July 30, 2012
Is Barefoot Running Really Better?
There are pros and cons to running barefoot. Photo via Wikimedia Commons/Stilfehler
With the Olympics heating up and track and field events set to start next week, it’s an appropriate time to consider the most controversial debate in the running community: Should we lace up a pair of running shoes when we go for a jog, or simply venture out barefoot?
Over the past few years, barefoot running has gone from an oddball pastime to a legitimate athletic movement, and the small number of actual barefoot runners is joined by a much larger number who’ve adopted minimalist running shoes.
Proponents of barefoot running argue that our bodies evolved for shoeless locomotion. Covering up one of our most sensitive, flexible parts distorts our natural stride and prevents foot muscle development. Instead of striding gracefully and landing on the mid or forefoot, running shoes lead us to carelessly land on a heavily cushioned heel. Decades of athletic footwear development have led to bigger, more protective shoes—which have only weakened our feet and made us unable to run the way we are naturally meant to.
The opposing camp—which, after all, still includes the vast majority of runners—points to a number of advantages in wearing shoes. Modern advances in footwear can prevent flawed running tendencies such as overpronation (when a flat-footed runner’s ankle rolls inward with each stride) that lead to injuries like shin splints. If you’ve run with shoes your whole life, going barefoot requires dramatically altering your stride, which often results in other injuries. And, on the most fundamental level, shoes protect us from broken glass, nails, and other dangerous debris often found on city streets and sidewalks.
Now, science weighs in—and the results are decidedly mixed. An analysis of studies University of Central Florida professor Carey Rothschild, published last week in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, examines the body of research that has been conducted on barefoot running.
“The research is really not conclusive on whether one approach is better than the other,” she said in a press release. “There is no perfect recipe.”
The study’s findings included some that barefoot runners will find gratifying. They are indeed more likely to land on their mid-foot or the ball of their foot, avoiding the harmful practice of “heel-striking.” Previous research has shown that landing on the heel generates sudden, powerful impacts that are equivalent in force to several times a runner’s body weight. These impacts–which occur about a thousand times during each mile run—lead to injuries in the knees, hips, and other areas. Running shoes promote heel-striking because of the thick cushioning below the heel, and roughly 75% of shod American runners run this way.
There are dangers to barefoot running as well, though, and they mainly stem from runners trying to switch to an entirely new stride too quickly after ditching their heavily-cushioned shoes. ”The bottom line is that when a runner goes from shoes to no shoes, their body may not automatically change its gait,” Rothschild said. Stress fractures on the front part of the foot and increased soreness in the calves can result from suddenly attempting to shift weight away from the heels after running one way for years. Still, of the barefoot runners Rothschild surveyed, 42% reported no negative effects from the switch.
“There are ways to help make that transition smoother and lower the risk of injuries,” she said. Before ditching shoes, she recommends a thorough physical exam and biomechanical assessment from a physical therapist or running specialist. Then, the transition to bare feet should be gradual, and ideally conducted with the help of a coach. Runners can start by alternating short barefoot runs with longer shod jogs, or using minimalist shoes, lighter footwear with less cushioning that offer a way to ease into barefoot running.
For a sport that’s all about speed, this might be counterintuitive—but for those thinking of running barefoot, the most important thing is taking it slow.
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My Cross Country Team in high school (1954-1956) ran all races barefoot. We had a great team winning 3rd in state my junior year and 2nd in state my senior year.
Prior to each race, we would walk portions of the course to determine strategy. I recall a grove of Oak Trees on our home course that had many acorn shells and rocks that tended to hurt one’s feet while walking barefoot but, once the race began, there were no spots on the course that would bother us. Near the end of the Cross Country season, it was bitter cold in Indiana yet, never did I find it cold enough to wear shoes.
I switched to running shoes during my college days and never ran barefoot again. At 74 years old, I may give it one more try this fall!
Strange
Encouraging info for those of us who prefer to run unshod or minimalist. But, then again, most of us knew this already.
“There are dangers to barefoot running as well, though, and they mainly stem from runners trying to switch to an entirely new stride too quickly after ditching their heavily-cushioned shoes. ”The bottom line is that when a runner goes from shoes to no shoes, their body may not automatically change its gait,” Rothschild said.”
