Welcome to the Podiatry Arena forums

You are currently viewing our podiatry forum as a guest which gives you limited access to view all podiatry discussions and access our other features. By joining our free global community of Podiatrists and other interested foot health care professionals you will have access to post podiatry topics (answer and ask questions), communicate privately with other members, upload content, view attachments, receive a weekly email update of new discussions, access other special features. Registered users do not get displayed the advertisements in posted messages. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our global Podiatry community today!

  1. Have you considered the Clinical Biomechanics Boot Camp Online, for taking it to the next level? See here for more.
    Dismiss Notice
Dismiss Notice
Have you considered the Clinical Biomechanics Boot Camp Online, for taking it to the next level? See here for more.
Dismiss Notice
Have you liked us on Facebook to get our updates? Please do. Click here for our Facebook page.
Dismiss Notice
Do you get the weekly newsletter that Podiatry Arena sends out to update everybody? If not, click here to organise this.

Masai Barfuss Technology shoes

Discussion in 'General Issues and Discussion Forum' started by Ian Linane, Oct 5, 2004.

  1. Ian Linane

    Ian Linane Well-Known Member


    Members do not see these Ads. Sign Up.
    MBT's

    Hi folks :)

    There has been a news paper article in the UK regarding MBT's (Masai Barefoot trainers)since the Priminister's wife was pictured wearing them :eek: I was wondering if any of you has experience of using them, suggesting them to pts.

    At the risk of stirring up some debate I would suggest that while there could be considerable benefits (as the designers claim) my concern would be that they should not be seen as a replacement for good orthotic prescription and control.

    Have any of you used orthoses in them or do you feel the reported proprioceptive and postural improvement may negate the need for orthoses?

    Ian
     
  2. Cameron

    Cameron Well-Known Member

    Earth Shoes

    Hi Ian

    There are quite few manufacturers who make heel less shoes or Earth Shoes. I have some experience with VIVO barefoot which are good quality footwear <http://www.vivobarefoot.com/>. Whilst Earth shoes have been around for sometime and it would be only reasonable to say, have had some bad publicity, I would suggest they are comfortable for those persons who find wearing a heel less shoe, comfortable. No more and no less. In terms of customised foot orthoses (those with an elevated heel, ayway) these would defeat the purpose of wearing heeless shoues but that aside FOs can be worn in heel less shoes.

    Cheers
    Cameron
     
  3. Ian Linane

    Ian Linane Well-Known Member

    Hi Cameron

    Thanks for the reply

    Considering that one quality of FFO's may be the improved proprioceptive response of muscles and that MBT's supposedly, significantly improve proprioception, do you or others feel that, based upon possible improved muscle function, MBT style devices could be said to reduce the need for FFO's?

    This is not to detract from the issues of planal alignment, simply trying to think beyond a podiatric box and around possibilities.

    Cheers

    Ian

    (Phew what a convoluted 1st sentence!!)
     
  4. Cameron

    Cameron Well-Known Member

    To be honest Ian I am not that offey with the propriocetion claims for either FFOs or MBTs. I would suspect however both are based on pretty narrow evidence zimply because there are few if any random controlled trials or meta analysis of evidence based outcomes to formulate any scientific evaluation. But stand to be corrected (excuse the pun).

    >MBT style devices could be said to reduce the need for FFO's?

    I would think there is no association and at best both approaches would have their advocates. Based on a trial and error basis, I would think.

    >This is not to detract from the issues of planal alignment, simply trying to think beyond a podiatric box and around possibilities.

    My kinda language. The older I get the more I believe the sagittal plane model has far greater merit in controlling foot function. Combined with planal alignment both appear to give a reasoned working model of the foot. All that requires to complete the set is managment of the torque mechanism and of course the role of proprioception.

    What say you?

    Cheers from downunder.

