Barefoot running

A person running barefoot on asphalt

Barefoot running is running while barefoot—without wearing any shoes on the feet. Running in thin-soled, flexible shoes such as moccasins is biomechanically similar, and often equated to barefoot running. Running in modern running shoes is quite different, and contrasted with barefoot running.

In early human history, barefoot running was widespread, but this became increasingly less so following the growth of footwear usage. Barefoot running is near non-existent in modern-day populations of industrialised and wealthier countries, although it remains relatively common in many poorer nations, especially within third world countries. In terms of competitive running, virtually all modern athletes use running shoes. However, a small minority of runners have achieved success running barefoot, including Olympic champions and world record holders Abebe Bikila and Tegla Loroupe, as well as Zola Budd.

The human mechanics of running are changed quite significantly when shoes are used – with natural, shoeless human running, the balls of the feet are the part which strikes the ground with the most force. Running in padded shoes typically alters this as more emphasis is placed on the heel and the area towards the back of the foot.

Proponents, such as those identifying with the barefoot movement, argue that barefoot running is healthier for feet and reduces risk of chronic injuries, notably repetitive stress injuries due to the impact of heel striking in padded running shoes, in addition to other purported benefits. These health claims of barefoot running are supported by some research and advocated by some authorities, but the research is not conclusive or widely accepted in the medical community. Barefoot running is not generally advocated by medical or sports organizations, who, in the main, recommend that suitable padded running shoes be worn, with particular consideration to foot type (type of pronation in heel strike gait).

History

Modern running shoes, extant since the 1970s, are characterized by thick padded soles—generally wedge-shaped with more padding at the heel and less at the forefoot—and, stiff, supportive insoles, which yield a different gait.

Following the evolution of the human foot, human running was universally barefoot or in thin-soled shoes such as moccasins, which continues to this day in some parts of the world, such as Kenya. "For most of human evolutionary history, runners were either barefoot or wore minimal footwear such as sandals or moccasins with smaller heels and little cushioning." In the 1970s new running shoes were introduced, coincident with the interest in jogging, which differed significantly from previous shoes.

Modern movement

See also: Barefoot movement

Barefoot running has gaining a following on the fringe of the larger running community. Hardcore "barefooters" prefer hard surfaces to softer terrain (e.g., grass, beaches); a few even venture off road. Heading up the movement is the barefoot running guru Ken Bob Saxton, a barefoot marathoner from California.

Rationale for running barefoot

Many runners have switched to barefoot running for relief from chronic injuries. The human foot evolved without padded shoes. The structure of the foot and lower leg is very efficient at absorbing the shock of landing and turning the energy of the fall into forward motion, through the springing action of the foot's natural arch. It is only by placing large amounts of padding under the heel that humans are able to land on the heel rather than the ball of the foot. In doing so, the foot's natural motion is impeded and the arch and lower leg are not able to absorb the shock of the landing. Instead, the shock is sent up through the heel, to the knees and hips.

Barefoot running uses gravity as the main contributor to the forward propulsion, lightly letting the ball of the feet touch the ground to prevent a fall forward and lifting the feet straight up, avoiding friction which would otherwise injure the foot. "The force to drive you forward should only be applied after the foot has settled on the ground completely. Striking the ground, especially with the heel, causes trauma and makes the runner susceptible to injury." It follows that running shoes with heavily padded heels will impede this natural motion. Although there is still much research to be done, there are many studies that suggest that running shoes contribute greatly to the high incidence of injuries among shod runners.

Michael Warburton's 2001 review of barefoot running in the journal Sports Science concluded that

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.

This study reviews much of the scientific literature that connects shod running to both acute injuries, such as ankle sprains, and chronic injuries, such as plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, shin splints, etc.

In their article entitled "Is your prescription of distance running shoes evidence based?" in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Craig Richards, et al., determined that there is no evidence to support wearing "distance running shoes featuring elevated cushioned heels and pronation control systems tailored to the individual’s foot type." Richards found no studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals that showed that running shoes either reduce injury rates or improve performance. In fact, Richards issued this challenge to running shoe manufacturers: "Is any running-shoe company prepared to claim that wearing their distance running shoes will decrease your risk of suffering musculoskeletal running injuries? Is any shoe manufacturer prepared to claim that wearing their running shoes will improve your distance running performance? If you are prepared to make these claims, where is your peer-reviewed data to back it up?"

Also from the British Journal of Sports Medicine, S Robbins and E Waked's article, entitled "Hazard of deceptive advertising of athletic footwear" described their study of the effect on a runner's foot strike of the runner's perception of how much padding there was under the foot. The more cushioning runners believe to be under the foot, the harder they strike.

“People who don’t wear shoes when they run have an astonishingly different strike,” said Daniel E. Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and co-author of a paper appearing in the journal Nature. “By landing on the middle or front of the foot, barefoot runners have almost no impact collision, much less than most shod runners generate when they heel-strike.

"Most people today [in the United States] think barefoot running is dangerous and hurts," but this is a misconception: "you can run barefoot on the world’s hardest surfaces without the slightest discomfort and pain. All you need is a few calluses to avoid roughing up the skin of the foot."

Prominent barefooters

• Abebe Bikila - former Olympic marathon world-record holder
• Bruce Tulloh - former European 5k record-holder
• Ken Bob Saxton - Barefoot Ken has run over 70 marathons barefoot
• Christopher McDougall - author of the bestselling book Born to Run
• Rick Roeber - current consecutive days running barefoot world-record holder
• Tegla Loroupe - former Olympic marathon world-record holder
• Zola Budd - former world record holder in the women's 5000 meters
• Barefoot Ted - documented in the bestselling book Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen [1]
• Tellman Knudson - "Barefoot Philanthropist" - ran 654 miles consecutively to raise money for homeless youth [2]

See also

• Tarahumara
• Nike Free
• FiveFingers

References

• Supplementary info includes videos of foot strikes.
• Hersher, Rebecca (January 27, 2010), Perfect Landing: Study Finds Barefoot Runners Have Less Foot Stress Than Shod Ones, summary of (Lieberman 2010).{{citation}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

External links

• Biomechanics of Foot Strikes & Applications to Running Barefoot or in Minimal Footwear, by Daniel E. Lieberman, Madhusudhan Venkadesan, Adam I. Daoud, and William A. Werbel, Skeletal Biology Lab, Harvard University – website of authors of (Lieberman et al. 2010).

• Barefoot Running laced with Health Benefits, a webMD article referencing the Jan 2010 article of Nature; discussing strike impact differences between shod and barefoot runners.