I have been using the last stage of the Barefoot Science Foot Strengthening System for 2 weeks now. I am going to keep using them for a while because I don't feel done yet. The muscles haven't firmed up yet and I can tell if I quit now, it will all be for nothing.
The pain in my feet and knees is greatly reduced after 3 months. Because I have a structural problem, I might have to keep wearing these, but that would be no hardship. That would be the same pain that there was no quick and easy solution for as long as I was wearing moccs and sandals and Converse as my only shoes.(Imitation Converse and Scotchguard is my idea of keeping dry or being presentable. It seems a hunk of moose on each foot is not acceptable at times and I don't even have a job.) That would be the pain they wanted me to start wearing knee braces and prescription shoes for. Its about 95% gone. I'm not wearing those.
I got stuck at the 2nd stage for a month and the 4th stage also. When I couldn't take anymore I walked in a pair of moccs that would be impossible to wear orthotics or arch supports in. Nothing but glove leather and foam. There were plenty of days that I needed to not use them because MY FEET NEEDED TO REST. You work muscles long enough, you might want to take days off to not hurt and I did.
Did it make this longer? I don't know or care. It made this doable.
Other people have said they had muscle twinges all up and down their body while retraining their feet muscles. Me too. Some days I felt stiff and sore like I had a complete work out, instead of walking a very tiny dog slowly down the street and back. Listen to your body more than a time chart if you try this. If you aren't ready, don't progress. Pain means stop.
You can look at my old posts to see what all things I have going on with my feet and knees. Enough to say here its a little past what bad shoes and bad posture can do.
Its been fantastic. I really didn't expect quite this much improvement. I'm sure I'm going to have some interesting conversations with my medical team.
Marie, I just came across your post. A year and a half late but hey as they say better late than never. I would be curious to hear how you are doing. A couple of things. What most people don't realize is that you will benefit from wearing the insoles with every step you ever make with shoes on forever. Basically the body needs stimulus , mild irritation or proprioceptive feedback in order for it to function properly. When the foots proprioceptors or nerve endings are insulated by shoes the gait and balance muscles stay in the fetal position and do not fire properly. The last three paragraphs of the Lemke file explains this. http://barefoot-science.com/bfs-content/files/progfootstr.pdf The bottom line is that the body and feet need stimulus to function and the only two ways that you can get it is by walking barefoot in the sand or grass or by wearing barefoot science insoles. The other common issue that I often see is that by the time most people find barefoot science they have a significant amount of restriction built up in the many foot and body joints. When I hear that you got stuck on level two and four I know that you had restriction in your foot joints. I have found that the best treatment to release these "Symptoms" is Shock Wave( sound Waves) therapy. http://www.shockwavetherapy.eu/ Just Google it in your area. If you still have restriction after three visits then you have the wrong therapist. When you treat the symptoms at the same time BFS is treating the cause the results are incredible.The time to move from the alignment problems you see in slides 15 & 16 should be reduced to eight weeks. http://barefoot-science.com/bfs-content/files/Exercise_is_Good.pdf It is especially good in speeding up the recovery time for plantar fasciitis or releasing the hip and pelvis muscles to eliminate leg length discrepancies. You can e-mail me at lstodd@barefoot-science.com if you are interested in seeing any other educational pieces.
Lance