Vibram accepts benefits are without basis

sconhome

It's not quite Friday but I really enjoyed this article:

http://fittish.deadspin.com/vibram-fivefingers-still-stupid-now-culpable-1572955736/all

Krusty_Clown

Interesting. Glad I never jumped on the Five fingers wagon.
What's this got to do with Friday though?

sconhome

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Interesting. Glad I never jumped on the Five fingers wagon.
What's this got to do with Friday though?

I actually read that as a satire, like The Onion, and thought it would be a lighthearted discussion. However, digging deeper, there is a class action suit in the US over misrepresentative advertising.

Go figure

PaulieC

TL;DR

The shoes are not that bad, people are stupid though.

sconhome

Yep. This smacks of people who believed the whole 'running shoes are bad, run injury free thing' and went out to do 20 miles right out of the box. Blaming VFF for over exaggerating their claims and skewing scientific data to suit their purposes.

Like they were ever the first to do that. :rolleyes:

Krusty_Clown

AKW wrote: »

Yep. This smacks of people who believed the whole 'running shoes are bad, run injury free thing' and went out to do 20 miles right out of the box. Blaming VFF for over exaggerating their claims and skewing scientific data to suit their purposes.

Like they were ever the first to do that. :rolleyes:

If it wasn't for that pesky independant study.

Peterx

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

If it wasn't for that pesky independant study.

it's a lifestyle choice man, ain't no 10 week study of a handful of runners gonna stop this craze ...now what would be interesting would be to come back to all the participants 100 weeks later and check out their feet.

sconhome

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

If it wasn't for that pesky independant study.

Am sure the VFF spin merchants marketing department will say that's the body adapting to change :rolleyes:

RacoonQueen

I'm back to doing all my runs in minimus zero and pure drift a few weeks now. Without reading anything above in too much detail, am I screwed or what? :pac:

Krusty_Clown

RacoonQueen wrote: »

I'm back to doing all my runs in minimus zero and pure drift a few weeks now. Without reading anything above in too much detail, am I screwed or what? :pac:

Not necessarily. The finding of the study is that you shouldn't switch over to minimalist shoes too quickly. Vibram's claims that their shoes "reduce foot injuries and strengthen foot muscles." are complete tosh though.

jebuz

RacoonQueen wrote: »

I'm back to doing all my runs in minimus zero and pure drift a few weeks now. Without reading anything above in too much detail, am I screwed or what? :pac:

Yes but the good news is you can have some free money if your foot hurts :pac:

28064212

Interesting result: http://www.runnersworld.com/general-interest/vibram-agrees-to-settle-class-action-lawsuit

Vibram has agreed to discontinue to make any claims that FiveFingers footwear is effective in strengthening muscles or reducing injury in its marketing and advertising campaigns, unless the company discovers new scientific evidence that proves it.

ultraman1

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Interesting. Glad I never jumped on the Five fingers wagon.

ur not 55 and have a ponytail..........yet

Gavlor

Looks like the myth has been busted!

http://m.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/05/08/say-it-aint-so-vibram-say-it-aint-so/

aidanathome

That's a decent enough article in fairness. At least it gives both sides of the argument rather than just attacking the barefoot nazis. I think there's about as much chance of you injuring yourself in a pair of high-priced running shoes as there is in a pair of high-priced barefoot runners.
Bad form is bad form no matter what you're wearing.

buck65

I was seriously considering getting a pair for cross country running only as my trail shoes are getting wrecked in the long wet grass at the moment, farmers aren't yet cutting their grass.

Shoes take a day or 2 to dry out so I thought the 5 fingers could be the answer? Anyone wear them on grass?

aidanathome

buck65 wrote: »

I was seriously considering getting a pair for cross country running only as my trail shoes are getting wrecked in the long wet grass at the moment, farmers aren't yet cutting their grass.

Shoes take a day or 2 to dry out so I thought the 5 fingers could be the answer? Anyone wear them on grass?

They're not waterproof at all so I've found that when they get wet it goes straight through to your feet, and the skin gets wet and soft and cuts a bit at the skin.

My preference is to wear them with socks (Injinji) where it has less rubbing against the skin and is more comfortable. But I think over a long distance, wet socks rubbing against the skin would cause chafing.

They do dry quickly though!

there are lots of good barefoot / 0mm drop running shoes out there with no need to wear these ridiculous looking things. Apparently they smell awful after a while. I once saw someone wearing these with shorts in a nightclub

aidanathome

I've never had any problems with them getting smelly, but I would rinse them out if they get wet.

glasso wrote: »

I once saw someone wearing these with shorts in a nightclub

An idiot is an idiot no matter what he's wearing...