Who's ready to run 12.5 in mud, through water and over obstacles? This guy.

Tough Mudder isn’t your typical distance race. There were training runs, road races, adventure hikes and weightlifting sessions. There was a lot of helping, more mud than pigs would be comfortable in and enough small rocks to make me rethink my choice of Vibram Sprints.

Then there was the electroshocks that knocked me down, blurred my vision and for a little while, made me thank anyone I could find that it was over. And after months of gym visits, a few cold showers BEFORE training runs and a half day spent crawling on rocks, jumping in and out of a pool and carrying a 14-lb medicine ball for two miles (during my 8.5 mile TRAINING the week prior), the inaugural Tough Mudder Arizona was over.

Here’s my obstacle-by-obstacle recap* of my Tough Mudder run at the former GM proving grounds in Mesa, AZ.

1. Braveheart Charge
Our first obstacle was an eight-foot wall jump, followed by a rousing speech surrounded by about a hundred other potential mudders. We all pledged to make this an adventure and not a race, to help anyone who needed it and to value finishing over our times. After a bunch of grunting, the Star Spangled Banner played and we trotted off for what seemed about a mile run.

2. Kiss Of Mud
All hope of avoiding heavy mud was lost at this obstacle. We crawled, lurched and pushed our way through mud on our bellies, every second wishing the person in front would flail their leg and kick mud into our faces (it happened anyway).

Obstacle one was a ten-foot wall. It had a step. It was easy.

3. Arctic Enema
A 40-foot ice bath is no picnic in any weather. This obstacle required us to walk through a trough filled with ice (a bulldozer gave us a fresh batch), water and some green food coloring that looked like creamy Kool-Aid. Halfway through the chest-high water there was a board lined on top with barbed wire, forcing us to submerge to go forward. The sensation of ice cubes on my head as I came back up was a little unsettling, but I hopped out ready to go.

My guys. I'm the odd one out.

4. Berlin Walls #1
Only monkeys could scale these 12-foot walls quickly. Each of my team required a little boost to get up the wall, but all made it over quickly. A few people toppled over head first, but no one seemed to get hurt. This was far harder than I thought.

5. Jumpin’ Bale
Jumping between five-foot-high hay bales wasn’t tough as long as you could build up a good head of steam, but with so many other people around you, that was tough. None of my team fell, but we were a bit worried each time we took to the air.

6. Zombie Apocalypse
Beat-up cars, acrid smoke and a whole bunch of tires greeted us here. I punched a windshield, jumped on a roof and tried to break a back window, but my fist isn’t capable of such. I feel better prepared for an outbreak now.

I may have been taunting the crowd. Maybe. Yes, that's the marble dance from Major League II.

7. Bump N Grind
Crawl over sharp rocks as noted on the map, but I don’t remember it on the course. Or maybe it was just too muddy for the rocks to be a problem. Anyway, I crawled on sharp red rocks LAST weekend as prep, and I’m still sporting scars. So there’s that.

8. Devil’s Beard
Low-slung cargo nets threatened to impede our progress, but as long as we all stayed close, the nets were easy to lift. I kinda wanted to go on top and have people launch me into the air.

Awesome is not crawling through tight tubes filled with mud and water, but tough is. Tough won out. Note the barbed wire.

9. Boa Constrictor
A hands and knees crawl through sand, then muddy water, then sand. The pipes were too small to float through, and I had to get really skinny to get out. As soon as I figured out to put one knee directly in front of the other, I made it just fine.

10. I don’t remember. Sorry.

11. Bale Bonds
This wasn’t hay, rather a series of small mud hills that looked hay-like. If you can picture the short jumps from Excitebike, you’ll get it. And just like Excitebike, if you lost speed or took a wrong angle, you’d face plant.

Running in Vibram Sprints is easy. Running over rocks is harder, but doable. Running over rocks in muddy Vibram Sprints filled with pebbles is Tough Mudder.

12. Twinkle Toes
You’d think that wearing Vibrams would make this easier, right? That my superior grip with my flexible shoes would enable me to channel my inner ballerina and fly right by, yeah? That worked until I got to the middle and the wood dipped, swayed and snaked. Into the water I went. Water was nice, though. Except for the mud.

