If you have suffered a running-related hip injury or are experiencing hip pain when you
run, your running shoes could be repressing the types of sensory feedback inputs at the
feet that are essential in triggering and activating certain reflexes that lead to more
optimally aligned legs during running.
What I mean by that is, studies are offering intriguing clues about how the plantar (plantar
meaning foot) about how plantar-sensory input repression due to wearing thickly, cushioned
running shoes may be one of the root causes of running-related hip injury because the
sensory input repression may impede or obstruct safe, cost-effective positional alignment
of the leg during certain phases of running gait, resulting in too much high levels of
torque on the hip and elsewhere on the leg.
However, the distinct sensory processing power involved in barefoot running may easily promote
the mechanical building blocks for studier, more organized positional alignments of the
leg, potentially helping to shutdown excessive load accumulation on the hip-joint and therefore,
running barefoot may aid in preventing hip injuries.
Evidence is growing that running barefoot may be a beacon of mechanical hope because
it instantly activates a wide-ranging spectrum of motor nerves and reflexes that may lead
to more positive reinforcements in movement control and positional effectiveness of the
leg, and from this, running without shoes may greatly assist in helping deter clumsy,
biomechanical recklessness, potentially resulting in less mechanical stress and strain on the
hips.
And, we are now seeing a growing trend that the data regarding the positive effects barefoot
running has on biomechanics, supports the andedots.
In contrast, many runners intuitively think that thick shoe cushioning means more impact
protection.
But, after looking around in the literature, this long-held belief is actually shaping
up to be untrue because research shows that increased underfoot cushioning is strongly
associated with increased mechanical recklessness and greater impact production during running,
which sadly, this concerning issue seems to always remain below the radar in running magazines,
like Runner's World, for obvious corporatist reasons of course --but that's a whole other
video for next time.
More on why thick cushioned running shoes may not really be part of the injury prevention
solution is that in terms of running-related hip injury, traditional running shoes may
perpetuate the risk factors for running-related hip injury.
These risk factors are known to be: excessive hip adduction and excessive hip internal rotation
during the touchdown phase and the early stance phase of running, which put more simply, means
that the thigh and knee point excessively inward, instead of pointing more straight
in the direction you are running.
Excessive hip adduction and internal rotation looks like this:
Why would this kind of positional alignment of the thigh and knee hurt the hip during
running?
Research suggests that excessive hip adduction and hip internal rotation at touchdown and
during the early stance phase of running generates a hefty dose of grinding torque on the hip
which will certainly compound itself more quickly at faster running speeds.
Now, many runners would say: wear thicker cushioned running shoes and that will help
take care of the problem, but by large estimates, thick cushioned running shoes have been pinpointed
as being the driver of these kinds of imbalanced biomechanics, potentially pulling you in the
opposite direction in reducing harmful impact of the hips whereby traditional running shoes
may be the blame for weakening your chances of upholding tension-easing leg alignment
favorable to reducing impact shock on the hips during running and that running barefoot
may be a more credible alternative in putting your hip mechanics on a much more secured
alignment path by making your leg reflexes as effective as possible at helping iron out
kinks in leg alignment and leg swing mechanics.
Evidence in support of this comes from a 2010 study published in the journal Medicine and
Science in Sports and Exercise which found that running barefoot engaged the hips differently
than running in traditional running shoes whereby these differences pertaining to barefoot
running translated into significantly less impact loading rates on the hip joint.
The researchers found that runners who always ran in thick cushioned running shoes, also
referred to as habitually shod runners, who were heel strike runners, when these runners
ran barefoot, they automatically adopted a forefoot strike landing and they showed stark
reductions in excessive hip adduction and hip internal rotation at initial contact --which
meant these runners had their thighs and knees pointed more straight in the direction they
were running when they ran barefoot, suggesting that the
sensory richness flowing in the bottom of the bare foot during barefoot running may
be necessary for putting safer limits on leg misalignment and may spur positive changes
in hip mechanics that may permit less tension compression loads generated on the hip.
The researchers also found that during the stance of barefoot running, excessive hip
adduction and hip internal rotation remained significantly lower when compared to running
in cushioned running shoes, which suggests that running barefoot may help sustain a more
concentrated engagement of key reflexes and motor nerves involved in pulling the strings
attached to better aligned legs and more stable hip mechanics, which may all add up to diminished
impact loads on the hip, and may help put you on a more secure path forward.
This is how running barefoot may help give you the kind of outcome you are seeking with
respects to improving hip and legs swing mechanics.
Similar lines of research, such as a 2009 study published in the journal PMR, also found
that barefoot runners showed a 54% reduction in hip internal rotation torque, suggesting
that the sensory energy passing through the foot, to the spinal cord and up to the brain
during barefoot running can be converted into something very productive in ways that may
make you more prone to making positive mechanical modifications that may ease mechanical burdens
on the hip and therefore, running barefoot could be a good place to start with regards
to improving hip mechanics.
What this research implies is that there may be a strong sensory dimension in helping get
your lower body reflexes more involved in making the biggest difference in helping you
build sustainable biomechanical changes that may make running safer on the hips.
It make take the sensory resources barefoot running provides to enable you to use your
hip and leg swing mechanics as efficiently as possible in leading to more effective mechanical
actions that may lead to so little impact and torque that it may do no harm to the hips.
These findings also support the research showing that exposure of the bare foot to the ground,
especially during barefoot running, may provide a better way for the motor nerves that line
the bottom of the bare foot to communicate with the motor nerves in the knees, hips,
the spinal cord and the brain which in turn, may play into the equation of promoting certain
motor nerves and reflexes that effectively help guide the legs to properly re-align on
a safer trajectory, potentially helping shift harmful impact loads away from the hips.
Its this automatic activation of certain reflexes in the leg during barefoot running is what
really matters in helping to prevent clumsy, inefficient strides, thus potentially making
barefoot running a more ergonomically-friendly way to run in ways were the hips are fronting
much less mechanical burdens as compared to running in traditional running shoes where
in traditional, thickly cushioned running shoes, there's that diminished sensory and
reflexive engagement which can be a huge part of the problem at helping resolve disorganized
mechanical alignments that fuel ongoing hip pain problems.
So always remember that running barefoot really does help enforce the changes necessary in
making your leg swing and foot strike mechanics more effective AND and I also love underscoring
that where we have seen where barefoot running has produced results is looking at how most
East African professional runners run; much of their running began barefoot, which I think
helped set themselves up to be more efficient shod runners --that’s just my thoughts on
that and this is why through barefoot running, you might be able to get more done at improving
your biomechanics for when you do run in shoes.
This is why I think it's incredibly valuable to make sure barefoot running has a seat at
the table in your efforts to helping improve your running technique, especially your leg
swing mechanics.
I posted a link to the blog post-version of this video, which is linked down below in
the description box.
For more on the health and performance benefits of barefoot running and minimalist running,
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Thank you so much for listening and watching.
Have fun out there on the roads and trails.Bye for now!