Barefoot beats running shoes for injury prevention

Research recently published in the prestigious journal Nature validates assertions popularized in the book Born To Run that running barefoot, or in minimal shoes, results in less running injuries. The investigators observed that...

"Kinematic and kinetic analyses show that even on hard surfaces, barefoot runners who fore-foot strike generate smaller collision forces than shod rear-foot strikers."

They go on to state:

"Fore-foot- and mid-foot-strike gaits were probably more common when humans ran barefoot or in minimal shoes, and may protect the feet and lower limbs from some of the impact-related injuries now experienced by a high percentage of runners."

Whatever the kind of shoe or barefoot the key point seems to be forefoot versus heel strike. There's an interesting report on the study in Nature News and another in ScienceNOW (from the journal Science).