When runners look down at their trainers most give some kind of thanks: for the arch supports and cushioning that help them indulge in their pastime. In the past few decades trainers have become more and more high-tech: they cushion; control and stabilise; and come constructed in foam, gel, silicon and air bubbles. There is even a trainer with a microchip in its heel, which reacts to the hardness of the ground and adjusts the amount of cushioning in the sole. So when many of us have knee twinges we see a trip to the sports shop as a solution.
But in elite circles joint pain is being solved by something that seems counter-intuitive: an increase in barefoot running. The idea is that the less support the foot is given, the more cushioning and stabilisation it can give itself, reducing injuries and increasing propulsion.
Before you kick off your trainers, however, and start pounding the pavements, bear in mind that when these athletes train barefoot it is under supervision. Most training is done in the gym, but if they do run outdoors then it is on grass around athletic tracks or on cricket pitches where there is little risk of cutting their feet. They only cover very short distances, often jogging barefoot as a warm-up before putting on spikes to train on the track.
But what is the problem with trainers, exactly? Few of us (ballerinas and some athletes excluded) do the work that is necessary to strengthen our feet, and instead cram them into shoes for more than 12 hours a day. Yet the 26 bones, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles in each foot have some problem cushioning impact when their functioning is restricted by the confines of a shoe — try drawing an outline of your foot when it is relaxed, then your shoes, and see which is bigger.
“Shoes are in some ways similar to plaster casts: they weaken the foot; the muscles that support it collapse from underuse,” says Gerard Hartmann, Paula Radcliffe’s physical therapist. “A lot of people have structurally weak unconditioned feet, but arch supports and orthotics should not be necessary if you have a fit foot. Running barefoot allows the foot to become stronger and the joints to articulate in all the proper ways.” Hartmann has his atheletes skip, bound and run up and down barefoot to keep feet strong, as well as doing specific exercises such as picking up marbles with toes.
Three years ago Nike started examining the barefoot phenomenon, to see if it could create a shoe that would provide a safe intermediate step between full-on cushioning and barefoot running. Most people’s feet are too weak to go straight to barefoot running, and risk soft-tissue injuries such as shin splints if they do.
“When people run in trainers they tend to slam their heel down, so they need cushioning,” says Phil McCartney, Nike’s footwear product manager. “When they run barefoot it’s more like a plane coming in to land. The toes lift up to help disperse pressure, and people come up on to their toes to push off. Kenyan distance athletes typically train barefoot until their late teens and rarely have the injuries seen in our athletes.”
To produce a shoe that would mimic barefoot running, Nike took 200 images a second of an athlete running barefoot and looked at how the foot flexed in motion and how the pressure was dispersed as the foot landed on the floor. As a result, the finished product looks very different from other trainers. Most uppers contain the foot, but the upper of Nike’s new trainer Free is soft and spliced so the toes can lift and splurge. The Free’s sole has such deep cross-hatched grooves that you can roll it up in your palm. “With the Free trainer the foot controls the shoe, not the other way round,” says McCartney. “If running barefoot is a zero in support, and running in trainers a ten, the Free is about a five.”
The concept of the trainer is that regular use will put weak muscles to work, so over time your foot can do a better job of supporting itself. “Strong feet means better shock absorption — they pronate (flatten) less on landing,” says Anne Marie O’Connor, a podiatrist at the London Osteopathy and Sports Injury Clinic. Early research suggests that the trainers are effective. Peter Bruggeman, a professor of biomechanics at the German Sport University in Cologne, did a pilot study in which 50 athletes warmed up in Free shoes for 30 minutes three or four times a week, while another 50 used conventional trainers. “After five months the big-toe flexor muscle was 5 per cent stronger in the Free athletes, and two of the four muscles that support the arch were 4 per cent stronger.”
“Just the small increase in toe strength would mean that the athletes would be able to push off better,” comments Bruggeman.
The British Olympic gold medallists Jason Gardner and Mark Lewis-Francis, both sprinters, and the Tour de France cyclist Lance Armstrong are some of the athletes who have been using the Free shoes to train in. Paula Radcliffe, who has used them for eight months, claims that after only a few sessions her feet felt stronger and her balance had improved. “I use the trainers for foot drills and plyometric work (exercises involving leaping, skipping and jumping movements) and wear them after training.”
Perhaps the biggest surprise for people who buy the trainers is the fact that they can’t immediately run in them. Nike recommends pottering about in the shoes for up to six weeks before you break into a sweat, and then suggests wearing them for one short run out of three. You may be able to build up to longer runs and find the lack of cushioning compensated for by a lighter-footed running style.
“Balance is better when there’s hardly anything between you and the floor,” says O’Connor. “When you put feet in big spongy trainers, the sensors on the sole of the foot can’t register where they are because the landing is too soft, so people don’t bend their knees as much.”
One convert is Ken Bob Saxton, a Californian marathon runner. He has done 12 marathons barefoot, and wants others to join him (www.runningbarefoot.org): “Running barefoot allows feet to grow strong and healthy. It allows us to feel how we are running, instead of trying to control how we run, so that we can learn to run with less impact, and with less chronic and crippling damage caused by impact.”
Nike Free trainers cost from £60. For stockists call 0800 0561640; www.nike.com/nikefree/ Barefoot running helps to strengthen foot and leg muscles.
Revolution afoot
PLUS POINTS
Barefoot running helps to strengthen foot and leg muscles.
Barefoot runners tend to land with less impact and to flex their knees to absorb shock — reducing the impact on joints. In time this could lead to a lighter running style. Barefoot running will help to improve balance and reduce the risk of a twisted ankle.
NEGATIVE POINTS
Do too much too soon and you can cause soft-tissue injuries, such as arch pain, shin splints and stress fractures.
If you have a high, rigid arch that doesn’t rotate when you land, or a very flat foot, you could increase the impact on your joints by running barefoot.
