Another aspect of the barefoot running debate focuses on the fact that the arches in the foot become weak from disuse when they are supported as they are in most types of running shoes. This can cause the runner to overpronate (or angle the foot inwards) which overstretches the fascia on the plantar surface of the foot. Plantar fasciitis is a common injury in the running world ever since the invention of running shoes. If you wanted to have an idea of how much more impact a heel strike has than a fore-foot strike, just walk around and listen to the difference in the sound that your foot makes when it hits with the heel, and then walk around on your “tip-toes”. You can hear the difference.
Proponents of traditional shoes argue that the cushioning
…show more content…
They searched electronic databases and analyzed the studies that were found, to determine if they met the criteria to be able to prescribe running shoes. They concluded that there was no evidence to support the prescription of running shoes. More research needs to be done, as there is still very little evidence to support either side of the controversy, despite the resurgence in the popularity of barefoot running ever since 2009. This surge in interest of barefoot running was sparked by the bestselling book by Christopher MacDougall,“Born to Run”. While there have been plenty of articles written and lots of opinions expressed, there has been very little actual research on barefoot running.
Another study was done by Giandolini, Horvais, Farges, Samozin, and Morin (2013) to determine if retraining was a better way to reduce impact, as compared to changing to to a minimal shoe. This was based on the assumption that a midfoot strike would decrease impact. They found that “Although it induced reversible pains, low-drop/low-heel height footwear seemed to be more effective than foot strike retraining to attenuate heel impact in the long term.” (Giandolini et al., 2013) This would support the view that barefoot running would be less risky than wearing traditional running