Running is an acquired skill, and the best way to learn that skill is through the Pose running technique, created by Dr. Nicholas Romanov. Just because you run barefoot, it does not necesarily mean you're doing it in the most efficient and injury-free way possible, which is why learning the principles of Pose is so important.
One of the most important concepts of Pose is to lift your feet off the ground, as opposed to pushing off from the ground to propel yourself forward. By leaning from the ankles and lifting your feet, you're essentially falling forward, letting gravity work to your advantage. The more you lean, the ankles (don't lean from the waist unless you want back pain!) the faster you have to pull your legs off the ground, and the faster you go. It's that simple, and it's a lot more easy to learn when you're either barefoot or wearing shoes that don't have a heel which gets in the way of the natural forefoot landing.
Dr. Romanov has addressed barefoot running a few times on his website via short articles, and I'd like to share a few quick points he states about it:
There are many beneficial aspects of barefoot running, it:
- Helps to develop better perception of the contact with the ground, which allows us to interact with support more efficiently, place the body weight on the foot more precisely; have better timing of the contact with the ground.
- Develops muscle strength, particularly in those groups of muscles of the feet, and related muscles of the legs and hips, which are out of use when we are in shoes.
- Helps to release psychological stress through the reduction of electricity charges in the body, which can now serve as a kind of lightning rod.
- Helps to improve the body temperature regulation due to the adaptation to the lower outside temperature.
Dr. Romanov also discusses the importance of running barefoot correctly, instead of just going out there without proper technique:
There is no special barefoot running technique and no particular moves. There is only one right technique, which takes into account the existing gravity field and uses gravity as its main source of energy, trying to assist it by channeling all the other forces in this direction instead of struggling with it. I would like to mention that barefoot running is not a panacea for avoiding running problems, it is not an automatic guarantee of running proper. It is just another tool for learning to run proper, because of more elements of a proper running technique present there than anywhere else.
Check out the whole article for a more in-depth explanation from Dr. Romanov.
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