Shoes may have changed how we run
Check out this BBC feature about how shoes have changed our gait, barefoot running, and the possible implications.
The barefoot runner looks more sensible to me - it looks like what you would imagine a foot would do, if you’d never seen one before.
Got an opinion? Please post a comment.
Steve
We’ve done a few post now about barefoot running - this new research seems set to add to an already lively debate.
Who I am to argue with Dr Daniel Lieberman of Harvard University? But this quote from the BBC website:
“[heelstriking] creates an impact; it’s like someone hitting your heel with a hammer with up to three times your body weight”
doesn’t sound right to me. Surely your knee and hip bending absorb most of the impact? Being hit on the heel with a hammer sounds more painful to me than running.
I’m sure shoe companies don’t like all this barefoot talk (although Nike are doing their best to sell us a barefoot shoe), so they aren’t likely to be unbiased on the issue. But this is quite an interesting read from Brooks on the other side of the story.
Steve
The Science of Sport website has a much better summary of the new research than most of the mainstream press. If you’re getting all excited about kicking your shoes off, then this quote should give you food for thought:
“If you wish to guarantee yourself an injury, then go out for a 2km run barefoot on a hard surface, and you will be asking your calf muscles and Achilles tendons to do work that for perhaps 30 years, they haven’t had to do.”
Physiology and barefoot
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