13. Hold your Wood
This was something like a 3/4 mile trot while carrying a log. Some people teamed up to carry a larger piece, others went solo. My teammates and I each grabbed our own. We ran the first quarter mile, walked the second and ran the third. The carry was awkward, but not terrible.

14. Shake N Bake
We were supposed to be hosed down here, but instead we just crawled in muddy water while live wires hung down and stung us. The shocks weren’t bad, the footing wasn’t great and I was happy to get out.

15. Berlin Walls #2
Crap. More 12-foot walls that I couldn’t get over the first time. My first attempt here resulted in me falling off the wall and stumbling backwards across the support, but I got back up, pushed my way up and bruised my inner arm, forearm, inner thigh and knee doing so. Oh, the drop back down sucked too.

These weren't smooth, small pebbles, either.

16. Mud Mile
Not really a mile. It didn’t really matter, as this obstacle only served to make the mud and small pebbles in my Vibram Sprints multiply. We trudged through.

17. Mystery Obstacle
I think this was the mud wall. Or maybe it was 20 jumps. Or maybe something with mud and water. I’m sure it sucked.

This may have been at the end. May have been in the middle. Everything blurred together.

18. King Of The Mountain
At first I thought we’d all have to fight to the top and then throw all challengers off, but apparently this wasn’t THAT kind of ‘king of the mountain’. We climbed, pushed others and did our best not to trip on the twine trying to hold the hay bales together.

19. Log Jammin’
This was where the team and I started to get frustrated. Because we had run the entire time, save that 1/4 mile during the log jam, we caught up with the earlier heats and were slowed down by longish lines at obstacles. While the cardio break was nice, watching out-of-shape people belly themselves over logs grew tedious. Once we started and realized that the top logs were closer – forcing us to lean BACK to go up – we were slightly more sympathetic. Oh, and the lower logs that we were supposed to go under had barbed wire twisted around them.

20. Walk The Plank
15 or so foot jump into a muddy hole. I hit bottom, but none of my teammates did. A few other participants waited at the top for what seemed like forever, but none of us hesitated. The water did nothing to help with the rocks still in my Vibram Sprints, but it was refreshing.

21. Dirty Holes
Mud slog separated by mud hills followed by more mud slogging. Felt a bit quicksand-ish and thankfully my straps held my shoes on.

Read on to see if those were live wires. Seriously.

22. Spider’s Web
Up and over cargo nets. Easy had we not been in a hurry, but annoying if cold and being pushed, which we were.

23. Berlin Walls #3
This sucked. It ain’t easy for a 5’11″, 215 lb dude to get up and over a 12-foot wall when he’s fresh, let alone when he’s muddy, tired and the wall is super slippery. No casualties, but my shoulders and back screamed after this one.

Looks so simple from up here. We ran the whole way. Most people did not.

24. Shocks on the Rocks
I think this was earlier in the race, but I crawled through so many mud pits with barbed wire overhead or in a tube I can’t really remember. Pretty sure this one had tarp down, but that made it harder.

25. Turd’s Nest
Cargo nets are great on the side of ships and below trapeze artists. They catch everything. Problem is, getting out is a ton harder. While we weren’t quite as cramped as the Rebels in Return of The Jedi, falling through was a worry. Our spectator friends told us to log roll through it, but there wasn’t room. I crab- then bear-crawled through.

26. Cliffhanger
Super-muddy mountain with few footholds and a whole lot of slippery here. I fell back three times and was saved each time my my teammates. A helpful hand from another mudder got me over the top and then I nearly fell navigating the muddy top. My legs were now stiff.

27. Everest
By far the most feared obstacle, this greased half pipe proved a worthy foe. The idea was to run as fast as you can as far up as you can, then dive forward and hope someone on top grabs you. Once there, completion was just a leg hook away. We watched a few people try to get up this for almost twenty minutes. Hilarity was watching them slide back down, unhurt. A few dudes seemed to be a little shy in grabbing the women to help them up, but each girl I heard said they didn’t care who grabbed what, they just wanted to get over. I did it on the first try.

Dos Equis Amber tastes real, real good.

