Research on Barefoot Running




by Emily Thomas


Injuries are too common to all kinds of sports, even running. What better prevention than understanding these running injuries. Here are five of the most common of them with causes and treatments.

This technique is his attempt to combine these philosophies with his running. It is a somewhat controversial technique within the running and the sports biomechanics community.

Runner's Knee Another common injury is the runner's knee. To know if you have it, you can do a Clark's test. Sit on a chair and stretch your legs on another chair in front. Then while your quads are tense gently squeeze above the knee with one hand and push the outside of the knee cap with other hand. If you feel pain, and it is radiating to your hips, back and feet, you have a Runner's Knee. Poor foot mechanics and weak quads cause the Runner's knee. Make sure you have pronation-controlling gears when you run as well as do drills that strengthen you quads and the cartilage around your knee cap. Depending on the severity of the injury, it can take 6 weeks to 6 months to recover from this injury.

Plantar Fasciitis You reap what you sow. Pushing past your limits can lead to injuries. One of that is plantar fasciitis. It is another overuse injury that happens when a runner pushed too hard and too fast. The plantar fascia is a broad tissue that runs along the bottom of the foot. It is responsible in absorbing shock of impact forces. When there is too much load on the foot, this tissue could split and cause plantar fasciitis. Most people who are overweight have the plantar fasciitis. It is also common to people who tend to stand longer than normal. This heel pain can cause you great deal of time before you can run again from 2 months up to 18 months. It is best to prevent getting this injury by losing weight and not putting too heavy load than what you normally can handle.

As a philosophy of running, it is about running in a more relaxed way and feeling 'at one with the road', much like in the spirit of Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates. This is supposed to make the running experience more of a spiritual experience rather than a hard 'slog' or a chore that has to be done.

There has been a number of research studies that have compared running without shoes to shod running and have also compared heel strike running to forefoot running. All the studies actually showed was that they were different. None of the studies actually showed that one was better than the other.

The media and barefoot running community generally misinterpret these studies to state that barefoot running is better. There is probably nothing wrong with running barefoot provided it is done carefully, adapted to slowly and used as part of a balanced training program. Where the problems occur is in the understanding and interpretation of the research.




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