When it comes to preventing running-related heel injuries, running shoes with thick cushioned heels were found to actually cause pain and injury to the heel by causing you to land too hard on your heels. The most clinically promising method to protect your heels when running is to adopt a forefoot strike landing which was found to spread impact best over the foot, resulting little to no damaging impact at the heel.
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.
Unlike conventional shoes, minimalist shoes are more beneficial for your feet because research has shown that there’s less stress on your foot. This is because of the wide, anatomically correct shape of a minimalist shoe allows your entire foot to expand, which expands the surface area of contact, thereby reduces uneven tendon, muscle and bone stress on the foot. At the same time, the unrestricted, flexible fit delivers a constant stream of engagement to promote more soft tissue growth and muscle strength development of the foot and leg.
More research piles up confirming that cushioned running shoes do not align well with reducing injuries because these shoes were found to make unsafe and inefficient uses of the knee-joint and the Achilles tendon as compared with minimalist shoes, which are barefoot-like running shoes that do more to correct your running form and strengthen your feet.
One of the only ways to prevent ankle injury when running is to either run barefoot or in minimalist shoes because the heightened feel of the ground translates into better muscular and reflexive stability of the ankle, allowing for both more controlled ankle and foot step stability as compared with thick cushioned running shoes, which was found to be threatened to the stability of the ankle-joint!
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