If a person injures themselves running barefoot with incorrect form, the problem is not the lack of shoes, it would be the runner’s lack of form. You can’t blame some new method if the new method is not being properly followed.
Was “increased soreness in the calves” really listed as an injury? ANY new physical activity will be accompanied by soreness in muscles previously unknown. Go try digging a decent sized hole with a shovel. Unless you do this on a regular basis, you will have sore muscles you didn’t know you had.
Re: transitioning…. I (and many others) would recommend NOT using minimalist shoes. They don’t go far enough in encouraging the correct gait changes. The article is correct in that transitioning should be undertaken slowly, very slowly. As in, start out with 200 yards at the end of your regular run. Then up it to 400 yards, then 600, etc. After the correct gait is learned, minimalist shoes are great for running “barefoot” with aggression.
“Still, of the barefoot runners Rothschild surveyed, 42% reported no negative effects from the switch.”
What did the other 58% report? I didn’t really transition. I started out barefoot, about a year ago, so I had few bad habits to unlearn. My biggest problem has been the occasional blister. I would be interested in knowing what problems the other 58% encountered.
There are two issues here–what is best for training, and what is best for competition. I believe barefoot running is very beneficial for training (but not exclusively). Barefoot training stimulates and strengthens the foot and improves running form. However, appropriate shoes are also beneficial to enhance training, to increase the volume and intensity of the workload while protecting the foot from injury. Good shoes also improve performance in competition over barefoot.
@Billy: I agree 100%.
I strongly recommend going straight to pure barefoot to make the transition. The wear and tear of asphalt/concrete on your virgin footpads will (help) prevent you from over-running and giving yourself a stress fracture. As your soles toughen, your foot structure will strengthen in tandem, allowing you to run longer distances safely. Only after several months of this would I recommend switching to a minimalist shoe for longer runs or races.
Once the shoes are off, your body will naturally seek a proper form; but also watch videos of people demonstrating proper barefoot form (there are many online) to make sure you’re on the right track.
I went from years of shod running to a 10k PR wearing Vibram Five-Fingers in about six months, injury-free. [I don't consider calf-soreness an "injury", either.] YMMV, of course. Be careful, and listen to your body. If it hurts, STOP, don’t try to be a hero and “play through the pain”, you’ll end up with your foot in a cast for six weeks.
I think it is simple.
Compare either speed or endurance between the two camps. Use a large enough population to account for statistical variations between innate ability.
When I see the majority of runners completing and winning more than half of the marathons shoeless, then I will think it is the better way.
I am a 50 year old doctor who runs barefoot and has lectured on the biomechanics of barefoot running at medical conferences.
Running with these so called “shoes to be barefoot” is just another “high tech” next best thing since gell cushions, air cushions and shocks they eluded to that we needed. Yes, this gives you more shock absorbing effect so you can run better. They gave you a show that took away your natural spring and gave you an artificial spring to make up for the one they locked down, weakened it by reverse adaptation Use it or lose it.
The trouble is that the general public and even doctors still buy into this and because of the brain washing cannot seem to understand you are running with braces on your feet. Lets see…. do we wear braces on our elbows, wrists, knees etc when we work out other body parts? NO
Is the foot from another planet that it does not abide by the same laws of nature (adaptation), physics (gravity) and engineering (spring)?
NO
So now we are advised that barefoot running is good yet we need shoes that they make and sell to barefoot run Why do people think that running with these barefoot shoes is the same as barefoot or better than ordinary running shoes?
I ran barefoot 300+ miles one summer then thought well, Chicago is getting cold so lets see how the minimalist shoes feel on my feet. It was more restrictive than regular shoes and I threw them away $85 brain spasm
What I did was investigate habits of the people looking at barefoot running through the almighty google key words and found out that a few million googled the words barefoot running shoes and 24oo googled the proper form and technique of barefoot running.
That is a huge problem for several million people a year who feel barefoot running is about finding the best shoe. Honestly its just ridiculous that I have to talk about this because its just illogical Here are s a few articles that may help the readers figure this out.
