Can Minimalist Shoes Be Beneficial For Osteoarthritis-Related Knee Pain?

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A new blog entry by a member of the Vibram Medical Advisory Board, Nick Campitelli, DPM, has just been posted on the Podiatry Today Magazine website.

Can Minimalist Shoes Be Beneficial For Osteoarthritis-Related Knee Pain?

Dr. Nick is in the same camp, the barefoot/minimalist shoes cures everything and foot orthotics and thick soled shoes are bad camp, the same camp that Blaise Dubois and Mark Cucuzella belong to.

Here is one of Campitelli's odd ideas that caught my eye:

Some of the comments at the end of Campitelli's posting are quite entertaining.

Any one else want to join in on the fun in posting their comments on his blog?

 

Who can spot the following fallacies and cognitive biases in the article:
1. Cherry Picking
2. Wishful thinking
3. Confirmation bias

 

Interesting! When I was reading the part about "no evidence" some references came to my mind but realized that all of them already posted by you there.

 

We got one of this type shoes in a week ago for promotional evening...sorry but l dont see the point, you might as well buy a slipper, it has a neutral heel pitch and no real structure, a real barefoot feel with some padding.

Most OA knees we deal with are far better with a shoe with a bit of heel pitch, mild rocker and a good firm heel cup

 

I read the blog by Dr. Campitelli and he can say whatever he believes. However, I fail to see how this one study, using a shoe that is not even commercially available where I practice, suggests that barefoot/minimal shoes will replace orthotics, cure everything, etc. I think it is fine to say things like this is an exciting area of research or in the future podiatrists may recommend zero drop shoes for certain pathology (although we don't yet know what those conditions or indications will be).

Perhaps this speaks to a more general problem with some of the podiatry trade magazines and continuing education seminars. Often I have noticed there is an author/speaker that is promoting some drug, product or new surgical device. The line between science and a sales pitch can become blurred.

 

Michael:

You may want to check out this article I wrote a few years ago for Podiatry Today magazine that talks about this same problem.:drinks

http://www.podiatrytoday.com/podiatry-seminar-content-science-or-infomercials

 

I can assure you of one thing, improving the diet works far better.

The best thing I know of for arthritis is parsley tea but many herbal tea's can have the same benefits. Alternating compression and decompression of the tissue is what facilitates the delivery.

I would strongly suggest cutting sugar & dairy products from the diet also.


Link: Tea for Arthritis.

 

Thanks Kevin. Some are better than others at balancing conflict of interest. I agree with your article.It is nice that most lectures are based on evidence based medicine, but a lot of the studies have no control arm. They are just case series.

It seems that biomechanics is also disappearing from most of the seminars. Surgery seems to be the main emphasis now. There is no PFOLA this year, so I am thankful for podiatry-arena to help me keep up on biomechanics and orthotics.

 

:santa2:

 

I deal with a great many OA knees. One of the things I have noted for all is that offloading the effected condyle/s during stance is needed when increased mobility and pain reduction is the goal. (And when isn't it the goal?) Using the lateral wedge for medial compartment OA for example.

Altering heel height seems reasonable when the area of wear is then positioned differently during weight bearing. ie: changing the weight bearing flexion angle plus or minus in order to reduce stance time on the area of most hyaline wear. But as the destruction is relentless the amount of time with relief will in all likelyhood be limited just as it is with the lateral wedge.

 

Exactly.

Because there constantly feeding the symptoms.