Are Barefoot Running Shoe Benefits FAKE?[2021 Minimalist Shoe Update]

10 years of data of big, thick, maximalist shoes versus more minimalist shoes. Look at how flexible and flimsy this is. They say you can use these to build up muscle, flexibility, strength, prevent bunions, and other foot problems. What do the last 10 years of data show? Well, it shows that there's five factors, and I'm going to show you all five of them and how to choose your minimalist shoe and how to stretch for it, how to exercise for it, and how to get ready for it. We're starting right now. Guys, thank you so much for giving us a like, a subscribe, and comment. These really make a big difference in the rankings and keep these videos being watched. Let us keep helping people. The Journal of Foot and Ankle Research, over the last couple of years, they released something called the Minimalist Index, which has been an amazing thing. It standardizes shoes. Why can't you study shoes? Because everybody's different. Everybody has a million different variables with them. Every shoe's different. There's no minimalist shoes that are the same. There's no maximalist shoes that are the same. There's no neutral shoes that are the same. Even within companies, they flip-flop all over the place, and that's what makes these studies impossible. What works great for one person, the other person hates, and they're relatively similar people. If you're ever working at a shoe store like Al Bundy and married with children, your life will be miserable because what one person tells another person makes them feel good, the other person hates, and there's just too many variables. That's why the Minimalist Shoe Index is beneficial. Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery used five criteria. Flexibility, so how flexible is the shoe? This is a zero on the Flexible Shoe Index right here. Pretty flexible, close to a 100. Number two is weight. You know, this is a maximalist shoe, but it's actually pretty light. This is a more minimalist shoe, also pretty light, so that's just one criteria. The stack height is how thick the heel is, so if you stick an orthotic in there, if you have a thicker heel, that's more support, more of a stack height, whereas look at how thin this thing is right here. That's not much of a stack height. Being barefoot is technically zero stack height, whereas this, this is a lot of stack height. This is stability, so when you land on this, you can see how built up the heel is. You're moving around. Your muscles don't really have to work, so looking at your Achilles tendon, I lost the Achilles tendon, but the Achilles tendon right here, when you're in a shoe this big, the maximalist shoe, the Achilles tendon is barely working, whereas the minimalist shoe, it's working quite a bit. You still have to fire all these muscles and stabilize yourself. One is motion, so in a shoe like this, you're moving around a lot. There's a lot of stuff going on. That goes from zero, so this is closer to zero on the minimal shoe index, and this is closer to a hundred, although that's probably not quite a hundred. There's more minimal shoes out there. Number two is the muscles. In a minimalist shoe, look at all these muscles and the Achilles tendon. They're going to be working harder in a minimalist shoe, so a little shoe like this rather than a huge shoe like this, so your muscles get stronger. That means they're more sore at the beginning, but they gradually get stronger, and your foot gets better condition. Number three is for some people, they're a lot better, especially if you have knee and hip problems. With a shoe like this, you're going to take shorter, choppier steps, whereas with a shoe like this, you forget about any of your foot pain, and you're taking huge long leaps. Your muscles, your hips are working harder because your foot's not really doing anything. That muscle strength and impact has to be absorbed somewhere, so it's just absorbing other parts of your bodies. For some people, that's good. For some people, that's bad. Everybody's a little bit different. A major reason minimalist shoes don't work is if one foot's tighter than the other, so you can see right here, my left foot's more flexible than my right foot. If that's the case, the older you are, the less you will adapt to lack of cushion and lack of support, so this is where I notice the biggest differences. Flexibility differences, arthritis, stiffness. This is when you need more support and you tolerate minimalist shoes less. Trying these stretching devices barefoot is a perfect example of the minimalist shoe index. Barefoot, this is going to kill the front of my foot and my heel, and a slant board like this, same thing. It's hurting the front of my feet, my big toe joint, my little toes, because I'm not as flexible in my left foot as my right foot, and I can feel it more. This is where a minimalist shoe won't help me. The more I raise the angle, the more my foot will hurt in the front, so as an example, if I get a good supportive shoe higher on the minimal index or