Orthotics or no Orthotics?

As you know, I have been struggling with injury for a while and went to the Doctor last week. The Doctor recommended that I get custom fitted Orthotics for my running shoes due to my high arch. There are two schools of thought on running in shoes these days. There is one side that says that runners should take advantage of technology and get shoes that fit their feet as closely as possible to provide support where it is "required". The other side says that as humans, we are designed to be able to run without shoes and managed to run long distances at fast speeds for thousands of years until we started to wear shoes. The fact of the matter is that currently there has been no "real" research done that compares running efficiency and injuries for the same runners running with and without shoes. I feel that by getting custom made Orthotics, I am going to the extreme of using technology to provide support to my feet and I am not sure I want to go down that road...

While at a party over this holiday weekend I spent some time talking with a friend who runs ultra-marathons. She routinely covers over 200 miles a month, and even more when running a race. I explained the injuries that I have been having and the circumstances around them. I agreed with her that I most likely did too much too soon after my Achilles injury. When I explained that I have high arches and will be getting custom Orthotics, she raised her eyebrows and took of her shoes to show me her equally high arches! She feels strongly that Orthotics and shoes with lots of cushioning are simply a band-aid over an underlying problem of poor foot and ankle strength and that she has never come across an ultra-marathoner that wears custom Orthotics or cushioned shoes. She explained that for years she has done karate, and that her foot strength comes from her karate training and by avoiding shoes that provide too much support as they prevent the foot from working in it's natural way. She recommended that I look in to some foot strengthening exercises, spend as much time barefoot as possible and try to get away from running with the Orthotics as quickly as possible, cautioning that it will take significant time to build the foot strength and to very gradually make the change.

Given that I was already apprehensive about going down the custom Orthotics path, I am going to take the advice of my ultra-marathon running friend, and gradually strengthen my feet and move to a more minimalist running shoe.

Foot strengthening exercises were fairly easy to find - this page has the ones that I am now doing towards the bottom the page. The next step was to work out how to spend more time walking (and eventually running) either barefoot or with less shoe. Barefoot simply doesn't interest me, but there are lots of other options!

The current rage is Vibram Five Finger shoes. These are "shoes" in so much as they cover your feet, however, the material is light weight and provides no support at all - it really is just a protective rubber cover for your feet. Running barefoot can be dangerous for a variety of reasons and the Five Fingers provide some protection for the sole of the foot to prevent cuts and abrasions etc. I am not overly keen on these shoes for either walking or running, because, in my opinion they just look weird!


The next best thing are minimalist shoes like the Nike Free Run. The lightweight (7oz - half of the weight of my old Asics Kayanos!) shoes were developed by Nike to give the customer more control over the shoe as opposed to having the shoes control the foot. Like other styles of barefoot running shoes, these shoes are supposed to allow your feet to move more naturally, thereby strengthening the feet and lower body and preventing injuries. The cuts in the outsole of the shoe makes the Nike Frees extremely flexible, allowing your foot to move with similar easy and flexibility as if it were barefoot.

So, I have bought myself a pair of Nike Free Run's, just like the ones shown above.

I am still going to get my custom fitted Orthotics on Friday because I want to get back to running, and my change to a minimalist shoe will be a gradual one over the next few months, but I am excited about making the effort to change my feet and how I run.

I am changing a few things immediately:
1. Stop wearing my current Orthotics every day (I had been wearing my old running shoes with my over the counter Orthotics for walking) and wearing my Nike Free's.
2. I rarely wear shoes indoors, but I am going to make an effort to spend as much time barefoot as possible when I am indoors.
3. I am going to do the exercises shown here every day to strengthen my feet and improve my balance.

After I get my Orthotics this Friday, I want to run for a couple of weeks with them while I build up my foot strength, so running in my Nike Free's will have to wait a few weeks.