Barefoot Science

Alex I will ask the Podiatrist at work tomorrow for you, and let you know what feed back I get.

Have a good un, cheers John Murphy :wink:

Hi Alex. I hadn't actally heard about them before, but I had a quick look through the site.

There is a few things that need to be said in correction of what they have listed. The big issue with foot problems (arch support) is that we were never meant to walk on a flat surface. (ie. in shoes or on concrete) Evolution developed us to be walking along a forest bed or sand etc... This tends to create intrinsic muscle weaknesses and explains what they said about islanders having better arches. You will also find that these people have huge muscluar feet as well!

Long term this increases the role of ligaments and can lead to stretching. From the research thats out there, (off the top of my head) only about 1-2% of people who have arch problems by age 7 will regain proper arch function. From what I have witnessed, this might be up around the 10-15% mark.

One thing they are failing to talk about (maybe due to lack of knowledge in the field I'm not sure) is that the action of what they have designed will raise 1 or 2 metatarasals and possibly tarsals. This is generally ok, however if neurological disorganisation exists within the feet due to joint capsule firing/altered proprioception as a result of misalignments of bones within the feet, then this will cause a reflex inhibbition of most of the muscles in the body. Eventually the nervous system should adapt to this, but it will be under increased stress to maintain it.

There theories are right, but in practice I don't hink it is as simple as they make it. Remember that EMG studies have shown that in the static posture, muscle function is extremely limited within the feet. If you want a company that is easy to deal with and does support well by increasing proprioception while still having safe guards in to prevent extreme overpronation then check out foot levellers. (www.footlevelers.com)

Barefoot Science gave a cd with all their clinical research into the insole, if you are interested in looking at it, I can sort out to get it to you over the internet although the file is huge! If you are interested, send a private message and will sort it.

Thanks for the reply

Just be careful with research. Check methodologies and results, then draw your own conclusions. 2 different people can draw completely different conclusions. eg. Road deaths decreased over last year so government comes out and says policing tactics are working, but Ford comes out and says no their cars are safer. Just because something is published doesn't make it acceptable.

Will contact them myself.

Thanks

Have read some of the research and spoken to the guys who ahve designed the orthotics. There is some conclusive evidence that most research on orthoses are flawed and that much of the assumptions are hypotheses are based on non existance data/research or misinterpreted/minipulated data. Some of the authors are themselves are now admitting this fact!

I will get in touch with them and get some more info. Remember that it isn't just podiatric research flawed, latest info suggests 70-80% of ALL research is flawed.

Trev