Wearing specially designed shoes does not prevent running foot injuries, new research has found.
Recent research carried out at the MRC/UCT Exercise Science and Sports Medicine Research Unit has revealed that it is far more important for runners to alternate running barefoot with running with shoes and on a variety of different grounds. Running barefoot gives the body the necessary opportunity to adjust to new situations.
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The research follows after anecdotal reports from rugby players that when they run barefoot along cross-country routes, they get less foot injuries.
Since the late 70’s there has been a lot of research on running injuries and on how they could be prevented. Until recently, it was thought that running injuries were caused by the inward or outward rolling motion (pronation or supination) of the foot just before landing. Shoe manufacturers tried to develop running shoes which aimed to stabilise the foot during running but this had little on the incidence of running injuries.
Suspension
Associate Professor Martin Schwellnus and his team of researchers at the MRC's research unit started to study how the body behaves during running. They found that the body goes through a rapid, but complex, routine in every stride it makes.
The human body has its own built-in suspension system which can sense and then adjust to balance the impact of the foot on the ground.
Before each foot strikes the ground, it appears as though the brain or central nervous system prepares a detailed programme to prepare the foot for the impact on the ground.
Shoe manufacturing companies have now incorporated these findings into their shoe design and have recently launched a new model of running shoe which it compares to running barefoot.
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