Running barefoot vs. with shoes - what does the research say?

You can watch this morning's interview on CTV Canada AM here.

The recent popularity of running barefoot has taken many people by surprise and ignited quite the debate in running circles and also in the research community. Although some people think that barefoot running is a new phenomenon, in reality the use of padded and supported running shoes is a recent development - in the 1970s! So in fact maybe we are getting back to basics and to the way the foot evolved...

Here are a couple of videos of the foot during barefoot running. The first video shows the foot from just behind the landing point. The landing is a heel strike - the kind of landing that is common when you use running shoes. You can see the impact forces going through the foot when the heel strikes the ground. It is these forces that running shoes are designed to dissipate.

Now the proponents of barefoot running suggest that when people run barefoot, the tendency is to actually land on the balls of the feet and the mid foot. When this happens the arch of the foot absorbs the impact, not the heel bone, and as a result the impact forces are not transferred up the body but are absorbed by the muscles of the foot and lower leg. Supporters of the barefoot running philosophy argue that barefoot running is healthier for feet and reduces risk of chronic injuries - although the research is not conclusive either in support or against this idea. But is is interesting given that studies suggest that at least 30% of runners get injured every year, and many of these injuries stem from problems that arise in the foot or lower leg (van Gent et al., 2007). When you look at this video of barefoot running from the side, you can see that in fact, the heel never touches the ground. And people argue that this is why barefoot running is healthier than running with shoes. Check it out below:

Some runners have acheived great success using this technique including Olympic champions and world record holders Abebe Bikila and Tegla Loroupe, as well as Zola Budd.

A research paper that was published in the highly respected journal Nature by Harvard scientist Daniel E. Lieberman was one of the major reasons why the barefood running trend has taken off. Dr. Lieberman wrote that that those who run barefoot, or in minimal footwear, tend to avoid "heel-striking," and instead land on the ball of the foot or the middle of the foot. In so doing, these runners use the architecture of the foot and leg and some clever Newtonian physics to avoid hurtful and potentially damaging impacts, equivalent to two to three times body weight, that shod heel-strikers repeatedly experience. To read more about this research paper you can read the summary on Science Daily here, and you can visit Dr. Lieberman's laboratory website here. Or you can watch an interview from Nature TV here:

 If you want to try barefoot running there are some great tips on this web page. These quotes are probably the most important items to consider if you're interested in barefoot running:

Dr. Lieberman cautioned that a transition to barefoot running should be done gradually. Runners should not increase the distance they run by more than 10 per cent a week, he said, and should stop and seek medical advice if they experience any pain. “My big worry is that the biggest challenge of barefoot running is that it requires a lot more calf muscle strength and Achilles tendon stretching and people can be prone to Achilles tendonitis if they don’t transition gradually and carefully,” he said. “It’s not for everyone.”

Here are some other links to news articles on the topic:

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/01/27/tech-runner-barefoot.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/barefoot-running-good-for-the-sole-study-finds/article1447500/

And if you want to see the arguments against barefoot running check out Barefoot Running is Bad.

For a recent research review you can read this article in Sport Science:

Barefoot Running - Michael Warburton 

Gateway Physiotherapy, Capalaba, Queensland, Australia 4157. Email.

Sportscience 5(3), sportsci.org/jour/0103/mw.htm, 2001 (2564 words)

Running barefoot is associated with a substantially lower prevalence of acute injuries of the ankle and chronic injuries of the lower leg in developing countries, but well-designed studies of the effects of barefoot and shod running on injury are lacking. Laboratory studies show that the energy cost of running is reduced by about 4% when the feet are not shod. In spite of these apparent benefits, barefoot running is rare in competition, and there are no published controlled trials of the effects of running barefoot on simulated or real competitive performance.  Reprint pdf · Reprint doc. Reviewer's Comment.

And finally here is an infographic from one of our readers @jenicarhee:

Comments

[Mark E]

very interesting