More hard evidence is showing that minimalist running shoes that feel most barefoot-like,
shoes like the Vibram Five Fingers, the Sockwa X8, the Free Your Feets, shoes that have a
2-mm paper-thin or thinner outsole, may do a better job at helping you get off to a better
start in improving your running form in ways that leads to a reduction in net forces, like
peak impacts (which are bursts in high impacts), mechanical and compressive loading and shear
stress off the entire musculoskeletal system, namely the knees and the lower back as compared
with trying to improve your running form in thick cushioned running shoes.
In fact, a 2013 study in the journal Footwear Science (which is linked down below the video
in the description box) found that runners who normally ran in conventional running shoes
with thick underfoot cushioning who switched to running in the Vibram Five Fingers Bikila
had far better outcomes in knee and back pain and injury as compared with runners who went
from running in conventional thickly cushioned running shoes to running in the Nike Pegasus
28 and the Nike Free.
Most concerning is that the researchers found that the runners who ran in the Nike Free
had an 192% increase in relative injury risk than the runners who ran the Vibram Bikila.
This is because if you look at the Nike Free’s, they’re propped up on a thicker slab of
firm cushioning that thickens and stiffens even more at the heel as compared with the
Vibram Five Fingers Bikila which are paper thin and fully flexible throughout.
The Nike Frees overall have similar underfoot structural support as most traditional running
shoes and with that in mind, what’s worse, is that Nike markets the Free as actually
a minimalist shoe designed to specifically help facilitate the barefoot running style
(which typically involves a forefoot strike landing and increased knee flexion or knee
bending, both of which are low-impact mechanics).
However, when the runners ran in the Nike Free from their conventional running shoes,
since the Frees are marketed as a minimalist shoe that’s supposed to facilitate or encourage
a non-heel strike landing and more barefoot-like stride mechanics, like greater knee flexion
or knee bending throughout all the phases of running gait, the Nike Free runners actually
retained their heel strike; the runners didn’t adopt a barefoot running-like stride which
typically involves a forefoot strike landing and greater knee bend in both knees, or greater
knee flexion as compared with the runners who went from running in their conventional
thickly cushioned running shoes to running in barefoot-like shoes, like the Vibram Bikila,
most of the Vibram Bikila runners instantly avoided a heavy heel strike landing because
they instantly adopted a forefoot strike with more pronounced knee flexion or knee bending
whereby these 2 mechanical outputs (forefoot striking and a greater bend in both knees,
especially at touchdown during running) are proven highly effective in really unburdening
the knees and lower back which is no surprise that the Vibram Bikilia runners had a 192%
reduction in heavy loads off the knees and the lower back because the heightened ground-feel
provided by the Vibram Bikila’s paper-thin sole most likely helped maximize the runners
mechanical and reflexive effectiveness in avoiding high-impact landings in the absence
of thick underfoot cushioning, and avoidance of high impacts when running in large measure
comes from making initial ground-contact on the balls of the foot, ahead of the arch or
in other words, the forefoot, while keeping both knees softly bent and therefore flexed
at all time --these 2 mechanical outputs seem to really come about and be optimized when
you can feel the ground more fully with with you feet.As for the Nike Frees, the hard truth
is the Frees provide zero ground-feedback; you cannot feel the ground at all with your
feet in the Nike Free’s like you can in the Vibram Bilika’s and the Free’s actually
have similar structural baggage as most conventional
running shoes, so really, there’s no good
reason to classify the Nike Free as minimalist or barefoot-like as they kind of are marketed
as being, because the Nike Free’s are not fully functional in a barefoot-way, like a
true minimalist shoe, like the Vibram Bikila.
Because the Nike Frees outsole is quite thick, hence no ground-feel, the underfoot nerves
don’t get stimulated to levels like they do in much thinner soled shoes, like most
barefoot-specific running shoes, and because
of the lack of ground-feel and thus low stimulation
and activation of the underfoot sensory nerves in the Nike Frees, you’re not going to get
that most maximum level of foot strike certainty in the Frees like you would get in the Vibram
Bikilas and you might not get a functional level of impact-protective knee-joint flexion
responses and enhanced knee-joint mechanics when you’re learning to develop good, low-impact
running form in the Nike Frees as compared to the Vibram Bikila’s and that’s something
I can’t stress enough is that when you have strong underfoot sensory-feedback, like you
get when run barefoot or in really thin barefoot-like
shoes, under these heightened sensory conditions,
the increases in underfoot ground-feel directly prompts the knees to reflexively and automatically
slightly and softly bend at touchdown and its this slight knee bend at touchdown that’s
going to give you more powerful, more functional stride control in that when you bend your
knee at touchdown when you run, doing so automatically
pulls the landing foot to land closer to under
your torso (which is your center mass) and when your foot lands closer to your center
mass when you run, the brake force duration period is sharply reduced and so are compressive
loads on the knee and lower back.
Also bending your knee at touchdown when you run adds more spring and pep to your stride
because it makes the elastic structures of the lower leg, namely the arch in the feet
and the Achilles tendon more spring-loaded; it helps the foot spring up off the ground
more responsively and effortlessly and also helps improve shock absorption at each step.
So these mechanics: increased knee flexion or knee bending in both knees and forefoot
striking which are brought about more fully when running barefoot or in barefoot-like
running shoes, based on the results of the study which are results that are directly
inline with results from many other similar studies, learning to correct your hard-hitting
heel strike to a forefoot strike when either barefoot or in barefoot-like running shoes
may do a better job at leading to more immediate
improvements in helping you develop more functional,
less force intensive foot strike and leg swing mechanics that get better with time the more
you run barefoot or in barefoot-like running shoes and the more you integrate barefoot
strides into your overall training regiment may really do more to speed the process in
helping get those mechanical corrections more hardwired into your neuromuscular system and
muscle/reflexive memory, so that you can uphold those very same functional mechanics that
sustains much better on the knees long-term, for when or if you do actually run in shoes
as compared with trying to make those form improvements at the foot strike and knee-joint
mechanical level in thickly cushioned running shoes.