28. Funky Monkey
I’ve never liked monkey bars. Some people went across bar by bar, others hooked their legs first and crawled upside down and backwards. I made it two bars and then my grip gave out, dropping me into more green, cold water. By this time the sun was gone and clouds had taken over, making the water less refreshing and more uncomfortable.

29. Electroshock Therapy
When I first signed up for Tough Mudder, I figured this was a bit exaggerated. No way they’d hit us with 10,000 volts right? And even if they did, that’s not enough to hurt, right? That’s some BS right there. The line here was long as everyone was scared to get shocked, so the organizers started challenging us to cut in and dive through. We could smell and hear the burns and zaps, making it less than exciting to be almost finished.

Here I watched two guys before me lunge through the live wires, only to fall flat on their faces ten feet away. Since the ground was another mud pit, I figured they had dove. Heh. NOPE. They had been shocked so hard it knocked them over, as I found out seconds later. I made it one step before my first shock and another one before I plunged into the deep mud right behind them. After face planting, I raised my head up only to be shocked AGAIN, only this time it blurred my vision instead of pushing me into the mud. We crawled through the rest of the windy 20 feet to emerge frazzled, but alive.

With my vision still fuzzy, I waited for my teammates to finish the mud pit/electroshock gauntlet. We strode across the finish line together.

30. Finish Line
And that was it. I roared when I got up, then almost fell three times as I made my way through the thigh-deep mud around the finish. I had done it. I’m now a Tough Mudder.

I enjoyed my time on the course, but I think I’ll stick to road races in my Vibram Sprints. Were I to run this again, I’d wear something with a bit more sole, like a KSO Trek or possibly a Luna Sandal (iffy because of the mud). There were a lot of sharp rocks on hard ground that made running painful, and I’m a bit bruised today because of that.

Totally worth it.

*As best I can remember. For this article, I checked the official map and wrote down what I remembered, but I know it wasn’t exact. I suppose I should have taken notes, but I couldn’t find anything mud, dirt, water, shock and impact proof. We finished the course in about three hours, fifteen minutes.

Tough Mudder AZ 2012 Recap is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

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Being pregnant, as I currently am, I’m always on the lookout for products and techniques that will make me more comfortable.  From body pillows to back massages, whatever little things I can find and do to ease the awkward discomfort, the better.  Although pregnancy symptoms vary from woman to woman, swollen ankles and sore feet seem to be near universal.  So, as a Vibram FiveFingers wearer, I’ve put them to the test over the past 9 months to see if they are indeed the best shoes for us preggos to reduce the nagging foot pains.

For some background, this is my second pregnancy and I’m due in just 8 days.  I’ve worn FiveFingers for over a year now, but I hadn’t yet discovered them during my first pregnancy. I’ve also begrudgingly included a not-so-flattering picture of myself at 39 weeks pregnant so that you can see I’m still going strong with VFFs.

Throughout this pregnancy, I’ve noted a significant number of positives from wearing VFFs while just one negative that I’ll get to below.

The Positives of Wearing VFFs While Pregant

Comfort is key while being pregnant. I’ve been fortunate that my feet don’t really swell when I’m pregnant, therefore these are still the most comfortable shoes for me to wear. It feels like I’m walking barefoot but with protection. My job does require me to be on my feet a lot and involves a lot of walking. I cannot find anything that makes it any easier.

My shoes also take the random stranger conversations away from my belly and in a new direction. I just don’t really like being pregnant, and the women that “just love it” drive me nuts. And, as if pregnant women don’t get enough attention with their huge bellies and other parts of their bodies getting bigger, my shoes tend to get a unique type of attention. Everyone looks at my shoes and says “oh you have a pair of those things”, or “what are those?”, or “are they comfortable?”. It gets real tiring hearing “when are you due?”, “do you know what you’re having?”, or “have you picked out a name yet?”. I’d much rather talk about something that people are actually really interested in instead of talking about something they really don’t care about and are just trying to create conversation. I love talking about them because I think they are becoming a new fad that people really are intrigued by.

