Barefoot Healing

Writes Charles Pearson:

As someone who enjoys running, the last couple of years I have been plagued by various joint pains. I would often experience runner’s knee, which would decommission me from running for weeks at a time. On top of that, last year I developed an odd pain in my heel, which kept me from running almost altogether. This past spring I finally broke down and went to a podiatrist, who fitted me with an orthotic insert for my shoes. Although the orthotic definitely helped with the heel pain, it did nothing for my runner’s knee. In addition, the insert had an extremely high arch support, which felt very unnatural and awkward.

Deciding I had nothing to lose, earlier this summer I went ahead and bought a pair of the Merrell Barefoot Trail Gloves.  Although the gradual break-in period was slightly uncomfortable, I have been running on the shoes regularly for a couple of weeks now, and have so far felt a huge improvement. My heel pain has not returned, and my runner’s knee has so far been non-existent. Time will tell if these results will continue, but so far I have been very impressed.

Although I bought the shoes strictly for running, they are so comfortable that I wear them for casual. Unfortunately, they’re a little too casual for my office job, but this week I found that Merrell also offers a more business-friendly, leather version of their barefoot shoe. If I continue to be impressed, I may be picking up a pair of those as well.

Share

8:57 am on July 29, 2011