    Cameron
     
  5. davidh

    davidh Podiatry Arena Veteran

    Hi Ian and Cameron,
    Have to agree with Cameron (who was one of my very 1st email correspondents some years ago. Cameron, I still remember your line "if you are the Dave Holland who was a year above me at college you must be very old!) :) .
    Footwear does have a part to play in how well/badly an orthosis works, as does terrain. How could it be otherwise if we are correcting in increments of one degree :confused: ?
    But sagittal plane control is very important too. In practice I often ask female patients to go into a raised heel as a first treatment option, adding orthoses after this as a "fine tuning" coronal plane control.
    Cheers,
    David
     
  6. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    This is an old thread, but this has just appeared:

    Full story
     
  7. Cameron

    Cameron Well-Known Member

    > Masai Barefoot Technology, otherwise known as MBT

    These have been kicking around for a while and like Earth shoes (negative heel) get mixed press between devotees and the less convinced.

    I am interested in why the connection with the Masai tribe and it appears from the sales literature it was because they walked long distances in thongs. According to my researches Maisi sandals from East Africa were typically made from rawhide and had a three cornered style with a squared off toe section, heel and thong. Hides were traditionally softened with cow dung then cured between layers of mangrove bark.



    Reason enough to travel long distances :)

    Cameron
    Hey, what do I know.
     
  8. Kenva

    Kenva Active Member

    Hello,

    I was wondering if somebody has any experience with these shoes.
    Use in revalidation, influence on biomechanics, posture, ...

    Some time since the last discussion - maybe there exists new info? :confused:

    thanks
    Ken
     
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2005
  9. Dawn Bacon

    Dawn Bacon Active Member

    I know comparaitively little about MBT shoes (and am therefore more than ready to be corrected by anyone with greater knowledge and experience) but from looking at them they appear to be a form of "rocker sole" shoe.

    I can readily appreciate their value for anyone suffering from any form of "saggital plane blockade" (after Dannenberg) or in instances where duration of met head loading needs to be reduced. However would other forms of rocker sole (or even traditional clogs) not perform a similar function?

    Best regards, Poll.
     
  10. PF 1

    PF 1 Member

    Had a patient stroll into my clinic (Sydney) in a pair last week. She had been to visit her son in London who is a "sports massage therapist" who had just done a 1 day course on them and was preparing to sell them. Spent around $600 for two pairs.

    She has a history of stg 1-2 post tib dysfunction so i initially thought that she wouls be having significant problems in them, particularly now she was trying to go without her orthoses. Was surprised to hear that her legs felt better in the morning when she first got up. However she had already begun (2-3 weeks of wearing them) to get some medial knee pain.

    Watching her walk was pretty ugly. The massive sole was putting an enormous valgus strain on her legs. It was simply creating an even bigger lever arm to force her foot into a very pronated position.

    I can see the merit in using them for short periods where the user focuses on keeping the foot in a more neutral position in the frontal plane, but this needs to be learnt. She obviously had the sagital plane nicely balanced, to the point that the muscles in her legs were really started to bulge from the extra work. They reckon you should work up to wearing these all the time!

    Interested to hear anyone elses experience from them

    Oh yeah, they look horrendous!


    Cheers

    PF 1
     
  11. Some personal notes on the MBT shoes.

    A patient gave me a pair (!) a few months ago. At first, I didn't think of using them personally, just thought I'd keep them in the office to show patients. I'd tried them on at home, and found them surprisingly difficult to feel comfortable in. While striding, I felt the contact point was much more forward of the posterior heel spot we're used to. The contact point occurred at about the level of the cuboid/navicular. As the fore and rear parts of the sole are rounded, the shoes did not have an innate "stop" to the sole. Halting the stride required muscular activity. The sole will readily pitch forward or aft (this can be very unhandy when riding in a herky-jerky subway train).

    The cam-like sole does facilitate speedy-walking. Not speed-walking per se, as in the sport, but one perceives a decided proclivity to keep moving once you start. Again, the contact point is disconcerting. Also, there is a lot of active triceps surae work going on to keep from rolling backwards (this feels like good exercise). One more thing...the heel material is super squishy, non-memory, and yet feels like it's probably very durable. Satchy.

