Massaging the Plantar Fascia the Natural Way

By going barefoot in my backyard, I have stumbled on some little discoveries that I don't know if I would have found if I had not been walking around barefoot.

In walking on the uneven terrain of my backyard in bare feet, I learned that the edges of rocks and tree roots massage the tender plantar fascia connective tissue.  I have tried to use tennis balls and golf balls and even little balls from a special plantar fasciitis trigger point therapy kit I bought in a running store.

However, when my feet stumbled on the sharp edge of my uneven stone backyard, it found massage heaven.  And when I watered my flowers and stepped on a giant tree root, my bare feet told me I had found something good.

This happened simultaneously with my having read a little suggestion on the chi running blog (Plantar Fasciitis Prevention and Cure) about massaging for plantar fasciitis by walking barefoot on gravel.  I didn't have any gravel, but very soon after that I accidentally stepped on the "ledge" of a piece of sidewalk and found a similar effect.

Up until that point, I had been using the plantar fasciitis massage recommended in some books and demonstrated in this video here:

 It required me to pull back on my toes and stretch the plantar fascia.  It seemed to help, however, I felt also like it was pulling the fascia at the place where it was attached to the heel and maybe stressing that point too much.

Anyway, having my camera handy and this blog in mind, I took some video of me massaging my foot in this manner on various rocks and tree roots in my yard.

You can see the videos if you click here:  Plantar Massage Videos

Vibrams or Barefoot Today?

I still have those tiny little abrasions on my left foot and it is time to go run again. (I'm running a mile 3x a week and my goal is "consistency" right now.)

The question is whether to use my Vibrams or not today.  I really was looking forward to more barefoot running, but the adult in me says to just wear Vibrams today to protect the little sore spots from dirt and bacteria.

However, the kid in me says, "I want to run barefoot."

I had my husband look at the little cuts and he says they are just fine.  They are so tiny.  Like a dot.  I can't feel them when I walk, even walking barefoot around the house.  I only found out they were there when I was washing my feet and I felt soreness when I rubbed the spots where they were.

As I was writing this blog, I decided to go out and try to take pictures of the little abrasions.  I think the photos actually came out a little interesting -- totally by accident.

I told my runner friend I started a blog to journal about my barefoot running and I told her that I posted pictures of my feet and she said, "I would NEVER post pictures of my feet on the Internet!"

Uh-oh -- Some Little Barefoot Bruises

Last night I noticed two little abrasions on the bottom of my left foot.

Oh no!  That's it!  No more barefoot running!

Okay, calm down.  Why didn't I see these before?  One was some very slightly scuffed skin below my pinky toe, and the other was further down on the outside edge.

They were really tiny and insignificant and may even have been caused by my walking to my voice lessons in new Teva sandals yesterday.  I am very squeamish about any kind of abrasion of the skin and I was reacting to these like a little kid who is upset that he got a small boo boo.  Very wimpy.  I am most certainly not a warrior.  In fact I've already decided I will NEVER trail run barefoot.  I will stay on the safe paths!!! (famous last words?)

At the barefoot running clinic I attended a few weeks ago, Michael Sandler (Barefoot Running: How to Run Light and Free by Getting in Touch with the Earth) had mentioned that  the feet need rest time so the muscles can build themselves up.  He said we can "rest" our feet by wearing our supportive shoes.

But when I tried to wear my running shoes to walk to an appointment last Friday after having run barefoot in order to do just that, my feet ended up hurting horribly. I just couldn't stand the hump under my arch in the running shoe.  It felt really uncomfortable.  After trying to walk in the running shoes, I realized even more how they may have played a role in me getting plantar fasciitis.  At least I think I bought the wrong kind of shoes for my feet.

So, when I had to walk to an appointment yesterday after having run barefoot, I chose my Tevas this time -- a new pair I just got.

The little cuts on my feet may have been caused by this walk and not the barefoot running.

I had inspected my feet carefully after my run yesterday and they had looked fine.

However, I seem to recall having read on one of the barefoot blogs or one of the books that bruises and cuts sometimes don't show up until later.

Anyway, a good night's rest seems to have taken care of things.

But, being new to this, I am on alert!!!

The Care and Keeping of Bare Feet

One thing that caused me to stall going for a barefoot run for the first time was the idea of how dirty the sidewalks must be.  I walk my dog out there, and for that alone, a person of a genteel nature might hesitate.  I've seen people spit on the sidewalks., smokers flick ashes on the sidewalks, people dump drinks on the sidewalks. It's not something a woman wants to encounter.

But I also realized there are probably tons of germs, maybe even more disgusting things, on the grocery store shopping carts.  So, maybe I can just wash my feet more often -- like I wash my hands.

I'm starting to develop a little after-care routine for my feet.  I throw a little towel down on the floor first:

This gives me something to set my wet feet on so I don't slip on the kitchen floor tile.

Next I get a bit of stretching in, because lifting my feet up there is a feat.

