging all the runners to adopt a forefoot strike, the heel strikers were not able to make the switch. The reason for preferring the forefoot strike is that the ankle becomes more plantar-flexed at the moment the foot hits the ground, and it is this greater degree of flexion which seems to absorb the running impact forces to a greater degree. The research also showed that the barefoot and Bikila runners displayed a lower degree of flexion in the knee which is generally correlated to fewer injuries.
 
The research proved that when some runners adopt minimalist footwear they do not necessarily display the correct running stride, in which case the possibility of discomfort and potential injury actually increases over conventional running shoes. The reason for this phenomenon is that minimalist footwear such as the Vibram Bikilas have virtually no cushioning in the heel area and thus subject the foot to higher impact loads. Dr. Porcari concludes that runners “may need very explicit instruction and time spent practicing how to land on the ball of the foot” when first starting to run in minimalist footwear such as Bikilas as continuing to run in a heel strike gait pattern actually negates the benefits of ditching the running shoes. The increased flexion advantages displayed by the forefoot striking runners in both barefoot and minimalist footwear styles are notable as the impact loads are minimalized and that can lead to a decreased risk of injury.

The bottom line is simple: Minimalist footwear works but has to be matched with a forefoot strike. All you heel strikers out there, start practicing your forefoot gait pattern to gain the maximum benefit from your Vibrams!

Check out Mark Anders’ unique life experiences at http://www.markanders.com/markanders.com/home.html , and you can read more about the study at http://www.acefitness.org/certifiednewsarticle/1641/

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Myfivefingers.com’s attractive website badge

Brian Patterson is a Vibram Five Fingers enthusiast who has been driven by his dedication to minimalist footwear to tackle the task of compiling and meticulously maintaining an encyclopedic site dedicated to the sport and science entitled myfivefingers.com. The site is segmented into various sections featuring specific articles, reviews, and guides relevant to minimalist footwear with content which continues to burgeon by the day.

Brian’s reviews are especially illuminating, with numerous large clear photos dealing with every aspect of the footwear he is testing, as well as complete specifications and even recommendations as to the type of person that would be best suited to that particular set. The site also features a remarkably easy to use Five Fingers Sizing Wizard which in a few simple steps will allow anyone to find the perfect fit in the minimalist footwear of their choosing. Brian has also created a set of very striking badges which other minimalist footwear aficionados can place on their websites to link back to myfivefingers.com, complete with the necessary HTML code ready to drop into any page.

Brian recently interviewed me for his site, and we covered the medical reasons supporting minimalist footwear, and touched on a variety of different topics, from the scenarios whereby I recommend inserts or orthotics, and the specific cases where minimalist shoes are not recommended due to neurological or circulatory impairments or other significant deformities.

I gladly share Brian’s enthusiasm for this important subject and highly recommend that any reader should check out myfivefingers.com, especially if you are interested in learning about the state of the art of minimalist footwear, and would like to delve into the most suitable models for your own needs and preferences. It’s an extremely well-produced website and best of all it is very obvious that the entire project is a labor of love for Brian.

Check out Brian’s site at http://www.myfivefingers.com

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They Look Like Ordinary Shoes

After more than 20 years of publishing breakthrough research on how humans walk and run, D. Casey Kerrigan, M.D. has redesigned the running shoe. She calls it the OESH—which is the word “shoe” upside down and inside out. To design the OESH shoe Kerrigan did not just think outside the box; she threw the box away: leaving the shoe’s midsole open on one side.

A shoe with an open midsole is huge a paradigm shift in footwear. While all the big name running shoe makers are figuring out what next to put inside the sole—air, gel, rubber, bubble gum etc. Kerrigan said: just leave the midsole open! In the shoe design world, Kerrigan’s decision to leave the midsole open is akin to Galileo saying the Earth revolves around the sun (not the other way around).  There is a striking elegance in the simplicity of the OESH design.

As an aside, I commend her for having the courage to follow through on this shoe. On the drawing pad, one had to think twigs and debris would lodge in this open area. However, this turns out not to be a problem at all in everyday wear.

OESH calls this open area the Void, and Dr. Kerrigan states that it is this absence of anything that allows the shoe the freedom to flex with your body. Because of the Void, the claim is that it does not matter if you supinate or pronate, the Void allows your foot the freedom to move naturally. And natural is always better.

In an ideal world the ultimate in natural is barefoot (or second best, a minimalist shoe), but if you choose to wear a shoe (and for now, most people do), OESH appears to be the shoe you should be wearing. I say, appears because OESH does not make my shoe size and thus, I have not had the opportunity to try the shoe myself. So the next best thing was to have my wife, who has smaller feet, wear them. She thought they were the most comfortable shoes she had ever worn. Given that she suffers with foot and ankle problems and has tried many styles of shoes over the years, this was surprising.

OESH claims that this revolutionary shoe eliminates the need for foot orthotics because it provides compliance at the critical time when the foot is maximally stressed. The shoe sole is made of carbon fiber cantilevers that are oriented in such a way that they flex downward only when the foot is fully planted on the ground. It is the orientation of the cantilevers that allows the midsole to compress and release in perfect harmony with the compression and release of the arch of the foot. This action ensures that the foot undergoes a complete, fully natural and uninhibited range of motion, while simultaneously providing compliance to the rest of the body.

As a podiatrist who has dedicated my life to alleviating pain often by making people custom made foot orthotics, I was skeptical. But, it appears that this remarkably designed shoe may replace the need for orthotics, and for that matter, arch supports, insoles, heel pads, heel cups, and anything else we may wedge into our typical running shoe… and believer me, I have seen a lot of people wedge a lot of different things into their shoes! When my wife wore the OESH shoe, she found that her painful, over-pronating, flat feet no longer required her custom-made orthotics for comfort.

Certainly, my wife not needing her orthotics is not scientific proof that OESH shoes can replace orthotics, but it is interesting. And OESH is an interesting shoe. The most interesting shoe we have seen in a long, long time.

Now, I just hope they would make an OESH shoe in my size!

Check out these amazing OESH shoes at http://oeshshoes.com/

The "Void" Is What Makes OESH Shoes Remarkable

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