They are also, in fact, stylish. My Bikila’s are a bright pink and orange that can match with many of my workout clothes (which I tend to wear a TON of while pregnant even if I’m not working out a lot). Being pregnant makes you feel fat and ugly. I’m not sure why people say “you’re glowing”. While feeling fat, I still like to look good. My bright shoes make me feel better!

These are the Pink and Orange Bikila's that I wear

The One Negative of Rocking FiveFingers While Pregnant

The only negative about VFFs during pregnancy is getting around the baby-belly to put them on. It’s hard enough bending over to pick something up off the floor, let alone put shoes on that require a bit more work than just tying laces. My advice to for the newly pregnant women out there is to get in the habit during your first trimester of putting them on regularly and practice doing it without your hands over and over. This way, during the earlier months of pregnancy, your toes are trained to fit into their assigned ‘fingers’. If your toes are trained, it’s no harder to put these on than regular sneakers (it might even be a little easier because there is nothing to tie and the velcro stays attached all day). Bonus tip: Instead of even bothering to put them on yourself, just make your husband do it – you deserve to be catered to a little!

Get Comfy

When you’re pregnant, nothing is more appealing than the thought of pure comfort.  While that dream may never come to fruition, you can at least get your feet super comfortable with FiveFingers.  I love my Bikilas – they are so comfortable. I also love that there is something else to strike up conversation besides my baby and how big I’ve gotten. Once you get used to wearing these, pregnant or not, you won’t want to wear anything else.

Never Heard of FiveFingers and Want to Learn More?

If you’ve never heard of FiveFingers, you are probably thinking that they look pretty weird and you aren’t sure if they’d be good for you.  Here are a few articles that you should read to help you answer the question “Why FiveFingers?”:

• How FiveFingers Changed My Life
• FiveFingers Frequently Asked Questions
• FiveFingers Frequently Asked Questions Part 2
• Solving Pain Issues with FiveFingers

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The Most Comfortable Shoes for Pregnant Women is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

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I’ve recently taken it upon myself to begin training for a triathlon (or two) in the coming summer. In the meantime, I have been doing some minor research about various transition practices and have become very curious about individuals’ routines. As I look to be acquiring my first pair of VFFs in the near future, I would like to incorporate them into my triathlon. Now, as I don’t necessarily want to swim in them (nor am I entirely sure they are even allowed in that portion), my concern comes to the transition: is it better to use “caged” pedals and put on the VFFs at the bike transition, or use standard cleats/shoes for biking and then don the VFFs solely for the running portion? Perhaps forego the VFFs entirely?

Do know that I am not necessarily looking to slim off fractions of a second for sake of competition; rather I am looking to develop efficient habits based upon the experiences of others. I appreciate any support or advice you can or do offer. Also, if there are any VFF triathletes in the Indy area, perhaps I’ll see you this summer.

–

Advice, thoughts, well-wishes for Derek?

What are Your Tips for My First Triathlon? is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

Between June 2006 and September 2008, I have four surgeries in two different places to remove cysts. As you might imagine, I didn’t run much during that time. My final surgery on the last day of July in 2008 left me bed-ridden for nine weeks. I lost nearly 25 lbs during that time and for some reason, signed up for a half marathon in January 2009. On October 1, 2008, the day after my doc cleared me, I started training.

I ran a respectable 2 hour, 10 minute half marathon, but immediately broke down. My knees hurt, my hips hurt and my lower back hurt. My $135 Asics did little to alleviate the pain and I shot back up to 240 lbs, which is quite a lot for 5’11″. While I enjoyed my run, I was fearful of doing it again, as I didn’t want to go through the pain once more.

Love these Bikilas for running on hot sidewalks.

CrunchGear came to the rescue a few months later. I couldn’t get the article out of my head, even as I was running in a new pair of Asics through Central Park during an August in New York City. I had to try something different. I had to have those shoes.

In September 2009, I bought my first pair of Vibram Sprints. While I certainly wouldn’t consider the blue camo stylish, they were the only pair I was able to find in person and I couldn’t quite bring myself to order direct from the website just yet.

Fast forward to 13 months later and I’m two days from running my fourth half marathon (second in Vibram Sprints). I’m three months away from running my first marathon. I own four pairs of Vibrams (Sprints, Classics, KSOs and Bikilas) and I wear the Classics or the KSOs every single day. Just three weeks ago, I equaled my previous fastest over 5 mile run in the Sprints and I’ve become faster since.

