Are Minimalist Shoes Good for Your Feet? YES!

The science is settled that minimalist shoes are significantly better for promoting foot health vs conventional running shoes which were found to be too stiff, which in turn, immobilizes the foot too much, leading to degeneration of soft tissues and muscles in the feet.

Another reason conventional running shoes damage your feet is by preventing the foot’s arch from storing energy-saving elastic power.

Studies have found that the foot’s arch can improve running economy by 17% because when the arch is used properly, as a spring, it makes your stride more spring-enabled which can dramatically lower energy costs in the muscles!

Worse still, inflexible running shoes restricts the range of motion in the front of the foot (i.e. the forefoot), which weakens the rest of the leg and increases impact pressure in the forefoot, which is a major risk factor for a foot fracture.

Conversely, the best staring point to strengthen your feet and develop an efficient running stride is to run in minimalist running shoes as studies (references below article) found that barefoot-like shoes encourages a proper forefoot strike (see here what a proper forefoot strike looks like) over a high impact heel strike. The flexibility and flatness of a minimalist shoe was also found to help with forward acceleration and the maintenance of strong ankles and calves.

Even better, previous reports have found that running shoes that promote greater range of motion in the forefoot increases activation of the shank muscles during running (Chen et al.2014), which greatly strengthens these muscles over time, allowing a runner to harness better landing stability and prevents the foot from shifting into extreme positions.

Furthermore, a greater range of motion in the medial forefoot enhances muscle activity in the calf musculature (Chen, Hsieh, Shih, & Shiang, 2012), which also plays an important role in helping strengthen the lower leg.

Similarly, a minimalist shoes‘ flexibility increases the range of motion of the ankle-joint which was found to reduce muscle activation in other areas of the lower leg, while allowing more spring energy to be stored (Chen et al. 2014).

Similar reports have confirmed that energy can be saved when ankle movement is greater (Stefanyshyn & Nigg, 2000). Furthermore, when the forefoot has good bending elasticity during running, it helps dissipate applied forces more evenly (Lin et al., 2013; Stefanyshyn & Nigg, 1998), giving rise to better impact protection on the lower extremity joints. This also makes for optimal force conduction in the leg, which improves landing and jumping performance (Stefanyshyn & Nigg, 1998, 2000; Tinoco, Bourgit, & Morin, 2010), and we all know that technically running is just a series of small jumps from one step to the next.

The Take Hoe Message

Runners in highly flexible running shoes, like minimalist shoes, with a high degree of flexibility in the forefoot, are able to do a better job at producing and maintaining the kinematic traits associated with good running economy and adequate balance control, since good forefoot flexibility is required to help fuel running economy.

In addition to bringing more uniformity of all the right mechanics good for running performance, aside from actually going barefoot, minimalist shoes make the feet work on their own which is the greatest contribute to promoting the natural rebuilding of a stronger, more resilient foot, since much of the sustained foot strength is rooted in a shoes flexibility and width.

Need more convincing that minimalist shoes work for everyone? Here are more evidence-backed reasons minimalist shoes do more for your foot and movement health than conventional running shoes.

References:

Chen et al. Effects of forefoot bending elasticity of running shoes on gait and running performance. Human Mov Sci, 2014, 38, 163-72.

Chen, C. H., Hsieh, C. F., Shih, Y., & Shiang, T. Y. (2012). Effect of shoe sole ﬂexibility on shank muscles and lower limb joints in different speeds. In Paper presented at the proceedings of the XXXII FIMS world congress of sports medicine: 27–30 September 2012, Rome, Italy.

Lin, S. C., Chen, C. P., Tang, S. F., Wong, A. M., Hsieh, J. H., & Chen, W. P. (2013). Changes in windlass effect in response to different shoe and insole designs during walking. Gait and Posture, 37, 235–241.

Stefanyshyn, D. J., & Nigg, B. M. (1998). Contribution of the lower extremity joints to mechanical energy in running vertical
jumps and running long jumps. Journal of Sports Sciences, 16, 177–186.

Stefanyshyn, D. J., & Nigg, B. M. (2000). Inﬂuence of midsole bending stiffness on joint energy and jump height performance.
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 32, 471–476.

Tinoco, N., Bourgit, D., & Morin, J. B. (2010). Inﬂuence of midsole metatarsophalangeal stiffness on jumping and cutting
movement abilities. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part P-Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology,
224, 209–217.

If you’ve enjoyed this blog post, you’ll love my YouTube Channel: here, where I discuss the health and performance benefits of barefoot running and I also have tons of video reviews of minimalist/barefoot-inspired running shoes suitable for forefoot running!