Barefoot Natural Running Specialist Online Shop

As a natural running store we are quite unique in the sense we accommodate all forms of running be it slow, medium or fast. For over 10 years we have been selling shoes which allow you to run either in a natural way or by "heel striking" ….Having researched "Natural Running" which is often referred to as "barefoot" we discovered that human movement patterns remained the same for over 300,000 years then in the 1970's along came "The Cushioned " running shoe. This in turn led to a change in human movement patterns globally as people started to run with a heel first landing.

Might not sound much but you try this: Stand with all your weight on your heels, jump straight up into the air and get both feet off the ground then land on your heels(try this barefooted). Then try this: go up onto the balls of your feet and jump continuously allowing the heel to kiss the ground gently then notice the cushioned effect you get from using both the plantar surface of your foot and the Achilles Tendon. This is the effect of "you" controlling the deceleration of a fall, same as going down stairs.

Now this is no definitive proof that landing on your heels can cause injury but it does demonstrate clearly how the plantar surface of the foot and the Achilles tendon are capable of removing in excess of 50% of the shock received at the knee. So how come the industry didn't address the issue. Mainly because there was no real evidence that this could be the primary cause of injury. So, off to work go the research scientists and after many years, in 2009, author and New York Times columnist, Chris MacDougall, writes a book called, Born To Run, and so the story begins.

Professor Daniel Lieberman proved that the human animal was actually born to run as we changed our eating habits over time. When we became meat eaters we had the hunt and the chase which is how we evolved into the species we are today, a species of runners. Faced with this type of information Footworks made a positive change to involve "natural running" as the main theme for the business. Don't be going thinking we all joined the long haired friends of Jesus and the tree huggers by taking off our shoes, far from it, we still accommodate a small section of the cushioned shoe market and the reason we do is easy. You cannot make fundamental changes to human movement patterns overnight, so this task will take many years and, if the truth be told, landing on the heel may be right for certain peoples biomechanics. So now you can see our aims and objectives. We have a duty to introduce you to the natural movement of the human which has been changed over the last 40 years. You will then have the ability to make an informed choice on the type of footwear you believe will help you to achieve you goals.

Runners can be classified into 3 groups (a)those who want to improve their quality of life through exercise, (b) Those who want to get from A to B without mechanical means and (c) those who want to win.

Some of you may find you are in more than 1 group and that's great but either way the reason you run is entirely up to you, so if you run and don't enjoy running then think about trying a change of technique or purpose, this can bring back the child like impulses that make running around aimlessly seem purposeful and, who knows, even enjoyable. Children running are always having fun, it's very rare to see a child running around of their own will without a huge grin on their face. They are also very good at barefoot running and we can learn loads from observing this natural form of motion.

Please read on through some of the other Blog / information pages to find out how easily you can make small changes which will exponentially improve the way you run.