Vibram: Five Fingers

    My fiancé and I have been wearing five fingers for almost a year now, and have noticed an increase in strength and decrease in number of injuries.  The five fingers are designed to make you feel as though you’re barefoot.  As people who enjoy the outdoors, water sports and hiking, these shoes are great for the summer, but can be hard to get a hold of as they are currently in high demand.  Regular shoes have added support and protection for your foot and may be recommended for people who over pronate or have flat feet.  While the extra support can be helpful, it also will eventually weaken the muscles around the foot and ankle (since the support is doing the work that the muscles would usually do).  Five fingers help to build up these muscles, increase your proprioceptive ability (the ability to tell where your body/foot is in space) and balance, and will help to eventually decrease your likelihood of getting an ankle sprain.  
    Many runners have been switching over to running barefoot, or with vibram’s, and researchers have begun to notice that doing so will drastically change the way they run!  Watch the video below to see the difference in running with shoes and without.  Please note that running without shoes can take some getting used to and you will probably need to train yourself to land on your forefoot instead of your heel.  If you are able to train yourself to do this, you may notice that your knees hurt less or that your shin splints slowly start to dissipate.  This is because you are absorbing more of the impact with your forefoot before it has time to reach your joints higher up your leg.  
    If you have time, be sure to check out the five finger's website.  They have information about running barefoot, the mechanics of their shoes and will have store locators (as vibram's are not sold at large chain shoe stores).  Happy running!