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Barefoot Running: The Debate
By Steve Nearman
May/June 2010
For the Washington Running Report
There probably is a good reason why most famous world-class runners do not run barefoot-because shoe contracts require them to wear running shoes.
All kidding aside, the topic of barefoot running is gaining a foothold in the running community, driven by barefoot running enthusiasts and the continued release of studies and articles on the issue.
The preponderance of the discussion is whether you run barefoot or in padded running shoes. But one of the nation's foremost authorities on barefoot running believes that it is not a debate about running with or without running shoes but about choosing your own personal running style.
"To argue whether barefoot or not barefoot is better is silly," said Daniel E. Lieberman PhD, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, author of numerous papers on barefoot running and a long distance runner himself. "I'm not telling people how to run. A lot of the press has completely mischaracterized what the debate should be about. What really matters is what kind of footstrike you want to have. Then your pick your shoe-with a shoe that has heel cushioning, a minimal running shoe or barefoot. If you are a heel striker, you may need motion control. If you are a forefoot striker, you don't need that."
Dr. Lieberman said he prefers to wear minimal shoes while running, although he said he does run about five miles a week completely barefoot.
"For the long runs, I prefer to use minimal shoe. I look for three things in my shoes-a flexible sole, no arch support and a low heel," said Lieberman, who runs marathons in minimal shoes. "A minimal shoe is the same as barefoot."
Lieberman lifted from his desk some old running books with pictures of world-class distance runners from the '50, ‘60s and '70s and explained that all these runners were forefoot runners because they had to be; they had no padded heels like the modern-day running shoes developed in the ‘70s.
"[Bill] Rodgers, [Frank] Shorter, [Roger] Bannister were forefoot strikers-you had to be," he said. "Their shoes had no heels."
Then came the modern running shoes, characterized by thick padded soles, with its wedge shape and padding at the heel and less at the forefoot as well as stiff, supportive insoles which produce a different gait and a tendency to run heel-to-toe. On the other hand, with natural, shoeless running the balls of the feet strike the ground with the most force.
"People who run barefoot as a rule have much better running form than people who wear shoes," writes Danny Dreyer in his book ChiRunning. "Go to your local track sometime and run a lap without your shoes, and see what happens to your running form. You'll come back a non-heel striker. Running barefoot forces you to land on that nice, soft mid-section of your foot instead of your heel. It also forces you to lean forward, keeping your weight in front of where your feet strike the ground."
What usually follows the barefoot running debate is a discussion of injury prevention. Much of the mainstream research reports that one-third of all runners have repetitive injuries-plantar fasciitis, shin splits, runner's knees, Achilles tendonitis and IT band.
Enthusiasts of the barefoot movement, including barefoot gurus "Barefoot Ted" McDonald (a self-described independent athlete committed to re-discovering primal human capacities and encouraging others to do the same) and Ken Bob Saxton (he has run more than 70 marathons barefoot), argue that barefoot running is healthier for feet and reduces risk of chronic injuries, notably repetitive stress injuries due to the impact of heel striking in padded running shoes, in addition to other purported benefits.
Many of these claims are backed up by research but the research is neither extensive nor conclusive and generally not accepted by medical or sports organizations who by and large advocate for padded running shoes.
Michael Warburton's 2001 review of barefoot running in the journal Sports Science concluded that running barefoot is associated with a substantially lower prevalence of acute injuries of the ankle and chronic injuries of the lower leg in developing countries.
In addition, Craig Richards and his colleagues published a British Journal of Sports Medicine article in spring 2008 entitled "Is your prescription of distance running shoes evidence based?" They set out "To determine whether the current practice of prescribing distance running shoes featuring elevated cushioned heels and pronation control systems tailored to the individual's foot type is evidence-based." Their conclusion: "The prescription of this shoe type to distance runners is not evidence-based."
But Lieberman said that one issue with barefoot/minimal shoe running is trading one type of injury for another, although he said his studies do not focus on injuries. "With barefoot/minimal shoe running, there is more risk of calf strain, but with padded running shoes, this is the other risk of plantar. Maybe barefoot running could lead to fewer injuries. But we weren't studying injuries. We were studying collision issues. There is almost no impact collision with barefoot or minimal shoes. When you don't heel-strike, you get a very soft landing."
He further noted that with heel-strikers, there is a collision force about 1,000 times per mile run. People who run barefoot, he contends, have a tendency to land with a springy step towards the middle or front of the foot.
Dr. Lieberman and his associates reported their findings in the January 28, 2010 issue of the journal Nature, which can viewed at www.barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu. He said that the site was created to educate runners about the respective merits of shod and barefoot running.
"If barefoot running is a fad, it's a 2 million-year-old fad. It's the modern-day running shoe that's a fad," Dr. Lieberman mused.
Steve Nearman, a veteran running writer and middle distance competitor, is the event director for the inaugural Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon to be held on September 19, 2010.