Barefoot Running Research Paper

As a runner, I consistently suffer the “typical” pains in my knee, the arch of my foot, and my achilles tendon. I have tried pronation- fixing shoes for my knees, arch-supporting orthotics, and heel-cushioned shoes for my achilles. These superfluous attempts at eliminating pain only created more problems. Could these very things - cushioned, bulky shoes - designed to maximize running performance be hampering our running and causing excessive injuries? Many runners, professional and ametuer, have arrived at this conclusion and have begun running barefoot. Many believe that clunky, padded shoes make runners strike on the heel, which sends a massive shockwave of force up the leg and is absorbed by the knee and hip joints, which causes injury. Barefoot runners are more inclined to strike on the ball of the foot, which creates rotational energy of the foot and sends much less shock up the leg. Shoes
Also, many coaches believe barefoot running improves performance. With the extra weight of the shoe gone, runners experience a much better running economy- the rate at which energy is expended- and also gain great foot strength as well. Thus, runners should leave the shoes at home and run barefoot to experience improved running and less injuries. Our ancestors, millions of years ago, ran simply to survive. The human body is designed to run long distances, and the first primitive humans ran to fatigue animals so they could eat. They wore no shoes. With the big boom in the last half-century of bulky running shoes, injury rates associated with running also skyrocketed. Nicholas Tam, Janie L Astephen Wilson, Timothy D Noakes, and Ross Tucker explore the concept of primitive running techniques in their article for the British Journal of Sports Medicine, “Barefoot running: an evaluation of current hypothesis, future research and clinical applications”. Tam et al. describe the anthropological