Why A Women's Running Shoe for 'That Time of the Month' Makes Sense...and Why You Still Shouldn't Buy It

An online friend of mine (thanks, @bareminimalist) today posted to Facebook information about a new running shoe made by Asics. They're called the Gel-Kayano 16 (pictured). The special thing about these shoes is that they're designed to adjust to a woman's changing arches during her menstrual period.

According to the original article in The Mail Online, "When oestrogen is high, and a woman is at her most fertile, the arch drops. Later in the month, when she is menstruating, levels of the hormone are low but her arch is raised." The Gel-Kayano 16 has three layers of material in the arch that automatically adjust to this bio-mechanical change, theoretically providing the perfect amount of arch support as needed.

At first, I approached the announcement of these shoes from an incredibly cynical point of view. If it's not springs in the soles or thick, rounded soles for a more "barefoot" gait (see previous blog post), it's some other "gimmick" to make a buck. I was about to repost to Facebook the above-linked story. I was going to say how ridiculous it was to have a shoe that adjusts to your foot when your foot adjusts to itself already and -- wait a tick.

If you subscribe to the idea that our feet need shoes for running, these shoes are quite brilliant! High arch? The shoe knows. Low arch? The shoe adjusts. That's actually really cool and a great feature that lots of other shoes should have built in.

Everyone from doctors to running magazines give the advice that each runner needs to have the right shoe for their individual feet. Not all feet are made the same, so not all shoes should be made the same. Shoes can vary in arch support, cushioning, width and any number of other aspects. That's why there's so many different kinds of running shoes when you look up at the wall of your local sporting goods store or shoe retailer. Shoe companies say that they make different kinds of shoes to get the right fit for each person's bio-mechanics. This shoe might truly be the best one out there.

But there's a catch.

It's still a shoe.

With barefoot running there's no product to buy to adapt to your foot. Your foot just does its thing. If you want some kind of protection on your feet, wear something like Vibram Fivefingers or Terra Plana's VivoBarefoot shoes that have no kind of arch support and, inherently, let your foot be a foot.

You might say, "But Michael, isn't running without arch support bad?" Not if you properly train your foot to be strong and support its own arch.

Our feet are capable of amazing things if we let them be feet. Closing them up inside a shoe, no matter how adaptive to our foot they may be, is not the best option for most people. Sure, a shoe that adapts to our foot may prevent injury to some extent, but encourages weakness in structures of our body that are meant to be strong.

Barefoot running is generally best. Period.

(pun intended)

I welcome your comments below.

Shoe store image: Walker's Clothing and Shoes
Running in Vibram Fivefingers image: Photography on the Run
(The above recommendations for minimalist footwear are based solely on the author's use and personal endorsement of the products mentioned. Barefoot Michael has received no sponsorship or monetary compensation from said companies.)