I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned that 2 recording breaking marathon runs were by athletes wearing the Nike Vaporfly shoe.
The shoe was ultimately banned due to the giving too much "bounce" (free energy) to the runners.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-athletics-shoe/nike-proto...
I've used them (as a ~3:00 marathoner). They probably are good for a few minutes off your time. But what I noticed most was that the next day I said to my wife, "I don't think I ran hard enough." Oh, I ran hard enough, but the shoes do so much better at keeping the legs from getting trashed. Normally, I'd take the day off the day after a marathon. Instead, I said, "screw it, I'm going for a short run."
And the VaporFly has little to do with this proposition, other than using a spring-like device.
I made a mistake in shoe choice for a vacation one year, before I knew how much my wife absolutely insists on walking at least 10 miles a day. That was 8 years ago and I still have pretty severe pain almost every morning.
I basically had to stop any recreational walking for a year. I tried the Vibram FiveFingers and I think they helped (yes, I know about the lawsuit: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-27335251), but my equation for recovery is rest + time then gentle strengthening (and luck I guess, in the case of my plantar fasciitis). And ergonomic everything wherever possible to prevent future issues before they occur.
Mainly, though, is they're $250 a pair. That's a pretty pricey experiment without some bit of evidence, even if anecdotal, that they might work for your problem.
Good luck, though. I know plantar fasciitis is a tough one to treat.
An ideal spring (or a capacitor) should not absorb any energy.
1) Kuru tennis shoes with an insert for PF are excellent. 2) Oofos slippers by my bedside even today. They provide such good relief 3) aleve > other pain meds 4) the PF splint which stretches out your foot cN work wonders
I ultimately had to get my plantar fascia released, my inflammation had just become so severe there was no other option. I’m really glad I did it though, it’s been completely gone ever since. My foot feels fantastic now, though the recovery was a little long. I was walking around after a few weeks but I didn’t feel 100% until probably eight or 10 months out. I still use all of the above and it has yet to return. But they were also incredibly effective at managing my pain/inflammation. I just had them recommended too late in the process.
What does this mean?
It’s an old procedure at this point that different doctors have different opinions on. In my case, I had a second opinion from a doctor who thought he was going to tell me no, but then he looked at my history of treatment and went “yeah at this point, you have no other option. It’s this or live with what you’ve got and I would say go for it.” Considering he was going in prepared to tell me no that was actually very encouraging and I’m glad I did it. But it does not mean it is for everyone, I highly recommend if you are considering it to get two or three opinions on it, and to exhaust all your other options.
By that point I had pretty much integrated every single piece of equipment that could give me a relief and had done multiple rounds of steroids - both oral and injection. It would always get close to getting better, then would start re-inflaming. I’m 18mo out now and doing great.
Tendons and ligaments do not adapt at the same rate as muscles. Nor do articulation patterns.
(Still, your mileage may vary, I included lots of exercise specifically for the transition. And still run in Altras.)
[edit] Unable to find the one i searched but found this article claiming a 2-3x times bodyweight impact on the legs when wearing shoes.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/01/barefoot-runn...
[edit]
Another great study found while searching
> A large majority (68%) of runners participating in the study experienced no new injuries after starting barefoot running. In fact, most respondents (69%) actually had their previous injuries go away after starting barefoot running.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S209525461...
I suppose that different activities require different footwear.
Thanks for the recommendation, might give em a try. Tested some brands so far, stayed with Vivobarefoot.
[edit] Disclaimer: Repeat customer
The only solution that worked for me was stretching. When you are standing on a step, let your heel hang down as low as possible one foot at a time. Do this for both feet and do it with straight legs and bent knees multiple times a day. It only takes about a minute and does an amazing job of curing plantar.
In my case, I needed shoes with more support around the mid-foot so the feet didn't rotate in or out too much. The flip side is that as soon as I wear the wrong kind of shoes my feet let me know within a couple of workouts.
I also wear superfeet insoles in all my casual shoes.
The brand that works for you may not be the same as mine but Hokas work well right now and Saucony ProGrid Omnis worked really well too in the past. Saucony unfortunately keeps changing the names of their shoes but I think the current "Grid" type shoes are similar.
Asics, Mizunos, Brookes, etc. were all useless to me.
So, I would say keep trying different pairs of shoes.
I'm usually a big fan of sports medicine and physical therapy, but in this case those fields were pretty clueless about deducing the cause beyond general platitudes.
Edit: To add, my symptoms were first caused by wearing the wrong kind of shoes because Saucony stopped making the ones I was used to and I tried another brand on someone's advice.
I have Brookes right now. They felt good when I first got them, but they just didn't hold up. I think my local shoe store must have too many Brookes shoes. They push them really hard every time I go.
1. Max stack height of 40 mm 2. Only one carbon plate allowed per show (Kipchoge's had 3)