Healthy Feet

As an “older” woman, I have begun to have some foot problems.  To keep me from the podiatrist’s knife, I bought some “Yoga Toes” which I’ve been wearing 3-4 times a week while bathing or reading or watching TV. Whenever I can put my feet up to rest.

Recently I’ve been reading the book, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall which has made me want to go a little further with my natural healing. In the book, McDougall quotes Dr. Paul Brand, a professor of surgery, who says, “foot ailments such as corns, bunions, hammer-toes, flat feet, and fallen arches are nearly nonexistent in countries where most people go barefoot.”

Stanford’s track and cross-country coach, Vin Lananna said, “If you strengthen the foot by going barefoot, I think you reduce the risk of Achilles and knee and plantar fascia problems.” According to McDougall, Lananna made sure his runners always did part of their workouts in bare feet on the track’s infield.

Dr. Gerard Hartmann, a physical therapist who works with the world’s finest distance runners said, “the best injury-prevention advice he’s ever heard came from a coach who advocated ‘running barefoot on dewy grass three times a week.’”

The fascinating part about reading this book was that I began to think of myself as a runner, even though I probably haven’t run more than a few hundred feet at a time in years. So one warm evening recently, I challenged my husband to a short race on the golf course… barefoot.

In my mind I could see me taking off and running like the wind leaving my husband in my dust. He wanted to give me a head start, and I looked at him like he was crazy. So we started off. “Oh, my gosh…” I could barely even get started and by the time I did, I was the one left in the dust. We did 3 or 4 more races and I got a little better, but never did beat him. The next morning when I got up, my back was really knotted up and I ended up in the chiropractor’s office before the day was over. After a couple of days of rest, I do plan to go out to the golf course once again and practice running barefoot. Maybe I’ll get better… or maybe I’m too old?