[pct-l] Barefoot Hiking

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good afternoon, All,

I always get a kick out of hearing about the hikers who think they must
carry every compact, high-tech gizmo, but then want to hike barefoot.

I believe hikers who overpronate, i.e. are flat-footed, should be very
cautious about removing the arch support function from shoes.  I used to
wear flat running shoes and my flat feet never hurt, but my knees certainly
did.  Without getting too far into the weeds describing the bio-engineering
involved, I’ll just say overpronation moves the center of the foot strike
outwards.

When a line between the center of the hip joint and the foot center no
longer passes through the center of the knee joint, the outer edge of the
joint is overloaded.

Both of my knees became extremely sore at those outermost edges to the
point any walking or running was painful.  Within a week after installing
appropriate arch inserts I was back running hours at a time.  Even today –
many years later – if I walk for more than an hour of so without support I
begin to feel the beginning of strain on the outboard edges of the knee
joints.

Your results may vary.  Celebrate the thorns.

Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/



On Sat, Jan 21, 2012 at 1:26 PM, Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes <
diane at santabarbarahikes.com> wrote:

> Ray Jardine actually recommended a period of time hiking barefoot
> each day for therapeutic purposes. He says, "It's a great way to
> toughen ailing feet, both internally and externally. Leg pains can
> disappear after walking only a short distance barefoot - a fact which
> points to the footwear as the culprit. I consider regular but brief
> stints of barefoot hiking both a preventative and something of a cure."
>
> You might consider bringing some moccasins or other non-intrusive
> footwear for this purpose if you don't want to go completely barefoot
> and just wear them some of the time. I have been doing a lot of
> hiking in Altra running shoes, which is a new minimalist brand that
> offers a couple of models with a bit of padding, and I've done a lot
> of backpacking in Chaco sandals, which aren't that minimal but they
> are somewhat less minimal because they are sandals. Anything more
> minimal than that and I feel a need to switch back to regular shoes
> after a few miles if only to get in some power miles.
>
> On Jan 21, 2012, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> > Subject: [pct-l] Barefoot Hiking
> > To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> > Message-ID:
> >       <
> CAJ9hrMUCZSqn_Bx6Q0rQLhqP+0Fk44yqxtMzAqqVqfCOG-iSJA at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> >
> > Hello everyone,  Does anyone have experience hiking barefoot? I have a
> > strained Achilles tendon that I have been trying to recover from,
> > and I
> > looked into the philosophy of barefoot running/walking and was
> > intrigued by
> > it. I normally do not like to wear shoes, and really only wear them
> > when I
> > am hiking, walking or backpacking. In the past, before my injury,
> > I would
> > often walk barefoot with no problems. But since I strained my heel,
> > I have
> > been wearing shoes most all the time. Well, as part of my own
> > therapy, I
> > thought I would start to walk barefoot just to see where it would
> > go, and *
> > viola!* the soreness in my heel was reduced by half during my walks
> > and
> > reduced post walk. I am excited about this discovery and want to
> > expand on
> > it. I believe the shoes and boots I have been wearing have been
> > pressing
> > against the back of my heel, causing it to be sore. I am not 100
> > percent
> > yet, but I think I am on my way. I am thru hiking the PCT this year
> > and
> > want my feet to be in the best shape possible. I know I cannot thru
> > hike
> > barefoot, as I have hiked sections of the PCT in my area,
> > ( Tehachapi Pass
> > to Kennedy Meadows) the terrain would be ferocious on bare feet.
> > But as a
> > part of training, and maybe a pair of minimalist shoes for
> > backpacking,
> > maybe I can pull this off after all. I don't know if feet need some
> > kind of
> > "support" while carrying a heavy load. Any help would be really
> > appreciated. Thanks,  Mark
>
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