Toe-ing the line: What I think about this whole shoe thing

Oldest discovered leather shoe: 5500 years old

I’ve had a few emails asking me to review some of the literature on the new shoe trend. Every company is jumping on the bandwagon to create their version of the Vibram five TOE shoes (sorry, I’m going to be a hand and wrist sub-specialist. Toes are NOT fingers). It’s a little reminiscent of the “body-toning” shoe thing, without all of the wildly outrageous claims, and a trend that I think will live long enough to warrant weighing in on. Most studies to date have really focused on how the shoes alter foot and gait biomechanics. I would argue that most of the claims on the Vibram website are still largely unsubstantiated or just what I call “motherhood statements”, like: “Eating your greens is good for you,” and “Puting on your jacket when it’s cold outside is good for you.” (basically, statements that don’t really have any clout one way or another, but just make you feel better.) Read More...

Neoprene wraps (Birmingham et al, 1998)

In this installment of “Neoprene wraps”, I’ll be looking at the study done by Birmingham et al. in 1998–of the earlier studies done on neoprene wraps and proprioception. Unfortunately, I haven’t got electronic access to an even earlier one in 1995–but maybe I’ll trek over to the bricks-and-mortar library to pick it up some time. Read More...

Neoprene wraps (Introduction)

There was a recent question in the Injury sub-forum at JPFitness.com (the link to JP’s forum is on the sidebar to the right) on knee sleeves in weightlifting. My own experience with knee sleeves and knee wraps has been somewhat limited in terms of using them, but given that I was part of the trial team that looked at knee bracing in patellofemoral syndrome, I’m not entirely unfamiliar with their concept, as we used neoprene knee sleeves as part of a placebo arm in evaluating patellofemoral braces in treating patellofemoral pain. However, I was definitely intrigued to look at the literature in terms of evidence for the use of neoprene sleeves in non-injured populations. Read More...