The impacts uniquely produced in heel strike running are so severe that they actually cause nerve damage, in addition to causing long bone, muscle and tendon injuries as compared with forefoot running, which provides a better mechanical base that produces significantly less forms of all impacts.
Because of the complete loss of ground-feel, cushioned running shoes especially shoes with more padding under the heel than the front of the shoe, was found to be the net contributor to high- impact running as compared with barefoot and minimalist running.
Long-term reliance on running shoes with excessive underfoot cushioning was found to reduce nerve supply in the feet, which contributes to frail, functionally weak feet as well as poor balance as compared with barefoot-inspired shoes, which were found to improve nerve communication efficiency. This in turn lead to greater muscle tone which promotes stronger muscles and soft tissues in the foot.
The only disadvantage of barefoot running is blistering which is attributed to doing too much barefoot running too soon. The best approach to barefoot running is an incremental one, starting off by running barefoot for 1 minute then walking barefoot, and repeating this interval according to your tolerance level. If you do get a blister, the next best alternative to barefoot running is minimalist footwear, which does an equally excellent job at helping you move away from heel strike running, and instead, helps you easily adopt a forefoot strike tied to less over-striding, better upper body posture, higher cadence and less ground-contact time.
The main cause of toe injury from barefoot running is the toes are being used too much to aggressively push the entire weight of the body forward into the next step. This problem can be completely avoided by landing properly on your forefoot because it makes the knee softly bend and the torso shift slightly forward, which in turn, causes the foot to actually spring up on its own, thereby relieving the toes from being over-engaged to push the body forward through each step.
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