less on the minimal index, and now I stretch, I'm in a great stretch with pretty much zero pain in the bottom of my foot and my heel. If you're getting pain doing these basic things barefoot, you won't be able to tolerate a run, whereas gradually you could move from zero percent minimal index, so as an example, stretching on the lowest levels and then gradually working your way up to the highest levels, then maybe starting barefoot on the lowest levels, because this is an example. Younger, healthier people can tolerate stretching barefoot better than a 75-year-old man can. Number four, there's a lot of running benefits, so there's a lot of studies out there, and they're linked below, but they show people who wear more minimal shoes, the shoes are lighter, they use less oxygen, you're cutting, you're sprinting speed, everything gets a little bit better, so there aren't a lot of benefits that are claimed. These are not definitive because the studies are not large in nature, even though some people believe 100% in this and will stand by it to their death because it worked for them. And number five, you take shorter, choppier steps with the minimalist shoe that relieves knee and hip pain, so if you're having knee and hip pain, this might be better for you. Here's five bonus tips for minimalist running. You want to focus on shorter, choppier steps, so more forefoot striking, so you want to land more on your forefoot, and you want to take more steps per minute. You want to start out slow, so number three is you want to start out slow. Don't run 25 miles your first day, run a little bit, run to the end of your street, see how it feels, see how you feel the next day, ease into it. Prepare yourself for soreness. If you're doing a lot, your front of the leg is going to be sore, your calf muscles are going to be sore, the bottom of your foot's going to be sore. Yes, the muscles are getting stronger, but it's like going to the gym. Can you afford to work those joints out? If you have arthritis in the bottom of your foot or your big toe joint, this will never help you. Minimalist shoe stuff won't fix arthritis, and what fixes bunions and hammer toes is if the toe box is tight in the front, it doesn't matter whether it's a maximalist shoe or a minimalist shoe. You don't want a tapered shoe front. You want a shoe that has some room in the front, so if you have enough room in the front, like you can see right here, if you look at the front right here, this minimalist shoe, because it's not designed for running, is actually more tapered at the front than this guy, so which one's better for a bunion hammer toe? Really, there's no definitive answer there, so this is the huge con. The older you are and the more frail you are, the harder time you're going to have with minimalist shoes. What that means for you is the minimalist shoes are going to hurt your joints. Your muscles are going to hurt more. Your ankles are going to hurt more. Young people who are great athletes and very physically fit, this is better for you. I'm not arguing with that. The more fit you are, if you're a super marathon runner who's already in great shape, eating your greens, eating your vegetables, you're going to probably like the barefoot running more than a 65-year-old with joint pain. The bottom line is people we see in the clinic love these. If I told them to wear something like this, they would probably stop running almost immediately and give out because they'd be so sore the next day. When you first start out with minimalist shoes, you have to massage your joints and your muscles. Loosen them up. Massage roll and foam roll your hips, your lower back, your hamstrings. This is going to put less pressure on your feet. Your feet will have to absorb less, so massage roller sticks works really well. Your calf muscles, make sure they're not stiff before your first few runs. Studies have shown that loosening up your muscles puts a lot less pressure onto your foot, and you'll be able to handle less support in your foot. The stiffer you are through your plantar fascia right there, and you can see I'm using this rubberized little ball to loosen up my plantar fascia as well, the more flexibility you have, the less you will need in your minimalist shoes and the stronger your muscles can get. So then after you massage roll and you warm up your muscles, stretch with a towel. Stretch out your hamstrings, your calf muscles, your feet will thank you, and then with the plantar fascia, so right here you can see the plantar fascia is what usually gets sore with barefoot running, is you want to stretch that out even more, and that will give you less pain your first few runs, and your muscles will transition quicker and adapt easier. Don't forget about your groin, your hips, so that your feet can land straight and they're not internally rotated due to tightness. That will pay huge dividends. Guys, thank you so much for watching our video on perineal tendonitis. Give us a like, tell us how you injured yours. 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