Running without shoes: Healthy, but to be enjoyed with caution
By Laura Tomassini, Lex Kleren Switch to German for original article
Barefoot shoes strengthen muscles and improve mobility - but switching too quickly can do more harm than good. Two experts explain why we shouldn’t ditch our regular shoes overnight in favor of barefoot ones. Instead, it takes patience to truly benefit our feet - and, in turn, our entire body.
It's kind of funny: as children, there's nothing better than running barefoot through the garden, splashing your toes in the mud and simply enjoying the feeling of freedom that comes with it. At some point, the shoes come along, initially only put on under protest by mum and dad, then at some point proudly laced up and finally worn as a stylish accessory. The actual reason for wearing shoes, namely to protect the soles of the feet from injury and from heat or cold, fades into the background. The important thing is the aesthetics, that the shoe also matches the outfit visually.
Tom Dieschburg cares little about the look of his feet. The trained sports therapist, or "rééducateur" in French, wears so-called barefoot shoes, i.e. shoes that protect the feet from external injuries with a thin sole, but do not restrict the natural shape of the foot or freedom of movement. Even in his youth, Dieschburg liked to leave his shoes at home. During a school trip to Rhodes, he walked barefoot the whole time, regardless of the looks he received from classmates and tourists. Even today, the passionate climber often chooses direct contact with the earth, be it when hiking in the forest or simply in his private life.
The secret to injury-free running
"There's a lot of dirt on the ground and there's not much natural ground in everyday life, but the more you walk barefoot, the thicker the cornea becomes, so you're still protected from injury, " says the sports therapist. Through his studies and his personal interest, he discovered the positive effects of walking barefoot and integrated the topic into his master's thesis. "I conducted a study at the Laboratoire de Recherche en Médecine du Sport at the hospital in Eich on risk factors for running-related injuries in long-distance runners and followed people who were preparing for the ING Marathon, " says Dieschburg.
The potential for prevention piqued the student's curiosity. "There are numerous studies on indigenous tribes who run barefoot through the desert and are the world's best runners. How is that possible?" was just one of Dieschburg's questions. Then, in 2009, a book was published that shed a whole new light on the subject of shoes: Born to Run by American journalist Christopher McDougall takes its readers on a journey to the Mexican Indian tribe of the Tarahumara, also known as the Rarámuri, which translates as "foot runners". The members of the tribe are considered the best long-distance runners in the world. Their speciality: they run in thin sandals through the desert, through canyons and over stones.
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