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as someone who switched to vibrams 6 months ago, and not having been an avid runner before (I do play soccer a lot) due to knee and ankle pains from heel-strike

as someone who switched to vibrams 6 months ago, and not having been an avid runner before (I do play soccer a lot) due to knee and ankle pains from heel-strike running, I've noticed distance running has become infinitely more enjoyable than it used to. That aside. I think people are missing the point of this article. The point is more about the WAY we are walking/running than what we are wearing. The solutions out there (thick soled running/walking shoes) are merely trying to alleviate the pressure caused by this poor WAY of walking (heel strikes, etc). The fact is, when we were kids running around barefoot, we ran on the balls of our feet, because that is the instinctual way to run.

Mz 16y ago
The fact is, when we were kids running around barefoot, we ran on the balls of our feet, because that is the instinctual way to run. Funny, I belong to some autism boards. "Toe walking" is considered indicative of ASD -- ie it is viewed as pathological. Makes me wonder if that view is partly a product of a culture where we are so used to shoes that we simply don't know how to walk/run without them. My oldest son sometimes runs the trash down barefoot -- roughly a quarter of a mile -- and he runs on the balls of his feet when he is barefoot. I have read this is the norm with barefoot runners.
- brianbreslin 16y ago
  well is toe walking like walking on your tip toes? thats not the same as walking on your balls of your feet/forefoot. interesting though, i'd never heard of a link between autism and "toe walking," but i suspect you are right, this is one of those situations where society has shoe-style-walking so heavily ingrained in our minds that we see something else (even if its natural) and think something must be wrong.
  - Mz 16y ago
    Oh, I'm sure it can be indicative of something. But I have two ASD kids and they are doing well in part because I was careful to not pathologize every little thing they did. Lots of things "normal" people do get viewed as pathological once someone qualifies for some label or other. I think that is extremely harmful. I really can't say for sure what they mean by "toe walking". I filter out a lot of what gets said as "noise".

Mz 16y ago

The fact is, when we were kids running around barefoot, we ran on the balls of our feet, because that is the instinctual way to run. Funny, I belong to some autism boards. "Toe walking" is considered indicative of ASD -- ie it is viewed as pathological. Makes me wonder if that view is partly a product of a culture where we are so used to shoes that we simply don't know how to walk/run without them. My oldest son sometimes runs the trash down barefoot -- roughly a quarter of a mile -- and he runs on the balls of his feet when he is barefoot. I have read this is the norm with barefoot runners.

brianbreslin 16y ago
well is toe walking like walking on your tip toes? thats not the same as walking on your balls of your feet/forefoot. interesting though, i'd never heard of a link between autism and "toe walking," but i suspect you are right, this is one of those situations where society has shoe-style-walking so heavily ingrained in our minds that we see something else (even if its natural) and think something must be wrong.
- Mz 16y ago
  Oh, I'm sure it can be indicative of something. But I have two ASD kids and they are doing well in part because I was careful to not pathologize every little thing they did. Lots of things "normal" people do get viewed as pathological once someone qualifies for some label or other. I think that is extremely harmful. I really can't say for sure what they mean by "toe walking". I filter out a lot of what gets said as "noise".