Today on back yard monsters we take you to the humid subtropical suburbs of Louisville, KY. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon in early May, and I'd dragged my son away from his video games to help me stretch a tape measure across the back yard. At some point I stepped on something that was immediately unpleasant but caused little direct pain on initial contact. When I looked down, I saw what appeared to be a harmless but nonetheless ugly weed and dismissed the incident.
Later that day I noticed that whenever I put weight on my foot in a certain way, I experienced excruciating pain. Luckily, it was just under the base of my small toe, so it didn't interfere with my walking or other activities, as long as I didn't turn my foot a certain way or lean my weight on that side of my foot. It was just a bruise, or something, I told myself. It will go away in a few days. I did, after all, step on something in the yard, right? I poked and prodded and inspected but could never find anything obvious that would cause the pain. There was a tiny area I could put pressure on and feel that something wasn't quite right, but it still just did not explain why the pain was so bad when I put my weight on it. Surely, I had no broken bones. It just wasn't possible, was it?
A few days went by and then a week, and the pain was still there. Then in the next few days it seemed to fade a bit. I was sure I was on the mend. Another week or two went by with nothing serious having occurred. Yes, just a bruise all along, I told myself. I pronounced myself healed.
And then there was my deadlift day on Tuesday. Every Tuesday is deadlift day. I decided to wear my Vibram FiveFingers Komodosports. As soon as I put the shoes on and started walking around, I could feel that familiar pain all over again. Very strange. Could it be the shoes? I had worn them the same day of the "incident" in the back yard, but I was barefoot at the time "injury" occurred. Could it be that the shoes had caused the injury in the first place and I had simply mistakenly linked it to some nefarious object in the back yard? No, I could not accept the idea that my brand spanking new Komodosports could ever have done such a thing.
The issue did not interfere with my deadlifting, but I did step down once in just the right way to cause that pain to flare up with a hot, katana-wielding vengeance.
Again, I dismissed it.
The following day, yesterday, I accompanied my son on an all-day school field trip. I wore the Komodosports and was on my feet for several hours. Nothing serious occurred with the injured foot, but the nagging pain was still there, waiting to make its presence known.
When I arrived home, I peeled off the shoes and went about the business of getting ready for the next day. My foot was in great pain. Good grief! I thought. Maybe it really is the Komodosports! I decided it was time for a re-inspection of the injured area.
I sat, tossed my foot up onto my knee and began to scrutinize the sole. This time I could clearly discern a very tender area, slightly raised. When I looked closely, I clearly saw what appeared to be a splinter. Most interesting. I got myself a bottle of alcohol and applied it generously for several minutes. And then I used what was left to clean the tender area.
I used a pin to probe and pry until I got the "splinter" out of the skin enough to grasp it with a pair of tweezers and pull it free of the skin. On closer inspection, it looked more like the stinger of a bee or wasp than a splinter.
And then it hit me: those damned nettles! All along it was those barbed monsters that had loosed an attack upon my vulnerable foot, dispatching a secret mole into my tender skin to harass and weaken me.
Admittedly, I'm no plant expert, so I can't say for sure that it was nettles, but pictures I've pulled up seem to indicate that's what it was. All I do know is this: I stepped on a spiny weed that speared me with a tiny splinter that somehow caused me great pain for more than two weeks. It's kind of sobering, really. Human beings are very fragile things when you think about it. Our skin can be cut and pierced and our bones can be broken.
Lots of people have jumped on this barefoot running craze, citing volumes of medical and anecdotal evidence about how great it is. Though the Vibram FiveFingers brand grew out of this trend, I have always outright rejected the idea of truly barefoot running. Human beings invented footwear for a reason. Our feet are not invincible. And I really don't care how manly you think you are by running around barefoot, you are risking injuries you don't even know are possible. I'm not talking about the whole natural mechanics of how the foot moves. I'm not talking about the pounding and punishment the foot takes in being situated in that regrettable position at the bottom of our legs. I'm talking simply about all of the external things that can injure our feet: sharp rocks, broken glass, sticks, thorns, black widow spiders ...
Granted, wearing thin-soled, next-to-nothing coverings like the Vibrams isn't exactly armor, but it is, plain and simple, better than nothing.
I like the freedom of movement and the separation of the toes the Vibrams provide, but I will never, ever run foot naked—especially after the painful lesson the nettles taught me.
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