Also, knowing all this remains a case in point as the researchers found that the runners
who ran in the Nike Free from their traditional running shoes had a significant uptick relativ
injury risk than the runners in the Vibram Bikila on the basis of the Nike Free runners
retained their heel strike landing, they didn’t adopt a forefoot strike and they also retained
greater knee extension, or lack of knee flexion at touchdown which drove up the amounts of
loading on the knees and lower back.
The Nike Free does have much less under-heel padding than most traditional running shoes,
but the Free’s are still quite padded at the heel and like in traditional running shoes,
the under-heel padding in the Frees props the foot up on such an angle that helps facilitate
a heel strike landing during running which generates a measurable heavy impact peak and
the feel of this of this impact peak at heel strike is masked by the underfoot cushioning,
so the underfoot padding takes the sting off the heel at heel strike when the impact-peak
is produced, however the under-heel padding does nothing to dampen or reduce the impact-peak
at heel strike, so this impact-peak ends up piercing through the heel, up the lower leg
and slams into the lower back.
Also at heel strike, especially when the knee of the landing foot is completely unbent and
stiff, not bent and softly flexed, is going to cause an elongated over-stride which produces
a long brake force duration period which sends additional loading, especially compressive
loading across the shins, knees and back.
So the bottom line here is that there’s not enough underfoot padding in the Nike Frees
to dampen the heavy impact-peak or reduce
the brake force duration period that are consequently
always generated at heel strike during running, and these two force variables, an impact peak
at touchdown and a long brake force duration period produced more so in heel strike running
than in forefoot strike running, have a lot of scientific backing for putting a heavy
load on the knees, resulting in runners knee.
These stressors also put additional loading across the long bones, making a femur fracture
quite possible.
This is why femur fracture is much more prevalent in heel strike runners, not in forefoot strike
runners.
These 2 force variables also permeate as a shockwave that ripples up the leg and again,
literally smashes into the lower back, causing throbbing lower back pain.
I must really underscore that the impact peak at touchdown is NOT generated in a forefoot
strike landing and the brake force duration period is significantly reduced in a forefoot
strike landing, too while running, which is why the Bikila runners had such stark reductions
in knee and lower back pain because these runners, the Vibram Bikila runners, instantly
adopted a forefoot strike landing because running in these shoes with absolutely no
under-heel cushioning delivers very strong sensory cues that kind of forces you to avoid
landing heel-first and instead land with a forefoot strike, which again, is a low-impact
foot strike as compared with heel strike running.
Equally important, the heightened underfoot ground-feel you get from barefoot-like running
shoes, like the Bikila’s, these increases in ground-feedback at the underfoot directly
puts into motion impact-avoidance reflexes that drive faster, more accurate responses
in adjusting your foot strike intensity and for a safer positioned footfall, meaning you
land with less downward and push forces and generate less of a collision force, so overall,
you strike the ground much less forcibly because you’re typically gonna land with a forefoot
strike in the absence of underfoot cushioning and also, you're gonna have more functional
stride control because increases in ground-feel at the underfoot when you run, actually tells
your knees to slightly bend and flex at touchdown of which this increased knee bend and flexion
during running under barefoot-like conditions,will give you better stride control, it helps guide
your initial foot strike placement closer to your center of mass, or your entire upper
body of which this positional arrangement of the landing foot relative to your upper
body seems to be critical for reducing the brake force duration period which is going
to significantly reduce compressive loads off the foot and leg but especially the knee!
So this study along with many other studies like it, have found the same basic conclusion
in that the sensory approach can lead to measurable
improvements in making functional corrections
to your running form; corrections that sustains well long term; running form tends to improve
whenever you can feel the ground more fully.
Strong, higher-level sensory input under the foot that you get when you run barefoot or
in thin barefoot-like running shoes may play more of a leading role in helping those who
are really struggling to be able to put their forefoot running mechanics on a strong, functional
footing as compared with developing functional, sustainable, less force intensive running
form in thickly cushioning shoes.
Thats to not say that you should never wear thickly cushioning running shoes.
Elite runners wear them, but elite runners also do a lot of barefoot strides too, especially
East African elite runners.
Barefoot strides are a big part of their training.
That’s a fact, and that’s because it fits so nicely into the role of injury prevention
in that it keeps the feet and ankles strong and tolerant of longer, harder miles; it keeps
your balance unshakable of which you’re gonna have to have unshakable balance if you’re
gonna be running in big clunky running shoes, like the Nike Vaporfly.
The biggest takeaway is that when it comes to making it easier for you to improve your
forefoot running form in a way that sustains better on your knees and the rest of your
body, there definitely seems to be a strong sensory component that goes into helping you
do that and the study’s results also suggest that protection from harmful impacts when
running comes from not always with increased underfoot cushioning, but with adjusting your
foot strike to initially strike farther away from the heel, landing closer to ahead of
the arch, and again, one of the best path that can offer a faster way for you to learn
how to efficiently use your foot strike and leg swing mechanics when running is with more
sensory-assisted feedback at the feet, via barefoot running or very minimalist running
shoes that’ll help you develop natural impact-adaptations
in part by magnifying your perceptual awareness
of your foot strikes positioning, posture
and intensity and best of all, you’re strengthening
the feet along the way.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this video and if you did, feel free to hit the thumbs up button
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on the benefits of adding more barefoot running to your training.
Thank you so much for listening and watching.
Have out there on the roads and trails.
Bye for now!