I would like to preface my remarks with these words, I am a toe shoe enthusiast, not fanatic. I fully understand that they look different and they are not a snake oil that cures all your running ills. They do have some very nice benefits for those who can wear them. That being said, the message the Army published stated that toe shoes "detract from a professional military image... all toes must be in one compartment..." (All Army Activities message 239/2011) The U.S. Army has never been accused of making decisions by consensus. It also has been known to act almost unilaterally at times. It seems banning toe shoes is one of those times. There are physical benefits to wearing the shoes and they are no more "unprofessional" than many of the running shoes currently being worn by soldiers. But we'll get to all that.
Toe shoes are designed to bring the runner back to a more natural style of running, more natural gate, mid foot to ball of foot strike, not heal striking. Since the runner's feet don't have the isolation provided by extra padding and motion control devices built in to regular running shoes they have to pick up the slack for proper foot control. All those smaller muscles in the foot and ankle get strengthened. This helps reduce the risk of ankle injuries by building stronger ankles.
The runner also "feels" the ground more sensitively and therefore his body adjusts and the foot strikes the ground more squarely and evenly. The more natural running gate or stride puts the impact towards the ball of the foot using the leg muscles to absorb the shock of the foot strike. Most runners use a heel strike method of running that puts heavier stress on the heel, ankle, knee, and lower back leading to more chance of injuries. Here is a good Youtube video that demonstrates this motion. If this is totally true everyone should wear toe shoes right? Not exactly...
Runners who have excessively high arches or excessively flat feet may have problems wearing "minimalist" style shoes. People that have severe plantar fasciitis or other issues may not be able to wear toe shoes. Finally if you have webbed toes...sorry, the best you can do is Minimus or a similar brand. Changing over to toe shoes takes a little time even for good athletes. Usually doing an alternating method between regular shoes and toe shoes for a couple weeks is a good idea. David Willey (Editor of Runner's World magazine) was featured in a news media about running in toe shoes. He, along with the news media's medical correspondent took a run and talked about the benefits of toe shoes.
There are some that argue that toe shoes are not as safe as regular shoes. Well, it is true that you can stub your toe more easily in toe shoes. Some say that if you drop a weight on your foot in the gym, your toes will get broken because of a lack of protection. Of course I would argue that unless you have steel toed tennis shoes your foot will pay the price regardless of your footwear. There are some PT sessions that toe shoes wouldn't be advisable. A lot of installations have heavy graveled roads. But from personal experience if the gravel is too pointy and loose to run on in toe shoes you probably shouldn't be doing PT on it anyway. Toe shoes can provide great benefits for the average or avid runner, but they are not for everyone.
All of the other uniformed services allow toe shoes to be worn with their PT uniform, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. I would not want to go as far as saying these services must be unprofessional because they allow toe shoes to be worn... I would hesitate for any individual to call a Marine unprofessional out of fear for the repercussion. The Army has guidelines for the wear and appearance of the PT uniform and specifically for the type of shoes that can be worn. But fortunately or unfortunately those guidelines are rarely ever enforced. So that begs the question of why do all the other services allow the wear of toe shoes and the Army doesn't despite its lack of its enforcement of foot wear guidelines or regulations.
Define professional. Do Soldiers who wear brightly colored running shoes have any more a professional appearance than someone in toe shoes? I say no. Take a look at these two pictures and lets find the professionalism. Does artillery red running shoes present a professional appearance? Does hot pink, green, orange, or blue qualify as professional? Without doing a call out in the picture many people would have never noticed the toe shoes in the middle. This picture was taken in Iraq before the ban came out. Who else in the Army likes toe shoes...let's just leave that a secret.
I don't have a problem following army rules and guidelines. After all, I wore the black beret under Gen. Shinseki's legacy until the Army made the great decision to bring back the patrol cap. So I do hold out the hope that the Army will relook its position and authorize the wearing of toe shoes with the PT uniform. There are soldiers out there that seek to challenge themselves, want to improve themselves, and want to wear toe shoes to help achieve those goals; that feel the army is letting them down. Soldiers are Soldiers and will follow orders but whether it is commitment or compliance that will be the difference.
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