Stay tuned to find out how much fun I’ve had over the past year+ and how much fun I plan on getting myself into. It’s going to be quite the ride.

My Vibram FiveFingers Story is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

The first time that I wore my pink Bikilas to school, my students had so many questions and comments about them. They would say things like “I love your shoes”, “Are those flippers?”, “Are those things comfortable?” or “Those are the coolest shoes ever!”.  Of course the teacher in me had me repeatedly explaining to them all about the shoes and why they are designed the way they are . I also had several teachers comment on my VFFs with intrigue. I tend to think that I’m from one of the more fashion-forward places on the east coast (Northern Virginia) but I’m constantly surprised at how few people have ever seen or heard of VFFs before.

The students were all clamoring to get a pair of Five Fingers after seeing mine, but I wasn’t too sure if my middle schoolers would be able to fit into them. I did a bit of research and found them this useful sizing chart and article . Some of my girls have a smaller size foot than a woman’s 5, so I told them they just have something to look forward to. For those that do have large enough feet, I advised them that their best bet on getting the right size would be to go to the local running store and use the foot chart that Vibram sends them (and try a few different sizes if they have them in stock).

I have bunch of guesses on the future of Vibram Five Fingers. In a few years I think VFF’s will be significantly more common to the general public as a whole, and definitely nothing new to avid runners. I also think it will likely become the ‘Crocs‘ for a whole new generation, and that the trend will start off slow like Uggs and then become a giant fashion craze. We’ll see if my predictions are right – we can check back on this blog post in a few years and see if I nailed it or completely missed. For now, I love them and my students think they are the coolest shoes ever!  I’ll let you all know as soon as I see some of my students coming to school in new VFFs.

Five Fingers for Teachers AND Students is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

The first time I ever heard of Vibram FiveFingers was several months ago when my husband was talking about what type of watershoes to wear on our upcoming cruise. When he described that they looked like toe socks but with a sole, I just laughed and dismissed his comments. Knowing how I can’t stand the feeling of my toes being individually constrained by fabric, I knew I would never wear anything like that in my life. Fast forward to last Saturday.

While eating lunch at a local coffee shop, my husband spotted a lady in black shoes at the counter ordering coffee. Upon looking down at her feet, I spotted what looked like toe socks. Immediately, I remembered the conversation with my husband. The shoes made their way towards us and my husband immediately struck up a conversation with the lady.

The basics were covered; “How do you like them?“, “Where do you wear them to?”, “How often do you wear them?”, “Where did you get them?”. After hearing her story, I knew down in my feet, I had to have my own. Thirty minutes later, despite fabric being between each of my toes, I purchased my first pair of FiveFinger KSO’s. My feet were in heaven!
Of course, being the Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter addict that I am, I posted pictures of my new, happy feet for all my friends to see. Comments arose, with most being skeptical of my new purchase.

“You are only going to wear those around the house, right?”
“If you are really wearing them out right now, I will never doubt any of my clothes or shoes that I wear ever again.”

I was starting to think my purchase wasn’t the right one, but they felt so great on my feet and I could tell such a difference in my walk just after a few hours. How could something that felt so good be so wrong? I even had a dare to wear them to church the next day. I mean, Jesus wore sandals right? And, most of those in biblical times went barefoot or had some type of sole covering their feet, didn’t they? Mine just ended up having a bit more fabric to them. How could I not wear them?!?!

When I sat down on the pew in the auditorium of the church my darer looked down at my feet to see if I actually wore them. She silently laughed, smiled at the sight and nudged her husband to look. I quickly raised my feet up and wiggled my toes at him. After services, all those that saw my feet basically asked the same questions my husband had asked the lady we saw the day before. I was happy to tell them how comfortable they felt and how my feet could actually breathe. Even my preacher thought they were “cool”. I just had to laugh at this statement and agree with him.

