Are Barefoot Running Shoes Good for You?

Barefoot running shoes are better than conventional running shoes because the research reveals that the more you wear barefoot shoes, the stronger your feet, ankles and calves will be, making you better at adapting to new levels of training.

What is more, running in barefoot running shoes is a more reliable way to improve your mechanics, keeping you rolling along injury-free, with greater efficiency, too!

Based on more research, barefoot running shoes were found to prevent the kind of mechanics that slow you down. Case in point, a study in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports examined the economical effects of barefoot running shoes and neutral running shoes in subjects with no experience with barefoot or minimalist running.

Before measuring running economy, the subjects assigned barefoot running shoes underwent a 4-week familiarization period that consisted of a structured progression period. Subjects were also told to run in a way that was most comfortable in barefoot footwear.

Generally speaking, habitual barefoot and minimalist runners land on their forefoot, not their heels like most runners who run in conventional running shoes. However, the authors emphasized that the subjects running in barefoot footwear were asked to run in any way that felt most comfortable, rather than enforce a forefoot strike. 

The researchers found that running economy significantly improved in the barefoot running shoe group vs the neutral running shoe group.  It turned out that the familiarization period in the barefoot running shoe group improved running economy because it appropriated transitioning to a new running condition.

Even better, the barefoot running shoe group did not heel strike, rather they landed with either a mid-foot strike or a forefoot strike in response to both the heightened sense of the ground and the surface hardness which resulted in lower energy demands.

• The researchers suggested that the  improved running economy in the barefoot running shoe group was due to the forefoot strike adaptation which optimized greater energy recovery in the tendons and muscles of the lower leg.

Contrary to the popular belief that form doesn’t matter in running, the researchers found that sustained, efficient running economy relies on form which in turn relies on the amount of ground-feel at the feet.

A re-affirmation of the economic advantage of barefoot running shoes came from another study in the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, which found that barefoot running shoes improved running economy by strengthening the foot’s arch which allowed the arch to store more spring energy.

The researchers determined that since barefoot running shoes lack arch support, the arch is more able to expand and stretch to better harness more elastic (spring) energy during stance.

Even more optimistic, similar reports found that elastic energy storage was more optimized in barefoot running shoes at faster running speeds. So, don’t hesitate to run fast in barefoot running shoes because it will actually save you energy!

The Take Home Message

The science is settled that barefoot running shoes do a better job at helping you put together the mechanical pieces that adds up to a safer, more efficient landing strategy while making your feet functionally stronger than they’ll ever be if you continuously wore traditional running shoes.

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References:

Asmussen, E and Petersen, FB. ( 1974). Apparent efficient and storage of elastic energy in human muscles during exercise. Act Physiol Scad, 92(4):537-45.

Kryolainen, H., Belli, A and Komi, PV. (2001). Biomechanical factors affecting running economy. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 33(8):1330-7.

Lieberman et al. (2010). Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners. Nature, 28(7280):531-5.

Perl, D. P., Daoud, A. I., & Lieberman, D. E. (2012). Effects of footwear and strike type on running economy. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 44, 1335 – 1343.

Sanders et al. (2004).  Factors affecting running economy in trained distance runners. Sports Med, 34(7):465-85.

Warn, JP and Warrington, GD. (2014). Four- week habituation to simulated barefoot running improves running economy when compared with shod running. Scand J Med Sci Sports, 24(3):563-8.

If you’d like, you can support Run Forefoot and help keep it going by making a donation in any amount of your choosing:

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