I stumbled upon these great notes from Steve Dam - in a LinkedIn running group.

Thought I share it with you.

Vibram Five Fingers for Running?

With out a doubt, shoe manufactures have made and marketed their shoes for one reason, to sell shoes. There is very little research to back up that all the pads, shocks, and arch supports actually prevent injury. Majority of the evidence actually supports the opposite. I used to have a great deal of back pain when I run but now run in the VFF and love them!

The foot is composed of 28 bones and 55 articulations! It is impossible to determine what is happening at all the various joints by doing a subjective gait analysis. You truly HAVE to examine it one joint at a time. At the very least you need to analyze, Talocrual, Subtalar, and Mid Tarsal joints, the first ray and the first metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint.

First of all you have to understand that pronation/supination applies to the entire body, not just the feet. Pronation is a collapsing of the body and is our body’s shock absorption,. Essentially the entire body is controlling the “collapsing” through eccentric muscle control; this creates storage of elastic energy which translates into propulsion (or the elastic recoil).

If anyone ever asks if you are a “pronator” or “supinator”, it is really a silly question, b/c in reality we do both and both are essential for proper mechanics. The key is the ability to control pronation via our muscles. This includes not the just the foot and ankle muscles but the muscles up the chain such as in the hip. We need both to have shock absorption and also to have propulsion.

It is also essential to understand that when the foot hits the ground, it is passive motion. The foot does not initiate movement, it only reacts to influences from the body above AND the ground (or footwear!) below.

The body is an amazing compensator. If someone is an “overpronator” as so many people are “diagnosed”, very often it is due to lack of eccentric control of hip pronation. So for example, weak glutes, could create a “chain” reaction all the way down to the foot creating a “collapsed” foot. Now you put an orthotic in there or shoes w/ arch support, you now took away the body’s ability to compensate. This could potentially “fix” their plantar fascitis but will now beat up the hip, lumbar spine, etc.

What we do with Muscle Activation Techniques is go through a joint by joint range of motion exam, determine where the body has limited range of motion and then use this information to determine what muscles may be inhibited. When there is a weakness, the body protects with tightness. Treat the weakness (the cause) and the tightness (symptom) will usually go a way assuming no structural limitation.

I have worked in Physical Therapy, as an assistant to orthopedic surgeons and I have seen every treatment and trick in the book. MAT is an amazing evaluation and treatment tool.

Related more to shoes, we have helped so many people who have had years of foot, knee, hip, and/or back pain in large part by transitioning out of their orthotics/high arch support to more minimalist style shoes. It was a process of going up the chain and getting muscles working properly throughout so they had adequate controlled range of motion, decreased their compensatory patterns, and in essence go them back into the best alignment will allow without any external support.

From a LinkedIn group post by Steve Dam, President at Activation Fitness, Inc.: http://www.activationfitness.com/