In walking or running as you know there is simplistically the “take off” and the “landing” When you run with braces (shoes) your body has an artificial support and an artificial landing gear.
Most runners strengthen the take off muscles thinking the artificial support and artificial landing gear (cushion) will do the trick. We all know the majority of injuries occur in the landings.
Doctors don’t seem to know how to restore your bodies ability to resist impacts but they know how to put more braces like motion control shoes, orthotics, arch inserts, canes, walkers, wheelchairs until you are bedridden.
If you want to be a barefoot runner or a runner who doesn’t have to rely so much on what braces (shoes) to wear, the key is to strengthen the muscles that resist the impacts which I call the landing muscles, the spring suspension system muscles or the pronation supination cuff muscles.
Here are my last two articles you might find helpful:
How Does The Body Spring Back Safely From Impacts Of Running and Walking?
http://teamdoctorsblog.com/2012/06/13/video-tutorial-12-is-running-bad-for-knees-how-the-body-springs-back-safely-from-impacts-of-running/
Self-Tests & Exercises To Reduce Over Pronation and Over Supination From Impacts During Walking and Running
http://teamdoctorsblog.com/2012/06/18/video-tutorial-28-the-impact-absorbing-landing-muscles-of-the-human-spring-mechanism-testing-and-training-the-spring-suspension-muscles/
Dr James Stoxen DC, President, Team Doctors The Barefoot Running Doctor
Video Tutorial #174 Barefoot Running? What If I Step On Something?
http://teamdoctorsblog.com/2012/04/30/video-tutorial-174-what-if-i-step-on-something-part-1/
So there aren’t really any cons to running barefoot; just pros. There are pros and cons to switching but once your body adapts there are only benefits.
No one (except primitive people living in the Tropics) goes barefoot all the time for several very good reasons – pavement, rocks, and glass. Even a rawhide moccasin is better than nothing for walking/running on such surfaces. Not to mention that during cold periods, feet also need protection from the elements. In short, this is another instance of “a tempest in a teapot”. Wear shoes or go barefoot if you like. I’ll continue wearing shoes, thank you.
I prefer to go barefoot around the house and garden, but I’m with Robert Black elsewhere and compromise with sandals. In the garden, dry holly leaves are capable of piercing even the toughest calloused feet – no doubt with the capacity of introducing tetanus etc; but generally, the worst problem is rain, which soon has feet shedding skin like there’s no tomorrow and making me slide about all over the place. Perhaps, those brought up in rainforests etc. have different water-proofing on their feet, or are mine just weird?
And let’s not forget that Bob Marley died from skin cancer that started on his foot. Don’t forget the high factor sun screen (very inconvenient so perhaps shoes are safest…).
The body has a suspension system, spring mechanism built into its design to spring the mass off the ground on impact. This well designed spring mechanism is all you need to walk and run.
What footwear companies subtly suggested was that your natural spring suspension system that is built into your body wasn’t going to allow you to absorb these impacts with their advertisements that suggested the air or gell helped you with impacts. So they take away the natural spring and give you and artificial spring to make up for the natural one they took away.
Why do you have stress fractures? Because there is too much stress there.
Logic
That means that the spring mechanism is not working according to its design.
Why do you have shin splints, plantar fasiitis etc?
Its because there is too much stress on the shin and fascia.
Does this have to be so difficult to understand?
So logic tells us again that we need to determine how the body absorbs impacts and restore the structure back to the way it was designed.
Do doctors do that? NO
They give you a support which locks up the spring suspension system even further. They call it an orthotic. Now supports are used when we have “temporary” weaknesses in the body that we will remedy with exercises. However, you know there is no way out of these shoes and orthotics.
The reason why most doctors think you NEED an artificial spring (cushions) and a brace on your feet (shoes) is because they see the foot as a lever. How can a lever protect you from barefooted impacts on solid concrete? How can a lever protect you from an estimated 250,000,000 impacts in your lifetime?
That is human being (object) impacting with the earth (object)
When we know that two objects will impact with each other 270,000,000 times in a lifetime we think hmmm Lets design it as a lever.
No, we design it as a spring.
