Minimalist vs Maximalist Running Injuries Lessons from IFAF in Reykjavic...

Today at The International Foot & Ankle Foundation Iceland Symposium in Reykjavik, Dr Segler was lecturing to a group of physicians on injuries related to minimalist and maximalist running shoes.



Here are the main points he was sharing with doctors today...



First, if you are transitioning to minimalist running, barefoot running or just trying to use minimalist shoes to modify your form…rule #1 is don’t use the new shoes for long runs. Your form falls apart and that is when you get injured. You’re tired. Your form gets sloppy. You get wobbly and then you load structures asymetrically, you apply abnormal forces to the tissue…and just like that you got an overtraining injury!



Instead use the new shoes for tempo runs or speed work instead. Make the switch in a predictable environment.



Rule #2 is don’t run in your new shoes or monkey around with your form on back to back days. Think of your new shoes as cross training tools.. yet another way to spread forces out over different structures on different days.  I run in 4 different shoes for different workouts. Just try it. You will different types of soreness running in different types of shoes. If that’s true for you too then you know you're spreading out the forces. Forces spread over different parts of your anatomy will decrease risk. It took excess force on one structure to do too much tissue damage before to can recovery in preparation for you next workout. That’s really all an over-training injury is.



So use different shoes on different training days, and spread out the risk.