I had read on the FiveFingers website that my FiveFingers helped stimulate certain muscles in my legs and feet that normally would not be used when wearing regular tennis shoes and would help improve my balance as well. I should add that I’m pretty clumsy and can stumble over my own feet. From the first time I put my new “shoes” on, I could tell that these are much more natural and would help keep me more stable on my feet. Problem solved! I’ve enjoyed sharing my experience with all of those that have given curious looks or have asked questions about my feet. I hope to share the love of my new walk with everyone I meet.
Follow Jessica on Twitter @MrsRN2u or find Jessica on Tumblr: http://pleasantly-plump.tumblr.com.

FiveFingers on Sunday is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

Stand up. Go ahead, I promise this won’t hurt.

Now lift one foot about 2 inches and hold it relatively close to (but not touching) your other leg.

Now balance on the other foot for one minute.

Switch legs.

Repeat.

So? Hard? Easy? If you’re like me, the first time doing this exercise probably didn’t go well. Your hips probably shifted back and forth, one or both of your arms moved in or out to counterbalance you, or you just plain lost your balance completely and had to put your other foot down.

Now consider this: A marathon is 4-6 hours spent balancing on one foot or the other. Balance is one of the key components to running. When running barefoot, or in VFFs or other minimalist shoes, balance is even more important because you don’t have a shoe trying to support you. In a thick soled running shoe, the shoe itself provides a rather flat and level surface to meet the ground. But your foot isn’t flat. It isn’t perfectly level. So balance is even more important when running minimally.

What is Balance?

Balance is strength. Balance is strength in your core, your feet, your ankles, your hips, and your lower legs. Balance is the whole body. If any part of the body is weak, your balance will suffer. Not only does your body need to be strong, but you need to have the endurance as well. Balancing perfectly for 3 miles is an accomplishment, but it won’t get you through a marathon. As you progress in your training, you need to continue to work on your balance.

Improving Your Balance

Luckily, there are several really easy things (and a lot of really hard things) you can do to increase your balancing abilities. This week we’ll tackle a few of the basic exercises. Try doing these exercises three times a week. You should see gains in your balance after just a few days. Remember, I’m not a doctor, or a physical therapist, or even a personal trainer. Consult your doctor before starting any workout program and if something hurts, above all… STOP.

One Leg Stands

This one is pretty self explanatory. Balance on one leg. Make sure you’re somewhere with no distractions. Watching TV, seeing the toddler crawl around, or the dog run across the room can seriously mess with your balance.

Pick a fixed point on the wall or the floor and then balance on one leg. Try to hold each leg for 30 seconds to one minute. Engage your core. Stand up straight. Try to keep the raised leg very close to the anchor leg. Switch legs. Do three sets. (A set is one session on each leg)

One Leg Stands with Ball

Once the one leg stands are starting to get easier, add some weight to it. Hold a 2 pound medicine ball (or water bottle, or can of tomatoes, or a hand weight) near your core in the hand on the same side of the body as the leg you’re raising. Now just repeat the first exercise but keep that hand with the weight near your core. Switch legs and hands. Do three sets.

One Leg Stand and Twist

This is the third variation of the same exercise. Now, keep that weight in the hand on the side of the body as the leg you’re raising. Lift your leg, keeping your foot close to the anchor leg and bring the weighted hand straight out in front of you. Engage your core and twist to one side and then the other, slowly. Do this for 30 seconds, all while balancing on one foot. Switch legs and hands. Do three sets. Next Week… working the core.

Supporting Your Running is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

As a reminder from last week’s article, I gave an introduction to The Egoscue Method and described to you how we look at the body and what the designed alignment of the body should be. I also told you that Egoscue believes that the vast majority of musculoskeletal pain, be it that never-ending headache, plantar fasciitis, or anything in between, is due to misalignment of the skeletal system.

We believe that you are designed to move! There is no such thing as a bad motion, and pain is simply your body’s way of telling you that something isn’t quite right. When we address your pain and when talking about overall function and biomechanics we have to keep in mind the kid’s song that states, “The foot bone’s connected to the leg bone.” You can’t forget that the body is a unit, and as we address the cause of your pain we need to stay focused on the big picture.

