Why Cushioned Running Shoes Are Severely Bad for Your Knees

19/05/2025 Bretta Riches Why Cushioned Running Shoes Are Bad 598

It has been confirmed repeatedly that running (with a heel strike) and even just walking in thick cushioned running shoes not only cause knee pain and injury, but contributes to more serious crippling ailments, such as knee osteoarthritis as compared with walking and running barefoot or in minimalist shoes, which were found to work best at stabilizing and protecting the knee, while producing a more capable, durable foot that adapts quicker to harder training.

Thick Cushioned Running Shoes Very Bad for Knees — The challenge runners face in protecting their knees, but wearing thick cushioned running shoes was found to be majorly unhelpful in with this.

A study by Shakoor and Block in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism found that walking in the standard running shoe significantly increased dynamic loads at the knee by increasing stride length, peak knee adduction moment, peak knee extension moment and reduced cadence compared to barefoot walking. Ouch!

The study investigated the effects of barefoot vs cushioned running shoes on walking mechanics and joint kinematics in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
The results showed that barefoot walking was more effective at consistently and sustainably reducing excessive joint-loads associated with the debilitating condition. What was the explanation for this?

It turns out, when barefoot or in a barefoot-inspire shoe, the multi-sensory inputs directly stimulate the bare underfoot which increases reflexive control over the muscles in the knee, helping the joint maintain better stability in ways that the traditional running shoe could never do.

Why Barefoot and Minimalist Shoes Are Best for Your Knees — Walking and running barefoot or in barefoot-like shoes (minimalist shoes) are proven positive reinforcements for your knees because the direct connection with the ground generates better movement stability on the knee.

The bottom line is the more you can feel the ground with your feet, the stronger the reflexive control of the entire muscles in the leg, especially the knee, the lesser the loads at the knee as compared with thick cushioned running shoes which have the reverse effect of predisposes one to knee osteoarthritis by projecting excessive loads on the leg, namely the knee.

What’s worse, walking in cushioned running shoes was most directly responsible for increased peak hip internal and external rotations which increased knee torques than walking barefoot. Moreover, additional results from a similar study by Kerrigan et al., in Archive of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation also confirmed and re-affirmed that running shoes with under-heel cushioning generated more damaging torque at the knee.

More Big Benefits to Being Barefoot

The study (references below article) reported that patients with knee osteoarthritis had a 12% reduction in knee-joint load, 12% reduction in peak knee adduction, higher cadence and shortened strides when walking barefoot.

Because there is no mechanical inference, nor perceptual distortions of the plantar (underfoot) surface, it comes as no surprise that walking barefoot prevents mechanical displacements, thereby safeguarding the knee, helping patients with knee osteoarthritis walk better with less discomfort.

Lastly, its not just the knee that barefooting protects long-term, here are more study-proven improvements that being barefoot brings vs cushioned running shoes.

References:

Kerrigan DC, Johansson JL, Bryant MG, Boxer JA, Della Croce U, Riley PO. Moderate-heeled shoes and knee joint torques relevant to the development and progression of knee osteoarthritis. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2005;86:871–5.

Shakoor N and Block JA. Walking barefoot decreases loading on the lower extremity joints in knee osteoarthritis. Arthritis & Rheumatism, 2006; 54(9):2923-2927.
If you’d like, you can support Run Forefoot and help keep it going by making a donation in any amount of your choosing: