New findings on the long term benefits and drawbacks of habitual barefootedness and habitual shoe-wearing found that neither technique offered significant benefits over the other.
In a review of previous studies on the benefits and drawbacks of both walking and running techniques, researchers analyzed more than 15 different studies comprised of more than 8,000 individuals. They examined a number of different factors, including the injury rates, physical metric, biomechanics, motor performance and pathologies of both habitually barefoot and habitually shod people. What they found was that neither technique offered substantial benefits or drawbacks over the other. Here’s what the authors wrote:
- Habitually barefoot people tended to have slightly wider feet than people who wore shoes.
- Relative injury rates were similar regardless of footwear state.
- There was no evidence that habitually barefoot people have better motor performance in the long-term, and there was limited evidence for any health-related benefits.
Both groups experienced similar injury rates, although the type of injuries differed.
“While shod running leads to more injuries at the plantar fascia, knee, hip and back, barefoot runners were more prone to be injured at the Achilles tendon and other tendons of the lower extremity,” said study author Dr. Karsten Hollander at the University of Hamburg in Germany.
Slow Change Process
So while the study doesn’t paint a picture of one method being better than the other, it does close with an important message that we’ve stressed numerous times on the blog. No matter what walking or running style you choose, make sure you slowly increase your workload so that you don’t overstress your feet, and if you plan on altering or changing styles, gradual change is essential to keep your feet protected.
“The body needs time to adapt to this [barefoot running] and I think the amount of training and recovery a body needs is individually different,” said Holland. “My personal opinion is that many people could benefit from walking barefoot, but the important thing is that the transfer to barefoot or minimalist shoes needs time and some adaptation in the running technique.”
So at the end of the day, do what feels comfortable to you when running or walking, but if you plan on changing your current technique, be sure to take it slow!