This week I want to tackle your hip pain. I’m sure some of you reading this article are dealing with a degenerative hip and have been told that you’re headed for a hip replacement. And, you very well might be. Whether you have been told that you need one or not isn’t really what you should be concerned about. The bigger question at play here is the one focused on “why” you have the pain. Yes, surgery can instantly take pain away but the true cause, or the mechanism of pathological movement, has not been addressed. That is where YOU come in. Let me ask you this question and see if it gets your attention. What if you could avoid, or at the very least, delay, that hip replacement and hang on to your original parts for as long as possible?

Think about this: When you cut your arm, it doesn’t stay cut. When you break your leg, it doesn’t stay broken. When you get your hair cut, it grows back. You are a living, breathing organism, and your body is in a constant state of renewal. Your degenerative hip is no different. There is a reason why your hip is degenerating, just like there is a reason why the right front tire on your car is going bald and the others are not. If you eliminate the cause, you’ll eliminate the symptom.

Remember, we are talking about your Vibram FiveFingers (VFFs) and how they, when given the chance, will help you stay functional. So let’s talk about how the VFFs impact your hip function.

When we compare the VFFs to the vast majority of other shoes, if not all shoes, we realize that the VFF is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Go look in your closet and you’ll notice that every other shoe you own has a tapered toe box and brings the toes together. It is, most likely, extremely stiff, and allows for little-to-no motion. In comparison, the role of the VFFs is to let your foot spread and move freely with each step you take in life. We at Egoscue have basically adopted these amazing shoes as our own! They really are that good…but you already knew that! They allow the bones of your feet to spread apart and then compress together as your foot progresses through the normal walking or running motion. With stiff shoes, this just doesn’t happen. The VFFs call upon the muscles and arches of the feet to do their job properly, without worrying about “constriction”. When the muscles of the foot and arch function better, so does the ankle, knee, hip and spinal column. The load joints above the foot are finally doing their job (and ONLY their job, rather than compensating) because of the functional domino effect that begins with a more neutral, free-moving, foot. Because the VFF is extremely pliable and malleable, they create a free-flowing mechanism to happen in your feet without disturbing your busy lifestyle. I can’t say enough great things about them, and just to be clear, I don’t work for Vibram, I just love the concept and product!

Is this starting to make sense? I hope you can see that there is a huge connection between what the foot is being allowed to do and how the hip responds. Just for fun, let’s play a game of anatomical “connect-the-dots”:

In an effort to not get overly technical and anatomical, take a look at your leg. That’s it, just look down. See how your foot is connected to your hip? Congratulations! You just played your first game of anatomical “connect-the-dots”. If you can see that the two are connected, then we have to assume that your shoes are greatly impacting your hip. There aren’t any hidden secrets here. You don’t have to have an anatomy degree. It truly is that simple. The foot bone is connected to the leg bone!

Try this on for size! What would you say if I told you that your “overly pronated” feet, diagnosed by your nearby shoes store, are that way in an attempt to create a locking mechanism during your standing posture and your walking? This locking mechanism is crucial to correct foot, knee, hip, and spinal motion. Kind of makes you think a bit, especially when you have been told that pronation is a bad thing. Egoscue begs to differ, and the reason we differ is that we have faith in the human body doing exactly what it should be doing at that time. So instead of hindering your motion, let’s increase your motion and what better place to start than your feet! If you let the foot move like it should, it will relearn exactly what it is designed to do, and do it! Remember, your symptoms are signals that something is not working as it should. Your hip pain or your degenerative joint issues are symptoms of something much larger at play. This must not be overlooked, and the VFF shoes could be just the answer you are looking for.

Trust me, I’m not expecting the guys at Vibram to come out and say that your degenerative hip will be cured by wearing their shoes, but I am here to say that their shoes will play a huge role in your hip joint regaining full function because of what the VFFs allow your foot to do and the way they positively impact the rest of your load joints.

Once your gait is changed, the hip will be allowed to function properly and, only then, will the body have a chance to heal itself. Remember, you cut your arm and it doesn’t stay cut, you break your leg and it doesn’t stay broken, why is your hip joint any different? The answer is, it isn’t.

Get in your VFFs (regardless of how weird they might look) and let your body function at its optimum level. If you’re wanting to get a head-start on your overall function and biomechanics you can CLICK HERE to download four e-cises that will help you start living life PAIN FREE!

