Natural Running Center

For the past 12 years, I have dissected and modified hundreds of pairs of shoes, taught running form clinics around the country, opened a minimalist store in my home town of Shepherdstown, West Virginia, directed races (from 5K fun runs to marathons), got local children excited about running, and most importantly listened with all my [Read more...]

Review and Summary of the Following Published Study: BioMechanics of Barefoot Running:  Biomechanics and Implications for Running Injuries, by Allison R. Altman and Irene S. Davis. Sports Medicine in Current Sports Medicine Reports, American College of Sports Medicine, Volume 11 · Number 5, September/October 2012, pp.244-250. *** by Jim  Hixson. Well-known researcher and author Irene [Read more...]

We received the following email and photos from Jacob Edwards, a youngish distance runner who definitely has the speed gene and a rekindled love of barefoot running, a passion first nurtured by his legendary grandfather John J Kelley.– NRC   Dear Natural Running Center, For the past 13 years I have been a competitive runner [Read more...]

Mark Cucuzzella, MD, and director of the Natural Running Center regularly runs unshod as a way to strengthen his feet and legs, as well as improve form, cadence, and posture. This short training segment was filmed on location at the Antietam National Park.

In the following essay, which appears in the current issue of Podiatry Today, Dr. Nick Campitelli, a health and medical advisor to the Natural Running Center, who is board-certified by the American Board of Podiatric Surgery, addresses a hotly debated topic in professional foot-treatment circles. Tackling The 10 Myths Of Barefoot Running by Nicholas A. [Read more...]

 A regular reader of Natural Running Center’s website, Patrick sent us the following essay– which in the interest of runners everywhere, we’d like to share. To misquote Thomas Paine, “these are the times that tries men’s soles.”– NRC   I am a barefoot runner from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. As I get better at running barefoot, I [Read more...]

In the hand-me-down spirit of Ambrose Bierce’s “Devil’s Dictionary,” Josh Sutcliffe, aka Barefoot Josh, has created a list of barefoot and footwear terms and their definitions. Josh says that he “likes to run, write, and draw.” He works at a Dog Daycare facility, which means he plays with dogs all day.  Visit his running blog here: barefootjosh.com where [Read more...]

  Peer-reviewed literature has indirectly supported barefoot running for the past 20 years. In this video, podiatrist and surgeon Dr. Nicholas A. Campitelli discuss why it is safe to run barefoot and explain how we see a reduction in injury by running the way we were designed to run.

by Angie Hotz aka Barefoot Angie Bee.  When I walked into the VIVOBAREFOOT Training Clinic I thought I would “wow”  Lee Saxby. I had been successful so far having ran a barefoot marathon and not in “barefoot shoes” but actually naked foot.  All of my previous shod race times were bested barefoot. I had been running for [Read more...]