Mobium, Schmobium.

Here is the latest and greatest from the shoe manufacturer, Puma; it is their version of a more “adaptive” or “accommodative” shoe. They do not say minimalisitic, but rather it interferes minimally with walking or running. Good thing, because it has a pretty thick sole, superimposes a pretty substantial arch to the foot, and also has a fairly narrow toe box. Their runner is also a heel striker, at least at the beginning of the video.

Last time we checked, the plantar fascia was not “X” shaped and was present on the entire plantar surface of the foot, without an “apex” or “torque” in the center of where the medial longitudinal arch is located.

In referring to mirroring as they do in the video, we were wondering which muscles, bones and fat pads of the foot the “pods” actually mirror? And then there is those siping lines of the outsole, what’s with them and their location? The metatarsal heads form an arc at their distal end, where they articulate with the phalanges, as do the interphalageal joints (joints between the toes). This shoe’s lines arc less than we would expect.

They have the 5 metatarsal pads, not unlike the Newton. What happened at the toes?  Individuals with 3 toes should do well with those pods for the proximal and distal phalanges, but we think this is probably a limited market (wink, smile, wink).

We agree that “expansion” of a shoe is important so we think this shoe has a neat underlying idea. We would hope most folks aren’t wearing shoes that are too tight or short that their feet don’t have room to move inside the shoe.  We are also curious about the height of the lateral longitudinal arch, last time we looked there was not a tunnel shaped arch running under the foot.  The lateral longitudinal arch is always must more subtle and gentle.

Technically sound? We don’t think so, not from what we have discussed above. As for bringing something to the market that doesn’t exist that enhances the performance of the athlete? Well, it is unique, but performance enhancement remains to be seen. As for wrapping the shoe in a blanket of fabulous Puma design? It does have catchy colors and a great marketing campaign…

Just some off the cuff thoughts on our part. We would love a pair to dialogue out these thoughts and others. We are always open to being wrong, but we know our shoes and we know foot and shoe anatomy and biomechanics.  If you are from PUMA, contact us and send us a pair, we will be happy to eat our words if we are wrong in our cursory suppositions.

The Gait Guys. Helping you to make better footwear decisions and ask the questions no one wants to ask

all material copyright 2013 the Homunculus Group/ The Gait Guys. Please ask before using our material.