    These were my momentary first impressions. I asked my wife Jane, a Brit, if I looked nerdy walking in the shoes, as I surely felt that way. Her rapid British wit did not fail her. She said no, you look better!

    My office is exactly three miles walking from my home. In early January, I decided to try walking home in the MBT shoes after work. To my very pleasant surprise, not only was the walk comfortable, but it was fast, and this 56 year old was motoring past walkers half my age.

    I enjoyed the experience so much that I've rarely missed a day walking home in the MBTs since then. The walk through city streets and traffic takes 45-50 minutes. If I concentrate, I feel my glutes (maximus and medius), my calves and my quads in more action than while walking in running shoes.


    What pathology might benefit from these shoes? Offhand, I'd say ...

    -hallux rigidus, due to the rocker sole
    -heel bruises, due to the soft heel and midfoot loading site
    -heel bruises again, due to the forced work imparted upon the gastroc or heel parachute muscle
    -achilles tendinitis, due to the assistance the achilles would get from the cam-sole
    -anterior ankle impingement problems, again thanks to the cam-sole
    -symptomatic low-urgency mtp joint or sesamoid complaints, again due to the rocker and midfoot loading, and stiff sole
    -advanced ankle djd causing limited and symptomatic flexion/extension, due to both the camsole and midfoot loading
    -perhaps other sagittal plane r.o.m. issues like knee djd, or general r.o.m. issues like hip djd or spinal stenosis


    What problems might be caused by the shoes?...

    -they are quite high, center of gravity wise; mix this with the aforementioned anteropostero "rolliness ", and the rather non-close fitting upper, and you have a nightmare for anyone with proprioceptive deficits, ankle instability, peroneal, anterior or posterior tibial tendon pathology (impending or above threshold) or liglax. I show peroneal exercises to patients all day long, so I guess mine are fairly strong, and I find myself exercising caution when I walk on pavement with any rake.
    -I also would be very cautious to offer them to anyone with weak peroneals
    -they'll eventually help hypotonic gastrocs, (barring serious neurologic etiology), but I'd use them sparingly at first to avoid posterior ankle capsule spraining.
    -I'd also caution people that they tend to foster toe-tip calluses (I feel the rocker at the toe tip should be increased, as the midfoot is where the rocker starts, so you get rocking, but it doesn't quite skive up enough at the toe tips, kind of like an Indian-giver).
    -I also think those with Meunier's (apologies for spelling) or Parkinsons disease would tolerate them for about 1/10th nanosecond.

    Wait till you try to show a patient how to do a gastroc stretch with these things on...you cant get your heel flat unless you want it to look like you're wearing a pair of Aladdin's lamps!

    I'm also a little worried that the rocker bottom will lessen my sagittal r.o.m.s
    in time due to underexploitation of these r.o.m.s if I patently continue to use these shoes.

    One unheralded benefit you wont see in the ads, the shoes dont stink after constant repeated use. Hope that's not just a reflection of my age!

    One last caveat...if you don't have such problems with their looks that you can wear them all the time, you'll find switching back to regular shoes takes a bit of adapting to the different neuromuscular patterns normal shoes elicit.


    The shoes are very ugly, but I'd rather wear them and enjoy how they feel, despite often explaining them to my patients. Now I'll need the courage to start walking home again in regular shoes. Now if I can get my wife again to say I look better!
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2005
  12. Lylee Urwin

    Lylee Urwin Welcome New Poster

    I have been a distributor for MBT shoes for almost a year now as well as wearing them myself. Not only have I and my family experienced benefit personally from wearing these shoes ( which do have a rocker sole element in their construction) but have had very positive feedback from those who have bought MBT's from me, along with numerous re-orders for a different style.
    I explain to my patients the differences between the passive guidance available from the more traditional orthotic therapy and the dynamic and active therapy of wearing MBT's. The whole point of these 'anti-shoes' is that they remove the hard flat surfaces that cause people who have less than ideal foot alignment to suffer the effects of the compensatory motion that the foot must undergo to maintain stable contact with the ground.
    Straightening of body posture is instinctive when wearing these devices as stability in these curved soled shoes is dependent on an upright stance.
    Plus, only accommodative orthoses should be worn if required in these shoes, never functional devices.
    People intending to wear MBT's need to have these shoes professionally fitted and the basic walking exercises demonstrated and practised regularly to gain maximum benefit.
    regards,
    Lylee Urwin, registered podiatrist, C.Ped.
     
