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Primal discovery
Primal Lifestyle’s Matt Walden explains the intriguing logic behind minimalist footwear, for which demand is growing fast
For many years, the concept of cushioning the foot and supporting it has been conventional, mainstream and unchallenged ‘wisdom’. However, there is a growing understanding in various allied fields - from biomechanics to physiology, from hormonal health to nutrition - that our evolutionary heritage provides huge clues as to how the human body should function. The result is that conventional wisdom is being challenged.
Could it be that nature got the design of the foot correct?
Increasingly, research is suggesting that the answer to this question is a resounding ‘Yes!’
What about concrete surfaces you might ask. What about running injuries?
The simple answer is: the foot is designed to traverse miles and miles of rocky terrain; research comparing shod with unshod runners suggests there are lower impact forces and lower joint torsion in barefoot runners.
Populations that grow up barefoot have better arch formation, lower injury rates and improved athletic performance – and all on what most of us ‘developed country’ dwellers would consider ‘sub-standard’ nutrition, exercise education, conditioning techniques, and so on. It turns out that sometimes development can reach so far that you can end up developing something you don’t actually need!
This is why Professor Lieberman found conclusively that it is footwear (or lack thereof), not genetics, that dictates running style; and similarly, why a study published in June this year in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, co-authored by Gordon Valiant, who works for the Nike Sports Research Laboratory stated: "Despite over 20 years of stability elements being incorporated in running footwear there is, as yet, no established, clinically-based evidence for their provision".
These new findings are why there has been significant growth in the popularity of barefoot running. However, what has really made this barefoot boon accessible to the masses is the march of the minimalists, a crusade led by the Vibram Fivefingers phenomenon.
A new way of thinking
It is our belief that we are moving beyond a Newtonian understanding of biomechanics and are beginning to understand the body as a bio-computer, which requires the input of good information in order to output good information. If you dampen that information source - the body’s only direct information source connecting it to planet Earth - then you compromise your data input. Compromised data input makes for compromised data output.
This is fine in conditioned people, but retailers might point out that at least 80% customers over-pronate … what about them?
Well, never mind the 80%, as it is fair to say that 100% of people who support a fractured arm with plaster will experience significant atrophy and wasting of the supporting muscles – and that’s just in the space of six weeks of support … never mind a lifetime of support!
We cannot expect anti-pronation muscles to be strong when they are not required to work.
Here is another key question for retailers: is it possible to sell minimalist shoes alongside conventional running shoes?
Absolutely! Vibram Fivefingers offers the foot no support, and therefore the shoes encourage the feet to support themselves. In other words, they do the opposite job to a conventional sports shoe; one lets the foot rest, the other makes it work. Fivefingers should be integrated as part of a conditioning routine for foot strength and running technique.
Stripping down
Lieberman has said he believes that in five years’ time, the entire running shoe market will be unrecognisable from how it looks today – and it won’t be because things have been added to shoes, but because they have been taken away.
However, I would go for a more conservative view. Much the same as everyone now recognises that stilettos are bad for the feet, knees, hips and back bio-mechanically, yet they will continue to be worn for fashion reasons, running shoes and other stylised footwear will be worn for many years to come. The antidote to the damage these products may cause, or to their lack of functionality, is now readily understood and available, and that is barefoot or minimalist.
This is why we utter phrases such as, ‘the experiment’s been done’, or, ‘you’ll always find simplicity in the complexity’, or, ‘sometimes to move forwards, we have to look backwards’, but you can rest assured you won’t hear us bragging too much about the technological innovations of our brand. We believe deeply that, with Vibram Fivefingers, the technology is the foot.
