What are Vibram 5 Fingers?

The Vibram 5 finger Bikila is basically a 3mm insole that is kept on your foot by under armor-like material and a Velcro strap. Basically someone along the way had the thought that "humans have been running barefoot for millennia," its how the early man started to hunt, with the lack of guns and other ranged weaponry, humans were forced to run their prey into the ground-and they didn't wear their ultra stable brooks adrenaline shoes or ASICS Gels. They wore their own feet! There is new research that-while controversial-holds some degree of truth. You see, according to the research that I have read, not many of these hunters ever got the common running injuries such as shin splints, stress fractures, inflamed tendons, etc. If they did, then natural selection would have quickly killed them off. There was a foot study done comparing the feet of barefoot tribes in africa and a population that wore shoes for everything. The result-the barefoot tribe had much healthier-and stronger feet. There was another interesting result of this research-People who wear one type of shoe a lot (say dress shoes for work) tend to develop a foot shape that looks like their shoes. (I'll be posting several articles at the end of this blog post so you can see the pictures yourself.

     So back to the running thing. What makes these shoes so different?? Well, the main difference is how your foot strikes the ground. Next time you go for a run notice how your foot hits the ground. It should be heel to toe. this is the most comfortable way to run in most training shoes. Now once your run is over, try doing some barefoot stride outs. Notice the difference? The ball of your foot strikes first and your heel follows it. This is how people ran thousands of years before the invention of the shoe, let alone the trainer. Vibram 5 fingers allow you to run as if you are barefoot, it "frees up" your legs and lets your muscles do what they do best in the most natural way possible. Its an interesting theory, and to me, it makes sense. Over the next few months I guess I'll find out.
Here are the links from my research:
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/05/07/vibram-five-fingers-shoes/
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/barefoot/
also if you go to the vibram 5 finger web site it gives a pretty good overview of what their products are meant to do-after all they ARE selling them haha