  13. Dear Lylee Urwin,

    Would it be possible to please describe some of the basic walking exercises for the MBT shoes? Thank you very much,

    TMN
     
  14. YogaTeacher

    YogaTeacher Welcome New Poster

    exercises

    I only recently came upon these shoes - didn't know they existed until a got a newsletter from one of my yoga newsletters that I've signed up for (I'm a yoga teacher and am all for natural comfort, but I cannot say that I'm an Earth Shoes advocate either). Anyhow, I came upon this very informative postings site as I wanted to read about both sides of the coin and what better place than here!

    Anyhow, here's the official website with their pdf files which lists the exercises along with photos, instructing you in a series of exercises you can do with this hidious monstrosoties (hmmm, not sure I'll be running over to the shop to buy them any time soon, but ya never know):
    http://www.swissmasaius.com/mbt_sportfitness.asp
     
  15. ashfordpod

    ashfordpod Member

    My wife and exchanged MBT shoes as Christmas presents in 2003, and I have been attempting to get used to them ever since. I have been wearing functional orthoses for 25 years so I expected postural and gait problems when wearing MBT's without orthoses...not so, the everyday pair gave me no problems in that area.

    Oddly, the main problem I experienced was a difficulty in making small movements on the floor surface of my working area. The "rocker" sole interacted with the surface making small shuffling type movemets quite difficult.

    The running MBT's gave me more problems. Even at my advanced age I can usually manage about 25k weekly jogging in addition to fast raod walking. The combination of the negative heel and my slightly tight TC gave me severe blistering on the heels caused by extreme friction during heel lift, so I've gone back to my Asics!

    My wife has a standing job and finds them easier to wear, but complains of excessive heat at the days end and is glad to remove them.

    cheers


    Laurence
     
  16. racheljoy

    racheljoy Welcome New Poster

    Hi, thank you Tomas Novella and a number of others for very specific and informative insights into Masai BT shoes. I am currently looking for a shoe to wear. I have been in a walking cast for the last 10 months following the fusing of my ankle joint. The physio I've been seeing recomended I try these shoes. Because I was born with unique bone and tendon anatomy and have had many surgical procedures on my left ankle, (the last as I said above was to fuse the worn out ankle joint) I'm not sure what kind of shoe will actually work. I know I have unique circumstances...but I was wondering if any of you experts in the field of podiatry, might have a moment to comment on the implications of wearing these shoes with a fused ankle joint? Thank you in advance for your time. best wishes to all,
    racheljoy
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 4, 2005
  17. Dear Racheljoy,

    If your ankle is fused the MBT shoe may help as it has a sole with a rounded characteristic to make up for the lack of up/down motion in your ankle. It also has a significantly soft sole to help your body adapt to the loss of shock absorbtion which occurs when the calf is taken out of the picture after an ankle fusion.

    Considerations:

    1/ Do you or your surgeon know if your foot/ankle attain a 90-degree angle with your leg? If the fusion was accomplished at a 90-degree angle, or your remaining foot joints can adapt to allow the sole of your foot to reach 90-degrees versus your leg, the MBT should be as good or better than anything currently available. If you can't somehow reach 90-degrees, let me know.

    2/ What is the status of your opposite foot? Is it normal or is a fusion or other operation [anticipated/projected/considered/feared/disdained]? Are there any other orthopedic problems (spinal, scoliosis, hip, leg length difference, muscular abnormalities, bony deformities) which are being evaluated or which may filter in to your situation?

