Questions & Answers

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.

http://www.endless.com/Drew-Shoe-Womens-Jada-Mary/dp/B002VPCKUK

I have this shoe. After 2-3 months of only wearing a flat sole, they actually feel funny to me. I mostly wear moccs, imatation Converse without the giant rubber toe cap or sandals.

There are times when I need an actual dress shoe. I kinda doubt I will find one with a completely flat sole and lots of toe room anytime soon. These are stretchy.

Will the heel be hollow? Should I fill it with some kind of shoe goo? What would be best?

Thanks for everything.

Marie

Hi, I'm a 49 year old woman who made a typo earlier and claimed to be 40. I started wearing orthotics in 1992 while I was still in the USAF. I'm retired now. I've recently had 2 operations on my left foot and one on my right. While I was stumbling around with the surgery shoe and a pound of bandages, I got lots of $5 cotton tennis shoes to wear. I wore them after the bandages came off too. Orthotics rip right through them, so I quit wearing them "for now."

They really didn't work so great, so I tried moccasins. Since my feet were so wide to begin and now amazingly swollen, I had to make them. I would buy cheap leather clothes from charities and make the Viking or Iron Age shoes shown on Instructables.com. Of course that kind of leather with no sole only lasts a short while on the sidewalks.

Its been 2 years since they operated on my right foot and it still isn't 'level' on the bottom. They offered me a new orthotic. It hurt. I have been putting sheepskin in my moccs. That fixed it but I have to wear it all the time. There are worst things.

Here's a couple things I just made. No idea what I'm going to do this winter because I live in Ohio and I'm not putting my current snowboots back on,

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5279/7383709376_91b6f5560d_m.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8005/7356462514_de4dc2c834_m.jpg

I'm Jon from the Norfolk, VA area. I'm a marathoner with a working problem…I work too much and don't get to run enough. I wore custom orthotics for over 10 years and became so reliant on them, I hesitated to walk around the house barefoot but instead, wore my running shoes with orthotics in the house. In January 2010, I had a very bad day at the Disney Marathon and realized that my running style and training was on the wrong track. After a lot of reading and several weeks of healing, I bought my first pair of VFF KSOs and began the search for the Kenyan inside all of us.

Almost a year later, I have sworn off orthotics for good and am not afraid to tell my story. Before getting sidelined with pneumonia earlier this year, I mad it up to 22 miles in minimalist shoes during my latest marathon training program; that was less than 8 months after I mustered the courage to ditch my orthotics. I've looked at POSE and Chi running and believe that most adults have forgotten how to run properly, even though we did it instinctively in our youth.

I thought this was interesting

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/health/nutrition/18best.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all