It seems that the benefits of barefoot running are all over the place! Check out this recent Reuters report:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The best running shoe may be none at all, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday
Wed Jan 27, 2010 4:51pm EST
Jamaica's Andrew Gutzmores competes without shoes at the men's 5000 meters final race during the Jamaicam athletics national championship in Kingston June 27, 2008. Credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria
Runners who eschew shoes may be less likely to do serious injury to their feet, because they hold their feet differently, Daniel Lieberman of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and colleagues found.
Writing in the journal Nature, they said runners who wear shoes tend to hit the ground with their heels first, whereas barefoot runners put the balls of the feet down first.
“People who don’t wear shoes when they run have an astonishingly different strike,” Lieberman said in a statement.
“By landing on the middle or front of the foot, barefoot runners have almost no impact collision, much less than most shod runners generate when they heel-strike,” Lieberman added.
“Most people today think barefoot running is dangerous and hurts, but actually you can run barefoot on the world’s hardest surfaces without the slightest discomfort and pain. All you need is a few calluses to avoid roughing up the skin of the foot.”
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The newest edition of our semiannual newsletter, “To Your Health” Spring 2010, is hot off the presses!
