Give me Five! Fingers, that is

It seems wherever you go nowadays, you see someone wearing Vibram Five Fingers (they look like gloves for the feet) minimalist running shoes.

Or "barefoot sports shoes," as Vibram bills them.

I even saw a guy wearing them to a restaurant with his girlfriend/SO in Colorado recently.

Many people I know are trying them out—some with undesirable consequences.

So should you get on the minimalistic bandwagon?

Probably not, says Matt Fitzgerald, a certified sport nutritionalist, long-time competitive runner and author.

Injuries related to this fad are up significantly, with the difficult-to-overcome plantar faciitis accounting for 90 percent of them.

In the shoed population, PF accounts for only about 10 percent of all injuries.

If you're doing fine with shoes, why fix something if it ain't broke, as they say.

If you're having problems running with shoes, chances are you may have more problems with the minimalistic approach.

You may have poor foot stability, poor biomechanics or a body that' s just not cut out for pounding the pavement mile after mile.

Even if you do decide to proceed, approach it very slowly, like you SHOULD any new type of training.

Maybe even starting with just 1 minute of running in the new shoe-like coverings and work slowly up from there.

Me? I think I'll stick with real shoes.