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The premise of The Egoscue Method is postural therapy: realigning the body to its original design blueprint through proper functional muscle engagement and without the use of drugs, surgery or manipulation. John Elder is the Clinic Director and Owner of the Franklin, Tennessee location. John found the Method at the age of 16 after suffering for two years with a bulging disc in his lower back. He has lived the last 16 years pain free and the last 5 years as an Egoscue Therapist sharing his story of hope with others throughout the south. Contact John today by emailing johne@egoscue.com or by calling the Nashville Clinic at 615.771.8556.

Hip Shoes is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

I’ve been injured a lot. A lot. I’m a bit overweight, have a family history of weak knees, and overall, I’m not shaped like a runner. I’m short, kind of squat, and curvy. So what can you do to minimize injuries and recover from them faster? Here are a few tips.

Increase Distance and Intensity Slowly

Conventional running wisdom is to add mileage at a rate of 10% per week. When you start running, this may be as little as a quarter of a mile each week. As you build distance of course, you can add more each week, but don’t fall prey to the temptation to eek out just a couple of extra miles when you’re just starting out.

The same rules apply for intensity. After your first successful 5 mile flat run, don’t go out the very next week and throw eight or nine hills into the mix. Start with one or two smaller hills instead. If you’re comfortable at running five miles at a 12 minute mile pace, don’t go out on your very next run and try to do five miles at 10 minute miles. Add a few quarter or half mile speed sessions to your next five mile run after you’ve warmed up sufficiently.

Don’t Run Through the Pain

We’ve al been there. You’re out on a run and something starts to hurt. Badly. Sure, it might just be temporary. But it might not be. If something starts to hurt, STOP. Walk for a few minutes. Stretch a little bit. Then try to run again. Better? Ok then, keep going. No? Then stop. This is one of the main reasons why I always bring a cell phone and a couple of dollars with me on my runs.

I know very well the temptation of just continuing on. I have a little game I play with myself that’s so far kept me from injuring myself too badly (though as I’ll tell you about next week, I did dislocate my cuboid bone two months ago). If something hurts, I do the stop and stretch game. After that I start running again. I give myself 20 steps. If I’m still hurting (and it’s not just muscle soreness from a hard run) after 20 steps, then it’s time to stop and either walk home, call for a ride, or get on a bus.

Assess and Treat Quickly

If you’ve hurt something on a run, it’s important to treat the injury as quickly as possible. Keeping an ice cup in your freezer is a great idea. You can buy a freezable ice cup (usually with carrying case) from most running stores. Ice massage is a great way of treating an injury. Just seven minutes of ice massage can do as much or more as 15 minutes with an ice pack. Practice good RICE techniques (REST-ICE-COMPRESSION-ELEVATION). If you wake up the next day and the pain is gone, then it probably wasn’t anything major and you can continue on with your training program. However, if you wake up and the pain’s still there, then keep practicing RICE and don’t run for one week. If the pain is still there after three days, it’s time to call a professional.

Know When to Call In the Professionals

If you’ve been hurting for a couple of days and don’t seem to be getting any better, it’s time to call a professional. If you have the ability, pick a physical therapist or a sports medicine doctor over a general practitioner. Why? Because in my experience, general practitioners are much more likely to tell you to stop running than to actually treat the root cause of the problem. Sports medicine doctors are better, but my money has always been on physical therapists. A physical therapist’s job is to get you back doing what you were doing before. If there’s a way to get you back running, a good PT is going to find it. Not only that, but a good PT will help you figure out why you hurt yourself in the first place. When I dislocated my cuboid, the PT was able to not only guide it back into place, but also to give me tips and exercises to fix the issue that caused the dislocation (weak hips and balance issues). Had I just gone to a general practitioner, he or she probably would have just relocated the bone and sent me on my way.

Next Week: Supporting minimalist running with cross training and strength training

Injuries and Minimalist Running is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

I wear MY Fivefingers all day every day. I’ve done some yoga and jogging in them. I wear mine more for continual foot health. Walking just feels more natural in them.

What about you?

What Do YOU Do In Your Fivefingers? is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site