Does Barefoot Running Hurt?

Does Barefoot Running Hurt?

Every time I mention that I am training myself to be a barefoot runner, people squinch up their face and say “doesn’t it hurt?” Funny that as an acupuncturist for now almost twenty five years, that exactly the same reaction I or a patient gets from saying you are having acupuncture therapy. I’ll give you the same answer, since in my opinion it actually applies. The experience comes with a variety of sensations and for me and many others it does not hurt. For both acupuncture and barefoot running there seems to be an equal fascination with something that people think could somehow be good for them, even though they don’t know exactly why, yet the idea of a small amount of sensations often keeps them from finding solutions for many of their colossal issues that cause tremendous pain and inconvenience.
I’ve always been an advocate for finding solutions. So it made sense to give it a try.

Even Barefoot, you must Walk before you can Run

Medical people make the worst patients. Let’s just get that out of the way. I was told to start out slow. Here’s the right way. Walk in the most beaten up pair of shoes you own, so that all the technology of shaping and molding your foot has long since been busted up. For me, this meant my three years ago running shoes, that went to walking shoes and finally the elephant burial ground for tennis shoes called my yard shoes. You know the pair of shoes you wear when you garden, play in the dirt, put fertilizer or lime on your yard. We all have a pair of these once glorious servants of our feet, now relegated to hanging out to dry on a nail in the garage, only to be called on for the most disgusting jobs around the yard. Yeah, those shoes. They must have cheered when I put them on and they realized we were going out for a walk that did not involve fertilizer.
The barefoot running experts tell you to walk and run in these old beat up shoes and then during the last five or ten minutes, take off your shoes. That’s right, just take them off! So I did. Right on the side of the road I pulled off my shoes, then without much fanfare, the socks came off. I started walking with a combined sense of both exhilaration and fear. Yes it was freeing, just like being a kid again, when we hardly wore shoes in the summer, but this time I had the adult’s mindset of “what about stones?”, “watch out for acorns this time of year” and of course “Oh my god, what if I step on a broken piece of glass!” Come on now, I bet you thought the same thing when you began to read this post.

To my surprise and relieve the sensation was wonderful. It probably looked like I was dancing or tip toeing along the side of the road, but for me I was taking steps onto a new path of freedom and health.

Next post will detail the sensations following the walk run and the key steps to take to remain safe. Happy tip toeing!