It's a bit scary going off in a different direction like this. I mean, on a day or week when I have more knee pain than before, I would normally talk to my doctor. Or my physical therapist. But now that I've gone rogue, completely disregarded the advice of the physical therapists and the podiatrist, who do I talk to?
I guess I've taken a leap of faith.
The thing I've learned is that, even when I get knee or foot pain with my vibrams, some massage and stretching usually does the trick. I'm not giving up. I can feel my feet getting stronger by the day. I'm now up to wearing the vibrams every other day for an entire 10-hour day. And I seem to be having less knee pain than I used to before going "barefoot," even though I've not been consistently doing my leg and hip exercises that I'm supposed to do daily. My theory is that I'm working more calf and knee muscles by wearing these alternative shoes, just in my daily activities. I do spend most of my day standing or walking around at school. And the first few weeks, my calves were really sore. I discovered muscles on the outside of my calves that I didn't know I had!
Ok, enough sitting. Time to massage these tired puppies!
If you're trying out vibrams, or other minimalist shoes, or just have toe or foot cramps, here's a massage and exercise link for
Sole Training. And a
vibram foot health link for massages. These are massages and exercises I do every day now. Helps a lot!
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| Standing |
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| Stretching |
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