Nearly 30 million Americans ran at least 50 times in 2012, signifying just how popular this exercise has become for fitness, sport, and simply as a pastime.
Yet, with the repetitive nature of the activity, along with the force of impact on your joints, bones, muscles, and tendons (up to five times your body weight) with each stride, the injury rate is high.
Research shows that the main risk factor increasing your risk of suffering a running-related injury is a previous injury in the last 12 months. Perhaps surprisingly if you’ve ever visited a sporting goods store and browsed at the row upon row of running shoe options… it had nothing to do with footwear.
This isn’t what shoemakers, who claim their shoes can do everything from attenuate shock during impact to allow a smooth transition to midstance, and more, want you to believe… but could it be that your running shoes aren’t as integral to injury prevention as you might have believed?
Vibram’s Multi-Million Dollar Lawsuit
Bringing the issue of running shoes and injury prevention into the limelight is a recent $3.75-million settlement agreed to by Vibram, the maker of FiveFingers running shoes. The suit alleges that Vibram deceived consumers by claiming their glove-like shoes could reduce foot injuries and strengthen foot muscles.
While the company continues to deny any wrongdoing, they are allegedly agreeing to the settlement to “put the matter to rest and avoid any additional legal expenses.” It’s difficult to quantify the health benefits, or risks, of footwear because of the number of factors that come into play.
Age, gender, fitness level, experience, weight, prior injuries, and your unique running stride… all of these can influence your risk of a running-related injury. The Atlantic reported:
“…the manner in which the body’s muscles and nervous system respond to this impact [of running] is a critical determinant of stress to the body.
After all, the running stride is a wonderfully individualistic and intricate melding of foot, ankle, knee, hip, and upper body motion. Trying to control injury risk must always contend both with the complexity of the running stride and its inherent individuality in every runner.”
So it may very well be unrealistic to think that a shoe could have significant impact, although that hasn’t stopped manufacturers from trying. I wore a pair of Vibrams when they first came out, but they were very hard to put on and eventually caused me to have a fungal toenail infection so I gave them up.
Minimalist Shoes: Is Barefoot Better?
There’s been a surge in interest in the benefits of barefoot running in recent years… or at least in wearing shoes that claim to be close to it. Sales of minimalist shoes increased 300 percent in 2012, compared to 19 percent for traditional running shoes.
Surprising as it may sound, some research suggests modern running shoes, with their heavily cushioned, elevated heels, may actually encourage runners to strike the ground with their heel first—a move that generates a greater collision force with the ground, leading to an increased potential for injury.
