On feet, shoes and their importance in running
One of the most used reasons given for a person to take up running is, “All you need is a pair of shoes and you are ready to go.” For the most part that is true. The rest of the story goes, “But, it helps if you get real running shoes, running shorts, a hi-tech shirt to wear, and a fancy watch to tell you how far, fast, and time you ran.” While a pair of good running shoes is probably the base of starting a running program the foot of a person is a good start also. Runners in the beginning ran barefoot and did so with minimal problems. The running surface back then was dirt, or grass, and acted as a soft surface. Then the invention of cement and asphalt for sidewalks and roads made the surface much harder and the need for a softer cushion was necessary.
The foot of a person is actually a real work of construction for getting people around. Whether walking or running the foot is designed to move the person from one place to another comfortably. It is comprised of a set design of various types of bones that act to propel and cushion the body while it is moving. The main bones consist of the talus, which is one of the hardest bones in the body, and is located at the top of the foot and displaces the weight of the upper body to the foot. You have the calcaneus, the heel bone, and has the calf muscle attached to it by the Achilles tendon and is usually the first bone to make contact with the ground. The tarsals, or short bones in the foot, are next followed by the metatarsals, or bone that make up the length of the foot. And then you finish off with the phalanges, or toes, that are good to push off with, or stub your toes on furniture.
The foot dorsal flexes, plantar flexes, supinates, pronates and absorbs shock with every step. As you step forward the foot dorsal flexes, or pulls the foot up, then it supinates, or turns outward so that you land on the outside of your foot, then it pronates, or turns inward, so that you can put weight on the big toe, and then it plantar flexes, or points the toes, that push off the ground so you can move forward. All these different movements happen with every step with a large majority of runners. There are a few exceptions in some runners that may do some of the movements out of sequence, or skip one of them.
The dorsal flexion and supination lets the foot make contact with the ground and transfers the weight to the outside of the foot where there are metatarsal bones to give it support. If you pronate and land on the inside of your foot you go across the arch of the foot that has no bone support and over time will begin to create problems. It helps to keep the foot pointing straight ahead, or forward, as much as possible to get the maximum leverage for a push off. Pushing off over the arch of the foot will cause the foot to give and you lose force.
The bones of the foot, the tarsals and metatarsals, are designed to absorb force and move around slightly when your foot strikes the ground. Some shoes are made to absorb the force of hitting the ground and cushion your foot. The key to getting a proper shoe that fits you is that if the shoe is too tight, or narrow, it prevents the foot from expanding and puts all the force directly on the ends of the metatarsals.
I learned the hard way, or from experience, that you need to be cautious of trying to add extra cushion to the shoe, or lacing the shoe too tight. I was running steep hills for conditioning and was landing on the balls of my foot going up the hill. I put on an extra pair of socks thinking that it would add extra cushion to my feet and help with the force being put on the ball of my foot. The extra socks made the shoe fit tighter and prevented my foot from expanding, or absorbing force, when I ran up the hill. While the extra sock did add cushion to the shoe it did not equal what the foot itself did by expanding to absorb the force. It was not too many trips up the hill before I had a bone bruise on the ball of my foot that prevented me from running at all. You can add an innersole cushion, or extra socks, if you want but be sure that you loosen the laces on the shoe so that the foot can expand like it is designed to do.
The body is an amazing work of art to help the body move pain free if it is in proper alignment. The curves of the back in the lumbar, low back, and thoracic, rib area, are slightly bent to help absorb shock when you jump and land on the ground. If you have ever landed on the ground with straight legs after jumping, or stepping off a height, and the resulting sudden stop that loosens the fillings in your teeth, you can appreciate the force absorbing qualities of the feet, the legs, and back that your body has.
You can start a running program with any pair of shoes and a pair of good feet, but it helps to have a proper shoe for most runners. I have been in races where runners have run the race in dress shoes and cut off dress pants, so it is possible. The key is to put on a pair of shoes and head out on the road. If you do not want shoes, find that grassy area and let your feet do the work they are made for.