I have a foot scrub brush upstairs.  I want to get a downstairs one.  (Mental note: purchase a downstairs foot brush)

I know some people will wince at the thought that I'm using the kitchen sink.  I' probably shouldn't.  But I do scrub it thoroughly afterwards!  I like the kitchen sink because it has a removal spray head.

Well, the very last thing is that I'm using Aquaphor on my heels and around the edges of my feet where it's getting a bit of tougher skin.

The aquaphor is very soothing, and I know from using it in other ways that it does seem to be able to condition and repair dry skin.

That's all for now.  Just part of the journey.  All these little aspects of changing to a barefoot runner.

Barefoot and Beautiful

I have always felt that my feet were an asset in the beauty department.  I have always liked their shape and I have taken time to care for them.  You may disagree with that when you see the pictures below, but -- oh well -- we have to like something about ourselves and I have always felt my feet were okay.  Yes, I have marks where my flip flop has been rubbing, and an uneven tan, and some discoloring on my toenails.  But overall they're kind of nice.  I mean, some people really hate their feet.  But I have never felt that way.

Now that I am trying out barefoot, I have some vanity concerns.  What will my feet look like if I proceed on this path? Will they get really ugly?

I went to a barefoot running workshop in Central Park with Michael Sandler (author of Barefoot Running: How to Run Light and Free by Getting in Touch with the Earth).  His co-author, Jessica Lee, was there and she gave us ladies a talk about some things to expect once we develop into more advanced barefoot runners.

For one thing, she said that our forefoot area was going to get wider.  It's been smushed up in shoes and misshapen and is underdeveloped muscularly, so it's going to change shape a little.  She said that we may change our preference for shoes, especially wearing high heels.  I guess barefoot running stretches out the achilles tendon and wearing heels, which shortens and tightens that tendon, will not be as desirable.

She also said that we don't want to slough off the tough skin on the bottom of our feet when we go for pedicures.  That skin on the soles of our feet is protection and it's something we want to be there.

Jason Robillard -- in his book The Barefoot Running Book: A Practical Guide to the Art and Science of Barefoot and Minimalist Shoe Running -- says that the bottom of our feet won't be calloused, but smooth and leathery.  Hmmm!

I made a decision a while back that I was not going to have long manicured fingernails.  I play the piano and long nails made it really hard to play.  I went through a stage where I had wraps put on my nails and I was going for regular manicures to keep it up.  I guess I was experimenting with it.  Is this who I am as a woman?  But eventually I gave it up.  It was not who I was as a woman.  I had decided that I wanted to have hands that were not pampered and preserved, but hands that worked, made things, accomplished things.  I do recognize that there are women who have the pampered hands who accomplish a lot too.  Some of them do amazing things while sporting their long nails.  So, I just want to say that it was a lifestyle choice for me.  I wanted to work hard, play the piano, get my hands in the dirt and that's more who I was -- was more natural to me -- than the other kind.

Well, now we've turned to feet.  I didn't realize that while I was getting my hands out for a lifestyle choice, I was leaving my feet in the pampered supported world.

Anticipating some kind of transformation of my feet last night, I wanted to take a picture of my feet before they change.  So, here's a few pictures.  Before pictures.  They're not as pampered because I  have been barefooting for a few weeks, but they still are not what they will be later.

I Did It Again -- I Ran Barefoot

Today was my third time running a mile barefoot.  It was fantastic.

When I started this blog I thought -- and I still think -- that this is either going to be a blog about a woman's gradual metamorphosis into a barefoot runner, or it was going to be a blog with a few posts about someone who gave it a try and fizzled out.  But immediately after each barefoot run I lean more towards the first blog, because I am so amazed at the experience I am having running this way.

Before I head out, as I wrote on another page, I give a little shudder at the thought of running a mile without shoes on.  But it only takes a few steps before everything feels so right in a way that I haven't felt since childhood, and I know that I am headed in the right direction.

I took some videos today of my barefoot run and I'm going to post them in a special place in the web I call "Frescamari's Practice Room."   Frescamari's Practice Room is a posterous blog where I post clips of me practicing singing and kind of journal and note in a sloppy kind of disordered way all about what I'm trying to accomplish when I am practicing.

I'm have posted the videos I took of the little steps out to barefoot run today.  In them will be are some pictures of the surfaces I'm running on and some little commentary about how it feels to walk on the surfaces.  If you are interested, here's a link to click:

Barefoot Running Videos -- Part I
 and
Barefoot Running Videos -- Part II

In a book I'm reading about barefoot running The Barefoot Running Book: A Practical Guide to the Art and Science of Barefoot and Minimalist Shoe Running by Jason Robillard, he writes a section on "comebacks" for comments a barefoot runner might get from onlookers and bystanders.  So far I have received amazingly few looks or comments.  I don't know if that's because I am in an urban area where all kinds of people do all kinds of strange things and people get used to just blankly observing -- "Ho hum -- cars zooming by -- blink -- man with dog -- yawn -- strange guy doing yoga in the park in bikini bathing suit --blink -- lady feeding 25 cats out her front door -- zone -- somebody's mom with dog running barefoot, etc...."