    3/ May I ask the details (name of, pathology, abnormal configuration) of your presurgical condition requiring the fusion?

    All best,

    Tom N
     
  18. racheljoy

    racheljoy Welcome New Poster

    reply and further information re: racheljoy ankle fusion

    Thank you for your reply Dr. Novella. I have atained a 90-degree angle with my fusion. The status of my oposite foot is normal in every way. I have all the proper movement and physiology there. I had a leg length difference as a child but have not had any difficulty with that in the last ten years. Any remaining difference is very minimal as it does not effect my usual walking. If I have pulled or strained something and have tweaked things to componsate, then I notice a difference in my leg lengths due to my hips or back being slightly out or allignment. This happened once since my surgery as I left my crutches behind and my body was in the shock of aliigning itself again.
    I was titled with a club foot at birth but had some abnormalities, even for a club foot. I have clear muscle abnormalities (since birth) in my left leg from the knee down. I have an underdeveloped, possibly malformed Gastroc. and a very well developed Tibialis. I have never heard from any of the doctors I've worked with throughout my life, exactly which muscles I have in my leg and foot and which I don't. I had only approximately 20% mobility in my ankle before the fusion due to the degeneration of the joint and to the lower joint being fused when I was born. I had 4 or 5 major surgeries on my left ankle before I was 11 years old. I had one on my right knee to damage growth plates in hopes of correcting a leg length difference (as mentioned above) when I was 12. That surgery didn't work, or so they said. Just six months after that my legs were "miraculously" the same length. I had a productive and happy ten years in between that surgery and this one last August. I travelled and carried my own pack all over the world, just moving at my own pace most of the time. It wasn't untill I was 22 that my foot started acting up again, arthritic and painful. By June of last year it was unbearable (even though I'd learned to have a hight pain tollerance). I think that's pretty much my whole story! If I left anything out you'd like to know for your own curiosity, please just let me know. thanks again for your time and comments. I appreciate your feedback about the MBT shoes.
    best wishes,
    racheljoy
     
  19. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    Changes in gait and EMG when walking with the Masai Barefoot Technique.

    Changes in gait and EMG when walking with the Masai Barefoot Technique.
    Romkes J, Rudmann C, Brunner R.
    Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon). 2005 Sep 16; [Epub ahead of print]

     
  20. Don ESWT

    Don ESWT Active Member

    To All,
    I have to state here and now I have a vested interest in both Gadean Surgical Footwear (Western Australia 9 year) and MBT (Europe). I have just become a distributor for MBT in Wollongong.

    I have dealt with the concept of rocker bottom footwear since the early 80's, both companies have done the calculation on where and how to place this modification.

    I will provide these types of footwear where a proven need arises.



    Don Scott
     
  21. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    The latest on MBT's --- hot off the press

    Effect of an unstable shoe construction on lower extremity gait characteristics
    Benno Nigg, Sabrina Hintzen, Reed Ferber
    Clinical Biomechanics published online 5 October 2005.
    This not look so good for the MBT's....
     
  22. Don ESWT

    Don ESWT Active Member

    Once again we are only privy to the Abstract of this study. A sweeping statement has been made condemning a product. How can a study with 8, I say again 8 subject be accurate. The current population of 6,000,000,000 men women and children on this planet their study group is microscopic.

    Questions
    What was the control shoe used?
    How many months, days or minutes were they wearing the MBT's compared to the contol footwear?
    What type of sole did the contol shoe have?
    Was the control footwear tested against another type of footwear? Ad infinitum


    Every person has their own unique gait pattern, the same as finger prints, footprints and DNA.

    Calgary Uni in Alberta, Canada has written papers on MBT.

    Have the footwear you wear had as much scrutiny as a relative new brand on the Australian market.

    Had the group been educated on how to wear the footwear?



