In the book, Born to Run, some interesting findings were discussed when it comes to running shoes. The modern running shoe did not appear until the 1970’s, so have you ever wondered what our ancestors did to protect their feet when running? They certainly did not have any kind of arch support, pronation control, or gel-filled pads under their heels (1). Some of the scary truths discussed in the book are some things that Nike would rather have kept a secret. The newer the running shoe, the more expensive it is, and the more cushioning it has, statistically is more likely to cause injury! That is quite contrary to what shoe companies have been telling us for four decades! But if we think about it, humans have been accomplished endurance runners for millions of years, way before creation of the modern running shoe! How did those athletes not get all the overuse injuries experienced by so many American runners? The answer lies in how they ran!
Heel Strike Running The modern running shoe provides thick cushioning underneath the heel, which allows for a much longer stride length when running. So if you are a ‘heel striker’, every step you take comes crashing down on your heel, sending a shock wave of force up your leg and into your spine. That initial force is referred to as a ‘transient impact’. Daniel Lieberman, professor at Harvard University, has demonstrated in his skeletal biology lab that running shoes do absolutely nothing to reduce the forces experienced when running (2-5x body-weight), and in fact modern running shoes promote landing on the heel, which is a very likely cause of the rise of overuse injuries since creation of the modern shoe.
Forefoot Strike Running When running barefoot, or with thin shoes on like the popular five-fingered shoes, there is no cushion underneath the heel, so over-striding is not an option. Now instead of crashing down on the heel, your foot will land more underneath your center of gravity, with the 4th and 5th metatarsals initiating the contact, as shown in the following video. This eliminates the transient impact shock wave our body must absorb if landing on our heel.
Advantages of forefoot running:
- It strengthens the muscles in your feet! Many of those muscles are probably not used to that kind of training, so starting with lower mileage is extremely important in order to re-educate your muscles on how to decelerate your body-weight when landing.
- It costs less energy! Heel striking actually stops our momentum when running, so upon every step, you have to stop/start your body’s forward progress. There is a reason why our feet have 26 bones and 18 different muscles ready to absorb and store energy, then release it like a spring with each step.
- It feels great! We get a ton of sensory information from our feet, and because there is no impact transient, you should feel lighter with each step.
If you are too used to your current running shoes and feel like it would be hard to make an adjustment to a thin profile shoe, or anyshoe that provides the 'barefoot' feel, do not worry. By simply changing to a forefoot strike running style (which takes time to allow your body to adjust!) you will no longer send that shock-wave of force up your leg into your spine when landing. The interesting thing however, even though there is no transient impact force, the overall force experienced when forefoot running in shoes vs. forefoot running barefoot is actually greater! The book Born to Run discusses this phenomenon, and relates it to when gymnasts land on a softer surface, then tend to slam down harder with their landings, compared to when they land on stiffer surfaces. When landing, their bodies are search for stability, and if they come down on something soft and squishy, they need to come down harder to find the feeling of the ground underneath. Our bodies react the same way when we land in thick cushioned shoes, in search for stability of the ground.
Feel free to comment and share your experiences with running, and for more information and tips on forefoot running, check out: http://www.barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/index.html
Reference:
McDougall, C. (2009). Born to Run: a hidden tribe, superathletes, and the greatest race the world has never seen. Vintage Books
Very interesting. What should one look for in a pair of forefoot shoes?
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly a personal preference when it comes to thin profile shoes. I like the feeling of barefoot, so I prefer to run in the Vibram FiveFingers shoes, which is only about 3mm thick! If you can't get over the look of the five fingers, there are still plenty of other low-profile shoes on the market these days. New Balance makes the 'Minimus' running shoe, and Merrell has their own version of the same kind of shoe. The Nike 'Frees' I have never worn, but several people who have told me it still feels like they want to heel strike in them. So I would certainly choose a shoe that promotes forefoot running, especially a pair that will let you know when your form is wrong.
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