Today, I heard pounding on the ground behind me like a herd of antelopes approaching.  Before I knew it I was in the midst of being passed on the left and on the right by a group of teenage boys out for a run.  I would tend to get nervous when packs of teenage boys approached -- but NOT when they are running.  Because a pack of teenage boys out running are doing something positive and healthful. They are working on goals.  They are organized.  They've learned to give up comfort and burn their youthful boy energy in a focused way.  They are developing self-discipline and stamina.  Coming toward me in a pack like that they emanated a sense of group purpose.  Wow, this is what male energy working together can be like.  It's powerful.  That power of the pack.

This must be the high school cross country team getting together for a run, I thought.

They were young, fast, and strong, and wearing shoes.  They all passed me and left me in the dust.  My footsteps were soft, soundless and catlike compared to their pounding hooves.

I wonder if any of them noticed I was running barefoot, I thought?  Even though they were concentrating on their run, and went by so fast that it seemed like there wasn't time to notice, they must have seen me as they approached.  Even to just make a mental note of the scenery.  They had to see me because they had to move around me.

That's the thing about running, is that while you're out there, little things go by and sometimes the impression of something you saw remains or causes you to reflect.  I just had a feeling that someone in that crowd must have noticed the barefoot.

I was on a cross-country team in high school, and there were little "happenings" that just seemed so insignificant, but which kind of stay with you.  The little "happening" leaves an impression.  Perhaps one of those boys reads about running and is familiar with the barefoot trend.  Perhaps one of them just saw me, thinks it's weird, but doesn't know he is destined to be a barefoot runner someday and will then look back and remember that first glimpse he had of someone doing it in bare feet.  I may be the first person some people see do that.

A little after the pack passed me and left me in the dust the slower runners came along.  Even these slow stragglers on this young team were running faster than I was.

I thought back to my own days running cross country.  A friend of mine had asked if I could join the team because they needed five girls to have a team.  I was very slow.  We practiced with the boys team and I was always way way behind everyone else.  So, these stragglers reminded me of me.  Sometimes it's the stragglers, oddly enough, who later become the "true" runners.

The last member of the team to come along was walking.  It was hard for him.  He was taking a rest.  I think he, even walking, was moving faster than I was.  He walked for half a block but then resumed running.  I wanted to call out to him and tell him he was doing great.  It's okay to stop and walk.  I never knew that when I was  young.  I imagined that he was not enjoying himself.  When you have to stop and walk it's often because you just don't have the will to go on.  At least that's why I would have done it.  But now I know that walking a little can rejuvenate you on a run and make a run fun again because you get a little rest.

Well, that was my barefoot running experience for today.  I went out, ran the same mile as the other times, got passed by a boys cross country team, reflected on a lot of things, and came home feeling amazing.

Next Barefoot Run -- Tomorrow -- Really?

Will I really start out barefoot tomorrow?  Will I really continue with this?

My running right now is so modest.  I am building from scratch after six months off with plantar fasciitis.  But even before I was waylaid, I was really only just getting back into it.

So, now, my goal is consistency.  I don't care how far or how fast.  I just made a plan to go out there M - W - F in between Kung Fu days.  So far I'm running a little over a mile each time and it's getting easier and easier.

The last two times were barefoot all the way.

I originally wasn't planning to be up to a mile barefooting yet.  At first I was just doing my little walking warmup barefoot.  Then I planned to walk a warmup and then start jogging barefoot only a few yards or so.  Finally I had worked up to walking about a 1/4 mile barefoot, then running a 1/2 mile barefoot, then running the last half mile in Vibrams.

But the last two times, I just kept running when I was supposed to change into my Vibrams.  I just knew it was all right.  I kept asking myself if I was overdoing it -- "Is this too much?  Am I overdoing it?" -- but my body knew I wasn't.

Anyway, tomorrow is my next running day.  Now that I've done the whole thing barefoot way sooner than I thought I would, do I have to keep doing it barefoot?  I have this weird kind of scrupulosity about running where I feel like I can't go "back."  Once I've run something a better way, I can't go back and do it the way I was before.  I have to maintain my new level.

Do I have to make up my mind ahead of time?  I feel like I have a choice set before me.  On the one side, it looks like the comfort of running shoes.  On the other side, it looks like "the hard way."

But like so many other choices like this, the appearance of comfort is an illusion.  Because plantar fasciitis was definitely not comfortable.

I wasn't able to change my running form while wearing my shoes.  Deep in my heart, I know these shoes had to come off and I had to learn all over again.

Will I be able to transpose what my feet are teaching me to running in shoes again?  That was my original idea:  Use barefooting to learn how to run properly and then put my shoes back on and run the barefoot way in them.  But now I'm wondering if I will ever put my shoes on again for running.

There's something else at work with this barefooting stuff.  It's all trying to tell me something.  Something about giving up planning and control and measuring and having it all tied up in neat little packages.