Vibram Ugly shoe review

I did my first run in the VFF shoes today. I've been wanting to try them for sometime after having great success with Nike Free 5.0 and 3.0's.

Brief history:

I use a mid-foot stance style of running that resembles Chi-running and am at a BMI of 26+. I have run mostly in Free 3.0's for the past 1 year but my running is less than 15 miles/week on average.

I originally was diagnosed by a competent running store to need motion-controlled or stability shoes as neutral shoes would cause me to have left sided medial knee pain after mile 8 with persistent knee pain the remainder of the day and also into the left gluteus medius (upper, outer butt cheek).  These conditions pretty much went away with use of Nike Frees slowly being used for more and more of my running.

I also work barefootscience.net orthotics during my workday and casual wear graduating to a Footlevelers orthotic in my shoes 1/2 time and Barefootscience 1/2 time during my workday.

The Run:

I did a treadmill run of only 1 mile after about 1/2 mile of walking in the VFF's. I immediately noticed, after every trainer in the gym made fun of them, my left knee tracked better. It was an odd feeling that started in the heel at first but then my body must have compensated and I noticed my knee tracking straighter without the typical toe-out running style on my left side. I'm thinking that proprioceptively my body started to recruit stabilizer muscles as my gait looked very symetrical.  As I sit her now typing I feel a very slight ache in my plantar fascia that indicates either irritation or activation of a tissue that normally doesn't get worked. It doesn't feel injurious at this point but I will remain objective. The run itself was very comfortable and natural feeling. I pictured my 13 y/o and how graceful his stride is as he almost kicks his own back with his legs during full sprint. While I didn't have that sort of flexibility I did feel like I was extending moreso than normal but not overly.

Summary:

I purchased these shoes as part of an ongoing rehabilitation of my biomechanics and therefore to share with my patient population as well as anyone that would benefit. I will post more info as time goes on if anything significant develops. I have no dog in the fight here although I do dispense footlevelers in my office as needed.

Vince