Do Cushioned Running Shoes Cause Injuries?

Do Cushioned Running Shoes Cause Injuries?

One of the many consequences to cushioned running shoes is they cause a long-list of injuries, especially impact-related injuries. This is because the elevated cushioned heel coupled with the complete lack of ground-feel causes you to mistakenly over-reach with your foot at landing which causes your upper body (i.e. your center of mass) to fall back far behind initial foot strike position. This landing arrangement is the biggest contributor to a longer, more force-intensive brake period thats responsible for long bone injuries, such as shin and femur fracture as compared with running in more barefoot-like shoes. Read more here!

Bretta Riches

"I believe the forefoot strike is the engine of endurance running..."

BSc Neurobiology; MSc Biomechanics candidate, ultra minimalist runner & founder of RunForefoot. I was a heel striker, always injured. I was inspired by the great Tirunesh Dibaba to try forefoot running. Now, I'm injury free. This is why I launched Run Forefoot, to advocate the health & performance benefits of forefoot running and to raise awareness on the dangers of heel striking, because the world needs to know.
Bretta Riches