“His (Dr. Nigg’s) overall conclusion: Shoe inserts or orthotics may be helpful as a short-term solution, preventing injuries in some athletes. But it is not clear how to make inserts that work. The idea that they are supposed to correct mechanical-alignment problems does not hold up.“Joseph Hamill: “I guess the main thing to note is that, as biomechanists, we really do not know how orthotics work.”Scott D. Nike Air Max 90 Mujer Cummings, president of the American Academy Nike Air VaporMax Mens of Orthotists and Prosthetists: “… when it comes to science and rigorous studies, he added, “comparatively, there isn’t a whole lot of evidence out there.”
Benno Nigg: “there is no need to “correct” a flat foot. All Jason needs to do is strengthen his foot and ankle muscles and then try running without orthotics.“I was however, a bit perplexed by this statement: “Dr. Nigg says he always wondered what was wrong with having flat feet. Arches, he explains, are an evolutionary remnant, needed by primates that gripped trees with their feet. “Since we don’t do that anymore, we don’t really need an arch,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Why would we? For landing — no need. For the Adidas Superstar Femme stance phase — no need. For the takeoff phase — no need. Thus a flat foot is not something that is bad per se.”Chimpanzees Nike Air Max 90 Womens Pink have no arch, but humans do, so I find Nike Air Max 270 Femme it a strange argument that it’s a remnant left over from our days climbing in the trees (see photo to the left – human foot top, chimp foot on bottom).I’m not a podiatrist, nor have I ever worn orthotics, but my basic sense from reading the article is that the biomechanists quoted feel that they can be useful for short term treatment, but using them long term is not warranted as they can, quoting Nigg again, “lead to a reduction in muscle strength.” Treat them more as a crutch rather than a permanent solution seems to be the take home message. Interesting but I think erroneous idea about the origins of the human arch. Biological anthropologists, paleoanthropologists, and Nike Air Max 270 Mujer comparative anatomists, who specialize in functional anatomy all generally agree that the longitudinal arch is actually an Nike Air Max 90 Femme adaptation FOR upright walking and Nike Air VaporMax Dam running, providing longitudinal strength/rigidity in the foot that is needed for human style bipedal locomotion. Professor Niggs may be well schooled in human biomechanics, particularly of the foot, but he appears not to have a very good grip on evolutionary context of human locomotion. Or maybe he does, and most of the other specialists are just whack.Thanks a ton for posting this. I have spent years in the specialty running industry with around 8000 shoe fittings. We saw a ton of orthotics. As Dr. Nigg alluded to orthotic use for long periods could create muscle weakness and my own anecdotal evidence would support this. And these weak feet would generally be recommended stronger Nike Air Max 95 Mens orthotics by well intentioned practitioners.The other element I noticed was a certain level of emotional dependence www.tobiasstiftung.de on the orthotics. Runners would Nike Air Max 95 Mens be so conditioned to think that this device was the only means of them being able to run, regardless of the efficacy. For some, orthotics became a crutch that had huge control over their running experience. It wasn’t until the past two years that I saw people slowly experiment with abandoning them and work on balance, strength and mechanics.Just before Christmas I received a very thoughtful and well researched email from ultrarunner Phil Shaw. In addition to being a very successful long distance runner, Phil is also pursuing a doctoral degree in podiatric medicine – quite a dangerous combination!Like me, Phil feels that the current paradigm of attempting to control foot motion through fancy shoe technology of questionable effectiveness has gone too far (for more on my thoughts about this, check out my post on the “pronation Nike Air Vapormax Donne control paradigm”). He wanted to share with me some thoughts he had put together on the topic as a result of an extensive review of the scientific literature on barefoot running and forefoot striking and how they can both help reduce pronation without any need for external technological intervention. Phil’s work largely speaks for itself, and I’d like to thank him for allowing me to share it here on Runblogger. Enjoy!