The entire medical profession models examination, treatment, and maintenance of the human body with the LEVER MODEL treating levers when they breakdown instead of restoring the entire interlocking spring mechanism as it is truly designed.
If you put a physicist, an engineer and a doctor in a room and said, “This patient has stress fractures. How do we evaluate the patient and how do we treat the problem?”
The physicist and engineer would look for the breakdown in the protective mechanism that was supposed to protect the body from impacts and the doctor would inject the patients shins with drugs and put an artificial protective mechanism on the patient for life and scold him for thinking he could take impacts into his spring mechanism without a man made device.
The body and specifically the foot has ingenious ways of absorbing or springing off stressful impacts. Stress is actually good for the body because stress allows the body to be stimulated to adapt to get stronger.
When is stress not good for the body?
When stress is abnormally applied to the joints from poor walking or running form and technique.
If the joints are locked not allowing the impact to be absorbed into a movable joint.
Just like a plane, the human body has a landing gear, spring-loaded shock absorbing mechanism built into the arch complex as well as the muscles that allow the dissent of the foot during impact like descending weights during a bench press or curl.
The human foot has 33 joints that allow 26 bones to move freely during impacts such as walking and running and other activities. The reason why it has 33 joints is because when you impact with the earth that impact can be spread across these 33 joints lessening the overall impact on any one area.
So why do you have more stress on the second metatarsal ban on the other 26 bones of your foot?
Read the rest of Dr Stoxen’s article here:
http://teamdoctorsblog.com/2012/05/25/stress-fracture-mid-shaft2nd-metatarsal-is-it-healed/
Stress Fracture Of the Second Metatarsal – Self Help Tips to Treatment and Prevention from The Barefoot Running Doctor
http://teamdoctorsblog.com/2012/05/25/stress-fracture-mid-shaft2nd-metatarsal-is-it-healed/
other dangerous debris often found on city streets and sidewalks.
Having been a distance runner my whole life, and always wearing heavily padded, cushioned, and supportive running shoes, I decided to try moving toward a barefoot running style. I had been having alot of issues with my IT bands and read that it is often caused by over cushioned shoes. Over time my muscles were weakened and this should be alleviated by running with less cushioning to allow my feet and legs to naturally adjust to changes in terrain. I took it slow and worked on form and started with Nike Frees instead of just barefoot etc. etc. It has helped my IT band pain and has strengthened the muscles around my knees however, what no one tells you is that without the additional support of a solid soled shoe you are more likely to end up with bone damage rather than muscle damage. For instance, I stepped on a rock no bigger than a large gum ball while running in my Nike Frees and ended up breaking my 5th metatarsal! In all my many years of competitive running in standard running shoes I never once broke a bone or got a stress fracture or sprain etc. Just some IT band pain. I will take IT band pain and strengthening my muscles any day over 6 weeks in a cast plus recovery time from shoes that can’t protect your foot from a small rock. So, if you take up running with a less cushioned shoe, or barefoot, run where you are fairly certain that the trail is clear of obstacles. Its not worth the pain. Nike should definitely put disclaimers on those shoes to warn runners to only use them on roads or grass and not paths or trails.
It is simple mechanics that running barefoot landing on the front of the foot first is the right way to run. This way the calve acts as a shock absorber , the way it should.
The one and only reason we are running the way we are, is that Nike and other shoe brands had a quasi scientific shoe technology race in the 90′s. They kept on adding air compartments to the heel of the shoe, till there was no space left, and then started it all over again.
When last year some brands like Vibram started making barefoot running shoes and got a lot of interest,
The big shoe brands where afraid their imperium would fall.
SO all of a sudden there was interest in barefoot running in talk shows where the enthusiasm around barefoot running was toned down a bit by so called experts that where invited.
The big shoe brands however started introducing there own barefoot shoes gradually now. Doing the same thing they did in the 90′s only the other way round.
Soon we will all be running barefoot on our favorite brand, until the day Nike besides we should do otherwise.
Transitioning into barefoot can take some time. It has taken me over a year with only one injury which was at week two. This is an article with some tips on how to transition safely.
http://forkstofeet.blogspot.com/2013/03/running-barefoot.html