Joe Nimble started life with orthopaedic design in mind. While barefoot shoes strip everything away, meaning you’re at risk of sensory input overload (as your feet haven’t yet had time to adapt), our functional footwear offers various thicknesses of sole as you transition away from symmetrical shoes. But if you’ve been running for years you’re probably going to need more protection. “Your needs will depend on the surfaces you run on, how often you run, your age and your weight. “The structure of Joe Nimble shoes helps to reverse problems associated with dysfunctional, symmetrical footwear – hallux valgus, squished toes in the front, flat foot, or high, rigid arches.” “Every single person, no matter what they do, needs toe freedom.” The design thinking that gets runners through Death Valley’s Badwater ultra in a single pair of shoes. “It’s wide at the front, it has a flat toe box that supports and stabilises the forefoot, and supports the natural function of the big toe,” says Sebastian. The solution is an innovative asymmetrical design that is designed to reflect the shape of the human foot. Joe Nimble tackles this issue by helping runners to regain and maintain their natural foot function. This instability causes the rolling in of the foot through uneven distribution of weight across the toes, which puts the knee in a position that it shouldn’t be in, and prevents ground shock being absorbed effectively. “All of these negative effects of running happen because we are moving on an unstable or dysfunctional basis, an issue which is caused by the symmetrical shoe shape.”ĭysfunctional running, or running outside of the sagittal plane, can also be a cause of over pronation in runners. The knees, the hips, you get trigger points in the back, you get an inefficient running technique.” “You’re standing and running on unstable foundations, and that instability has to be compensated for somewhere else in the body. If that function is taken away, first the foot and then everything above the foot will start to suffer, because the foot cannot function naturally anymore.” “The toes – especially the big toe – have a purpose, which is to anchor and stabilise the foot and thereby the whole body. ![]() This is what Sebastian has found to be the root cause of pretty much every pain, injury and discomfort runners suffer. Most running shoes are ‘pointed’ at the front and have a tendency to ‘squeeze’ the toes together. “Which is in contrast to modern running shoes, which have a symmetrical shape.” “The natural shape of our foot is asymmetrical,” explains Sebastian. The physiology of toe freedom starts with the shape of the foot. That better way is what Joe Nimble call “toe freedom”. Those shoes were a product of Sebastian’s family, who have been creating functional footwear for over four decades, ever since his father realised there had to be a better way. And the race director of that race, Chris Kostman, told me at the finish line that nobody had ever completed Badwater in just one pair of shoes before.” “Most crazy? Our runner went from start to finish in only one pair of shoes, he didn’t even have to take the shoes off. “So they used a sharp knife and, from the ball to the front of the foot, cut away the complete upper so that the toes or the front of the foot would have more space.” “They had to cut open the front of the shoe, basically the toe box,” he explains. Most common of all was complaints of pain at the front of the foot, with a shocking and unorthodox solution. When speaking to runners after the race, they explained to Sebastian that their shoes had become misshapen, and were causing the foot to tire. “What amazed me was that each of these runners need 8 to 12 pairs of shoes from start to finish of that race. “I saw a lot of the runners who participated in the race, and these are the top ultra marathon qualifiers from all over the world, people who are the best of their kind in ultra running come to that race,” says Sebastian. Runners battle 50 degree air temperature and 80 degree temperatures on the road. The race runs 217 kilometers nonstop through Death Valley in July, which at that time of year is the hottest place on earth. ![]() Over a decade ago, Sebastian was leading a support crew at the world’s toughest ultra marathon, the Badwater 135. Now, he’s a shoe pioneer and inventor of the functional footwear design concept.Īnd he’s leading a functional footwear revolution.Īs Joe Nimble steps into a bold new partnership with Michelin, on a mission to free our feet from the constraints of modern footwear design, we talked to Sebastian about “toe freedom” and how functional footwear is transforming the running experience forever. ![]() Sebastian Bär has successfully coached three ultra athletes in his life.
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