Is Barefoot Running Really Better for You?

I recently embarked on this journey to set out to find the truth behind the barefoot running crazy. As a podiatrist and an avid runner,  I wanted to find out if these barefoot enthusiasts are sage individuals or are they just basically nuts? So as any astute individual I did my research, I read Christopher McDougall’s book Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen, read numerous article, and ran a marathon barefoot.  Yeah ok maybe I did not actually run a marathon barefoot, but it sounded good at the time.  What I found out is that there is little research on  this topic which makes this debate more challenging.

In my last post born-to-run I illustrated that the proponents  of barefoot running, up hold the notion  that the human body was designed for shoeless locomotion.  It is the running shoe that is evil, as it causes us to land on our heel instead of the mid or forefoot, which is the more flexible part of the foot.  This " heel-striking"practice generates sudden, powerful impacts that are equivalent in force to several times the runner's weight.  These impacts, which occurs thousands of times during each mile, leads to injuries in the knees, hips and other areas.  Also the proprioceptive feedback from the plantar aspect of the foot activates reflexes and helps the central nervous system make decisions that help increase stability and avoid injury.  Therefore barefoot runners will likely reflect the effect of ancient evolved proprioceptive adaptations to maintain stability to avoid painful impacts and to modulate leg stiffness.  These feedback mechanisms, which are curtailed in a shoe, may help avoid some traumatic and repetitive injuries.

The adversaries of barefoot running hold steadfastly to the belief that runners make the transition to fast to barefoot running, without changing their gate.  As mentioned in my previous blog post, when running barefoot, a runner must compensate with a shorter stride and changing landing patterns.  Stress fractures of the forefoot, along with soreness in the calves can arise from suddenly attempting to shift weight away from the heel after running one way for years. Other frequently expressed opinions are that barefoot running is unhealthy because the foot needs cushion, protection, support and motion control.

 Maybe the answer lies some where in the middle.   How one runs probably is more important than what one wears on their feet.  However, saying that,  what one wears on their feet may affect how they run.  There still needs to be more data to truly determine the plausibility of this hypothesis.