If you’re a runner or a walker or a hiker, or even just someone who stands up all day and you got foot pain, or ankle pain, or knee pain, or hip pain, or back pain. Clearly you need some padding and cushioning to just alleviate all that stress, right? Nope, and I will tell you why that illusion is so popular now and what’s actually true in this episode of The MOVEMENT Movement.

Welcome to The MOVEMENT Movement, the podcast for people who want the truth about having strong, healthy, happy bodies. Where we dissect and debunk the mythology and the propaganda and the misconceptions about what it takes to walk or run or jump or swim or lift or do whatever your body likes to do. Because bodies like to move and we’re here to help your body do that in a way that’s enjoyable, that’s fun, that supports you for the rest of your life. We call it The MOVEMENT Movement because we literally are trying to create a movement, trying to make people understand that natural movement is the obvious, better healthy choice, the way that natural food is currently thought of.

If this whole idea of natural movement resonates with you, then Subscribe, click Like, Friend, Share, whatever it is that you’re doing depending on the platform that you’re engaging with us on right now. Come to our website, jointhemovementmovement.com and that will point you to all the different places, all the different social channels where you can participate with us. If you have any suggestions or questions, send them over to [email protected].

Comments (8)
  1. In 2012 (rather overweight) I decided I needed to run a 12km fun run to raise money for the Transplant Unit that was assisting my husband. Unfortunately I also knew that every time I’d tried to run since being a kid, I’d hurt myself, no matter how “good” my shoes were.

    Then I came across a couple of articles about barefoot running, & remembered that as a kid growing up in country Australia, I almost never wore shoes for running, or wore the old Converse or Dunlop style runners which (at the time) had no padding. So I thought I’d give this a go. I went to the local KMart & bought a pair of cheap rubber soled shoes with no padding, nothing under them but a rubber sole. & had no injuries in running.

    So I went online & found my first pair of minimalist shoes – I had to source them from the US, because they weren’t available over here, ran 12km & had no knee or ankle injuries. A couple of years later, I bought another pair (a different brand) & am now finally into running into a bigger way.

    Now I need to replace those shoes, because they are finally wearing out. So I searched for barefoot & minimalist shoes. Most of what I was finding was these “zero drop” shoes, but they had all this padding underneath, which was what I DIDN’T want. Even the brands that I’d used previously no longer seemed to have the proper minimalist shoes. Yes, I could occasionally find somewhere that had “older models” of those shoes, but no guarantee they’d have my size, or (the other problem I’m finding over here) that I could have them sent to Australia.

    One day, 2 different sites turned up in my facebook. One site was yours, another was a different minimalist shoe company, both offering the same type of shoe. I have now ordered a pair of shoes from each of you, to trial them both for myself. My only “complaints” are – your colours are so boring; & why do you state your shoes run to small sizing? Surely if they are size 8 they should be size 8, I shouldn’t have to go up half a size or a full size to get the correct fit. The other shoes I had, when they were making the proper minimalist shoes, were the correct sizing, even though they were both slightly different shapes.

    I am glad someone is still making minimalist shoes though. I can keep running. I find I can correct myself as I run, without fearing falling off the edge of my shoes & injuring myself. The only thing that’s stopping me actually running totally barefoot, is that the likelihood of getting cut or injured by something on the trail is too high nowadays, & also the ground gets miles too hot over here during summer.

    So please, make your colours bright – most of us runners aren’t shy, retiring types, we like to get out there & be seen!! Oh, & as a side note – yesterday at work, someone walked past me who was wearing a pair of your shoes to work. I didn’t get to talk to him, but I’ll be trying to find him again & talk with him about his shoes.

    • I’m thrilled to hear you discovered the fun and benefits of natural movement.

      To answer your questions:

      1) Even though there is a measurement called “Size 8” that doesn’t mean that every shoe made to that measurement fits the same way. Most people who say the are a size 8 also have some 7.5 and 8.5 in their closet. Three people with identical feet could have 3 opinions about the fit of the same shoe, in part due to personal preference. So we currently say “we run 1/2 size small,” for example, based on customer feedback.

      2) Sorry you don’t like the color options. We started our business with more color choices, but found that black and brown made up 60% of our sales and it took years to sell through the brighter colors. With the speed our company is growing, we can’t afford to have that much cash tied up in inventory. And given that our production minimums are high, we can’t yet afford to make a wide range of colors. As we continue to grow, and distribution expands in our retail channel, we’ll have more opportunity to do more “flashy” things.

      It’s good to know that even with our “dull” colors, you still spotted someone else’s Xero Shoes 😉

  2. I’m so excited to learn about The MOVEMENT Movement! As an acupuncturist, I’ve found that all pain patterns start in the feet – so even if patients come in to be treated for neck pain, I always find their fourth and pinky toes are impinged from years of wearing improper footwear. My own research into how to help patients regain natural movement has made me a bit of a “barefoot shoe nerd” because I am constantly trying out different companies’ barefoot shoes so I can offer constructive patient advice. And I have to say I am a huge Xero Shoes fan! I often navigate around the office and hit the pavement or the trails in my two Prio pairs, the TerraFlex, or the Z-Trek sandal. Please keep up the positive attitude – and keep making fantastic natural movement shoes!!

  3. Was it bad to post a comment dunking on another shoe company specifically? I was more wondering what to make of that article. Well, possibly native advertising “article” but still. The author kind of treated minimalist and maximalist trends like they were consequence-free fashion trends, which is hilarious and dismissible I suppose, but also was talking about all the benefits of a very cushioned trail-running shoe. It’s hard to know what to make of it, except that the tall stack height without the beefy ankle support of a heavy duty hiking boot looked like ankle problems. But what are the consequences of a steep downhill and a very cushy shoe? Does it lessen the impact of the downhill footfalls? Or is it still one of those things where it lessens the sensation of impact and not the impact itself, so it still leads to joint damage but it just feels better in the moment?

    I can understand it in terms of running on flat ground–is it the same when walking more slowly on very steep ground?

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