    Apples compared sour grapes me thinks!!!
    MBT have soled over 1.5 million shoes
    Do this mean that every orthopaedic shoe with a rocker - bottom sole will not help a person with their gait or is it just the MBT brand, remembering that the aim of a rocker sole is to reduce shock loading at heel strike and to reduce abductory twist at propulsion.

    When Nike, New Balance, Brookes, Rebok, Dunlop, Asics, Addidis, Rockport to name a few produce a similar type of footwear in the future, will you lot jump down their throats and bag them as well, I doubt it!

    Who plays devil's advocate?

    Don Scott
     
  23. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    Easily ... thats what p values, effect size and power are for. I assume there will be more information on that in the full paper. Given the track record of the researchers, one would assume that a within subjects design using 8 subjects was sufficiantly powered (a journal of the calibre of Cinical Biomechanics would not have published it otherwise)
     
  24. Don ESWT

    Don ESWT Active Member

    Copied from the net NOT my words

    A p-value is a measure of how much evidence we have against the null hypotheses. The smaller the p-value, the more evidence we have against H0. It is also a measure of how likely we are to get a certain sample result or a result “more extreme,” assuming H0 is true. The type of hypothesis (right tailed, left tailed or two tailed) will determine what “more extreme” means.

    Much research involves making a hypothesis and then collecting data to test that hypothesis. In particular, researchers will set up a null hypothesis, a hypothesis that presumes no change or no effect of a treatment. Then these researchers will collect data and measure the consistency of this data with the null hypothesis.

    The p-value measures consistency by calculating the probability of observing the results from your sample of data or a sample with results more extreme, assuming the null hypothesis is true. The smaller the p-value, the greater the inconsistency.

    Traditionally, researchers will reject a hypothesis if the p-value is less than 0.05. Sometimes, though, researchers will use a stricter cut-off (e.g., 0.01) or a more liberal cut-off (e.g., 0.10). The general rule is that a small p-value is evidence against the null hypothesis while a large p-value means little or no evidence against the null hypothesis. Please note that little or no evidence against the null hypothesis is not the same as a lot of evidence for the null hypothesis.

    It is easiest to understand the p-value in a data set that is already at an extreme. Suppose that a drug company alleges that only 50% of all patients who take a certain drug will have an adverse event of some kind. You believe that the adverse event rate is much higher. In a sample of 12 patients, all twelve have an adverse event.

    The data supports your belief because it is inconsistent with the assumption of a 50% adverse event rate. It would be like flipping a coin 12 times and getting heads each time.

    The p-value, the probability of getting a sample result of 12 adverse events in 12 patients assuming that the adverse event rate is 50%, is a measure of this inconsistency. The p-value, 0.000244, is small enough that we would reject the hypothesis that the adverse event rate was only 50%.

    A large p-value should not automatically be construed as evidence in support of the null hypothesis. Perhaps the failure to reject the null hypothesis was caused by an inadequate sample size. When you see a large p-value in a research study, you should also look for one of two things:

    a power calculation that confirms that the sample size in that study was adequate for detecting a clinically relevant difference; and/or
    a confidence interval that lies entirely within the range of clinical indifference.
    You should also be cautious about a small p-value, but for different reasons. In some situations, the sample size is so large that even differences that are trivial from a medical perspective can still achieve statistical significance.

    As a statistician, I am not in a good position to advise you on whether a difference is trivial or not. As a medical expert, you need to balance the cost and side effects of a treatment against the benefits that the therapy provides.

    The authors of the research paper should inform you what size difference is clinically relevant and what sized difference is trivial. But if they don't, you should. Ask yourself how much of a difference would be large enough to cause you to change your practice. Then compare this to the confidence interval in the research paper. If both limits of the confidence interval are smaller than a clinically relevant difference, then you should not change your practice, no matter what the p-value tells you.

    You should not interpret the p-value as the probability that the null hypothesis is true. Such an interpretation is problematic because a hypothesis is not a random event that can have a probability.

    Bayesian statistics provides an alternative framework that allows you to assign probabilities to hypotheses and to modify these probabilities on the basis of the data that you collect.

