Barefoot Running Sparks Debate

Barefoot running, literally running on bare feet, is the newest trend to storm the fitness world. Or is it?

According to George Milic, former competitive sneaker-wearing mile runner and current employee of Mount Kisco Sports, barefoot running is just like any other fitness spark; it cycles through highs and lows of popularity and resurrects over and over again. But this trend might not be as harmless as other fitness fads.

Milic believes that those who embrace barefoot running are in for a future filled with doctors' visits, physical therapy appointments, and long term pain. Milic says that the only people who should be running barefoot are those from places where barefoot running is the norm, those who grew up running barefoot, and those who have always run barefoot; people who have shoes should wear shoes.

George Landegger, founder of the Barefoot Runners of Westchester and a former sneaker-wearing marathoner, has a different opinion. He did not grow up shoeless, but suffered foot, knee, and hip pain while wearing dress shoes and a variety of specialty running sneakers.

Darnell Caballes, a member of the Barefoot Runners of Westchester, also found relief from knee pain through hanging up his sneakers. Landegger agrees that barefoot running is not something for everyone to jump into; a person needs to go through a "6-month to 1-year process to develop the muscles" in the foot to allow for painless barefoot running. People need to learn how to barefoot run before they can hit the grass, dirt, or pavement hard.

Harrison High School track and field star Sasha Tharani, Class of 2010, said runners have been hearing a lot about it.

"I've never actually tried barefoot running," she said. "I hear it helps you feel your essential form, helps you correct mistakes, what part of the foot you use. I know a lot of long distance runners do the barefoot thing now. I think it's a cleansing experience to experience a different style of running where there's nothing between you and the ground."

According to Landegger, barefoot running is beneficial on many different levels. Landegger's running speed has increased, he exerts more energy during his runs, and the foot, knee, and hip pain that he suffered in sneakers is gone. The skin on his feet is thick enough to withstand any surface and, since he learned how to decrease the friction between his feet and the ground, blisters are non-existent.

Recent studies support Landegger's personal observations; they claim that running barefoot improves the way that the foot strikes the ground, almost doubles cardiovascular health, and allows a person to increase training time.

Landegger insists that barefoot running is just like any other fitness activity; if a person rushes into it unprepared, he or she can get injured. By taking things slowly, walking barefoot, attending seminars, reading books (such as Michael Sandler's Barefoot Running), and learning how to master the "controlled fall" of your feet and the rotation of "your feet like you're on a bicycle," a runner can painlessly allow his or her muscles to work how they are meant to work.

Landegger passionately asserts that it is barefoot running, and nothing else, that ensures proper running form. "Running in minimalistic shoes is not barefoot running. You can't learn how to run by wearing minimalistic shoes." The shoes that Landegger is referring to are rubbery, aqua-shoe-like flippers that fit like gloves over each individual toe.

"As a sprinter you have more traction with the spikes we wear," said Tharani. "For kids still in training it would be a huge ordeal. Plus you have to have the proper shoes for competition. They say it's not an aggressive sport but people do spike each other to get ahead. I think barefoot running is almost like a long-distance club—maybe ex-college students out of the game and running for the love of it."

Both Landegger and Milic agree that no sneaker wearer should make a sudden switch to minimalistic shoes. Landegger says that "running in minimalistic shoes can cause injuries if you don't learn how to run barefoot first." By refusing to carry such shoes in his store, Milic is willing to sacrifice profit in order to ensure that he does not in any way support something that may cause long term damage to a customer.

The costs and benefits of barefoot running are extreme and strongly debated. Physical therapist Rob Castorina sees how barefoot running could help "strengthen the muscles of the foot and ankle as well as improve proprioception," but warns that "individuals who have some underlying foot pathology…may be at risk of injury."

With a debate as polarized as this one, perhaps the only way to reach a definite conclusion is to follow your sole.