For most of my adult life, I've suffered from some degree of back pain, ranging from mild to almost debilitating. I've tried pretty much everything to resolve it with varying degrees of success, none of it lasting. I have this discomfort in spite of (because of?) a thus far life-long devotion to exercise, mainly weight training and 2-3 sessions of running per week at 2 miles or so per session, just enough to keep up the cardiovascular aspect of my fitness.

In the course of recent research on the net related to reducing back pain, I came across a number of articles (example: Heel vs. Midfoot vs. Forefoot: How do elite runners land?) postulating that we'd trained ourselves (or rather our shoes had trained us) to walk incorrectly. The gist: when babies first start walking without shoes, they land on the ball of the foot with the leg slightly flexed. Then, when we put shoes on them, the inflexibility of the shoe forces a heel to toe pattern that overcomes the natural forefoot strike and we end up walking that way the rest of our lives.

While a forefoot strike maximizes the structure of the foot as a natural shock absorber, a heel strike transmits the force directly up through the leg, hip and lower back. It's this repeated shock that is a major contributor to knee, hip and lower back pain. Over time, and in an attempt to soften the shock of the heel strike, shoes have become increasingly shock-absorbent and supportive. Too supportive, some new experts are saying, so much so that this excess cushioning and support prevents our feet and lower legs from developing an adequate level of structural and muscular strength. As a result, our feet function ever less efficiently, our joint and back pain becomes worse, and we move to even more cushioning and supportive shoes--and even orthopedics--in an ever-descending spiral.

The way to walk, these new experts claim, is to shorten the stride, keep the hips over the feet as much as possible, and to land on the ball of the foot with the heel striking second. This method uses the foot and lower leg as nature intended--natural shock absorbers to minimize impact.

Armed with this new found knowledge, I started paying attention to the way I walked. I discovered I was already doing the forefoot strike when I walked barefoot on hard surfaces (and I bet you do too) since walking with a heel strike was uncomfortable. As is my pattern, I threw myself into reconfiguring my walking/running all the time. There are several companies offering shoes designed for "natural" walking--shoes with minimal support and padding and a flat sole. It's very difficult to practice the forefoot strike in shoes that have a thick heel (like running shoes).

I ordered a pair of black loafers from Terra Plana. Despite the flat sole and lack of padding and support, I found them to be fairly comfortable... as long as I walked forefoot first. Since running caused much discomfort, I worked on changing my strike there as well, but found it difficult to do wearing my traditional Nike Air Pegasus running shoes. Enter the Vibram Five Fingers....

In my research I ran across some blog posts extolling the virtues of these shoes (and the virtues of barefoot running). Despite the price (at around $80 for the Classic, they were more than I'd spent on my running shoes), I decided to give them a try. I was very excited when they arrived and was anxious to try them out.

After some struggle getting them on, I set out on my first run. As I mentioned above, I typically go 2 miles, taking about 20 minutes to do so. Certainly not a race pace, but fast enough to get the heart rate up and long enough to take the requisite 20 minutes of cardio. Armed (or footed) with my new Five Fingers, off I went. I wasn't planning to run my usual route. I knew I needed to build up foot strength and get used the the VFFs, so I decided I'd start with mile and work up.

By half a mile, I had hot spots on my feet, and by the time I completed my mile, my feet were hurting pretty badly from the shoes. Not the running with no support or padding, but the shoes themselves. The hot spots and irritation were focused as in the image below. I even had a couple of blisters starting.

I knew it would take some time to get used to shoes, so I didn't give up immediately. I used the shoes the next 2 times I ran, then admitted defeat. My feet just hurt too bad--not from the running, but from the Five Fingers shoes. I tossed them in the trunk and began running in the same wresting shoes I wore in the gym. Minimal padding, flat sole, no blisters... all was good. My feet had adapted to the barefoot run, forefoot striking felt natural now, and, yes, my lower back pain had diminished considerably.

Life proceeded, and then I read Tim's post on his Five Fingers experience. He suggested Baby Powder of Vaseline for the hot spot areas. Had I given up too soon? I got the Five Fingers out of the trunk to give it another go. This time I gave it a full three weeks. I started out at a mile and experienced the same hot-spot and blister problem as before. I gritted my teeth. If they worked for Tim they'd work for me. Three days a week, slowly tying to extend back up to my normal 2 miles. The result?

I'm back in my wrestling shoes.

My feet did get tougher, but despite thick ridges of callous building up in the areas indicated on the image above, the Five Fingers were just too uncomfortable. A few times I found myself far enough out and, not wanting to endure the Five Fingers any more, pulling them off and finishing my run barefoot. Despite my failure to adapt to the Five Fingers, I learned two things to help guide your buying decision, should you decide to give the Five Fingers a try:

1. The Five Fingers Classic model (pictured at the top right of the post) isn't suited for running in wet weather. Water doesn't drain out of them and your feet end up slipping and sliding inside the shoe. I think one of their models is a water model. If you're going to be running in wet weather, you should give those a look.
2. The Classic is also not suited to cross country. Most of my running is on hard surfaces (road and sidewalk) but there are opportunities to go across some grassy/dirt/sandy areas. With its open top design, the Classic was vulnerable to stuff getting inside them. I had to stop more than once to remove a twig or leaf or pebble that had flipped up and gotten inside the shoe.

While the Five Fingers didn't work for me, changing my foot strike and walking/running in flat soled shoes with no padding or support has. I still have lower back pain, but it's not nearly at the level it was before. Previously, I'd say on a 1-10 I averaged around a 6-7 on the discomfort scale. Now I put myself at a 2-3. That's a significant difference, and huge increase in my quality of life.

For anyone interested in looking at this walking option as a solution for their own aches and pains, the New York Magazine article You Walk Wrong is a great place to start.