    Example

    A large number of p-values appear in a publication by Churchill et al 2000. This was a study of consultation practices among teenagers who become pregnant. The researchers selected 240 patients (cases) with a recorded conception before the age of 20. Three controls were selected for each case and were matched on age and practice.

    The not too surprising finding is that the cases were more likely to have consulted certain health professionals in the year before conception and were more likely to request contraceptive protection. This demonstrates that teenagers are not reluctant to seek advice about contraception.

    For example, 91% of the cases (171/240) sought the advice of a general practitioner in the year before conception compared to 82% of the controls (586/719) during a similar time frame. This is a large difference. The odds ratio is 2.37. The p-value is 0.001, which indicates that this ratio is statistically significantly different from 1.0. The 95% confidence interval for the odds ratio is 1.45 to 3.86.

    In contrast, 23% of the cases (56/240) sought advice from a practice nurse while 24% of the controls (170/719) sought advice. This is a small difference and the odds ratio is 0.98. The p-value is 0.905, which indicates that this odds ratio does not differ significantly from 1. As with any negative finding, you should be concerned about whether the result is due to an inadequate sample size. The confidence interval, however, is 0.69 to 1.39. This indicates that the research study had a good amount of precision and that the sample size was reasonable.

    Citation

    Consultation Patterns and Provision of Contraception in General Practice Before Teenage Pregnancy: Case-Control Study. Churchill D, Allen J, Pringle M, Hippisley-Cox J, Ebdon D, Macpherson M, Bradley S. British Medical Journal 2000: 321(7259); 486-9. [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]



    Information from Google.com.au

    For some the best P comes from a bottle of VB, Tooths, Carlton or whatever your indulgence is. Personally I HATE Stats. and I hate beer.

    Don Scott
     
  25. Epaxman

    Epaxman Welcome New Poster

    I was very interested in the info provided by Dr Novella. My question is with regard to what are your options if your fusion is a 5 degree extension following my left ankle fusion. I know that if the heal is too low I can feel it in the back of me knee. However, when I tried a pair of MBTs I had no limp. My concern is how they might effect my feet and ankle in the long run. It is very hard to make good decissions when most of your info comes from salesmen. Although I am fairly over weight, I have always really enjoyed going for long walks. I would love to get back to where I once was.
    Thanks for any help.
    Erika
     
  26. Rangimarie

    Rangimarie Welcome New Poster

    What an interesting read. I'm new to the podiatry profession but have many years in another health profession before retraining and one of the exciting aspects is that you view the world as full of possibilites and the why? why? is just one. So, at the conference in Christchurch I was intrigued with these shoes and saw "possibilities" in their use as an aid for some of my patients. How ever i also believe in experiencing things for myself in order to make an informed decision so bought some. I have been along time marathon runner, had numerous children, put on too much weight, probably need orthotics etc ( I'm not old!!!) and have found them to be a great tool. I think that you do need to learn to walk in them ( they supply instruction) your psture does improve, yes it is hard work initially but it is beneficial to my chronic achillies tightness, makes my legs strong, you have to concentrate on placing your foot correctly for the shoe to stop you falling in. but once mastered, I don't get sore feet, great on hard hospital floors all day!! They do come in a variety of uppers, just like a walking/running type or a neat street type leather sneaker. My practice is in a well heeled area and have had a mixed response to looks but hey when your feet are in pain and people get relief they look very attractive! So, these are another training device and tool that has many benefits and if you are going to try them do it properly.
    Rangimarie
     
  27. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    Changes in gait and EMG when walking with the Masai Barefoot Technique
    Jacqueline Romkes, , Christian Rudmann and Reinald Brunner
    Laboratory for Gait Analysis Basel, Children’s University Hospital Basel, Burgfelderstrasse 101, CH-4012 Basel, Switzerland
    Clinical Biomechanics
    Volume 21, Issue 1 , January 2006, Pages 75-81
     
Loading...

Share This Page