Running And Injuries: Part 1 - An Introduction Into How You Can Enjoy This Activity Without Pain

 

This information is taken from Dr. Peter Attia’s interview with Irene Davis Ph.D, The Evolution of the foot, running injuries, and minimalist shoes. The link to the complete podcast is below which I encourage you to listen to…while you’re running! 

 

Here are some key takeaways:

 

Landing on the ball of your foot lowers injury risk due to lower impact this most often occurs when you run barefoot or minimalist.

 

With regards to fixing your feet, no other orthopedic issues are braced permanently, they receive a brace until proper strengthening occurs.

 

A Military study showed there was no lower injury risk in a different style of shoes for different types of feet, (flatter, higher arch, etc).

 

Dr. Davis believes our feet have evolved to be sufficient on their own to support our body

+26 bones

+33 articulations with 6 degrees of motion

+4 layer of arch muscles

 

Dr. Davis believes Orthotics are like a band-aid, a short term solution for a long term issue

 

Humans have been running for 2 million years and clearly doing something right from an evolutionary standpoint.

Interesting that the oldest footwear is 10,000 years old and is very minimalist (only to protect the foot from the environment, not to provide support).

 

Running shoes only became prominent in the 1960’s and then there was the aerobic boom…and then came the injuries.

 

More on the injuries and how to best prevent them in Part 2.

 

Please reference the entire podcast below.  I believe you will find it fascinating.