Why Cushioned Running Shoes Cause Injuries

Unfortunately, the research (references below article) on the protective aspects of thick cushioning running shoes have demonstrated a troubling track record of actually increasing the risk of injury by causing a runner to land too hard on their heel. This happens because the heel of a running shoe has considerably more padding than the front of shoe (shown below) whereby the larger the heel-to-toe offset, the greater the likelihood of the foot landing higher up on the heel with greater downward force and push-off force as compared to a flatter shoe, like a minimalist shoe.

In addition to facilitating a hard-hitting heel strike, another way cushioned running shoes keep feeding injuries is by causing a neurological phenomena known as a ‘perceptual illusion of impact’.  This came from the landmark study “Athletic Footwear: unsafe due to perceptual illusions” by Robbins and Gouw, which revealed that we run most safe and mechanically functional when we can feel the ground more clearly with our feet, like when we run barefoot or in barefoot-like shoes:

“In humans, avoidance of uncomfortable or painful impacts are dictated by plantar (bottom of the bare foot) tactile stimuli which moderates shock on subsequent impacts when walking, and running. This feedback control circuit is optimized in terms of protection for mechanical interaction of the bare foot and natural surfaces. Eventually, learning allows anticipatory avoidance. Modern running shoes are unsafe because they attenuate plantar sensations that induce the behavior required to prevent injury”

The perceptual illusions caused by thick cushioned running shoes is a proven major source of injury because these shoes make us land significantly harder than intended. Avoidance behavior is an evolutionarily adaptation that enabled us to survive as barefoot running hunters for millions of years, which is why wearing less on your feet enables you to interact best with the ground. Bottom line, we are wired to run either barefoot or in flatter, flexible minimalist shoes, but not in stiff, narrow shoes that feel like mini trampolines strapped to your feet.

Barefoot Running: the Key to Developing Safer Running Mechanics

Barefoot runners land with a forefoot strike, which is a flatter foot placement at landing (shown below), where initial contact is made towards the front part of the foot and not directly on the heel as in heel striking.

Taken together, barefoot running and a forefoot strike landing, ensures big reductions in vertical loading via natural improvements in hip and knee flexion, which reflexively varies in response to surface hardness. This is why it’s better to begin with barefoot running since the real potential to run with good form is in your ground feel.

The Take Home Message

In order to develop the most functional and safe biomechanics, you must feel the ground with your feet because the enhanced feel of the ground translates into the reflexes and mechanics that prevents the negative forces at work in heel strike running.

Need more convincing that barefoot running works? Here are all the evidence-backed reason barefoot running is safer than running in thick cushioned running shoes.

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