Today's Straits Times Article 180514

Have a look at page 17 of today's Sunday Times under the Home section and you'll see Sports Solutions quoted in the article. The journalist asked about our views on the Vibram Five Fingers lawsuit, the health benefits and also the general vibe of the running community regarding this case.

I was quoted as saying the evidence for barefoot or minimalist style is actually very sound provided the wearer's running technique is correct.

Using results of Daniel Liberman's study, runners who land correctly in their running technique will have benefits as impact is a lot less (even less than landing on your heels with  shoes on).  If you land wrongly (with minimalist shoes) the impact is 7 times greater thus greatly increasing the chance of injury. See picture below.

From Liberman's article

Unfortunately most of us (runners) are very impatient for results and do not master the correct running/ landing technique while just using minimalist shoes thinking that will be sufficient.

 

Also read why if you run in more cushioned/ expensive shoes, the more likely you seem to get injured to further support why running in minimalist shoes with correct technique is superior to running with cushioned/ expensive shoes. 

Reference 

Liberman DE, Venkadesan M et al (2010). Foot Strike Patterns and Collision Forces in Habitually Barefoot Versus Shod Runners. Nature. Jan 463(7280): 531-535.

Email me if you want the article.

My own minimalist running shoe in the picture below. My brother bought it for me from Shanghai for $RMB30 (or S$6) , much cheaper than Vibrams ($149-$209 here in Singapore).

Like I've always said and written, it's not what shoes you wear, its your technique that's more important.

Vibram Five Fingers Shoes Named In Lawsuit

Yes, you read it correctly, Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) shoes are currently embroiled in a lawsuit as they are alleged to have made "deceptive and misleading statements about the benefits of barefoot running".

You've read it here before, we've posted on runners who still land on their heels despite running in their VFF.

As part of the lawsuit, there was even a research paper cited, where the American Council of Exercise (ACE) found that many people who made the switch to wear VFF's continue to land on their heels. The researchers found that runners wearing the VFF had twice the loading rate compared to runners using "normal shoes" if they landed on their heels.

You would already know that 2 times loading rate is still fairly low, especially so if you have come to the running workshop. This is actually considerably less than another study done by prominent barefoot running researcher Daniel Lieberman who found that barefoot runners who landed on their heels had impact forces 7 times higher than if you land on your heels in shoes.

As discussed in the workshop, barefoot running is a skill that needs to be mastered. The ACE study had their runners do a 2 week "familiarization" period in the VFF, where they ran 20 minutes a day to get used to it. However, 50 % of runners still landed on their heels after the 2 week familiarization period, while in Lieberman's study, 83% of his runners were still heel striking.

Hence, it doesn't matter what you shoes you wear, it's how good your running technique is and how you land that really matters. That means if you master the technique, you can run in literally any shoes you want.

It is then important for me to add that if you as a coach/ physiotherapist/ personal trainer etc are asking your athletes/ patients/ clients etc to run barefoot, you need to teach them the right way to do it and you need to make sure you will make them good enough to avoid them getting hurt. If not, you've caused them to be injured despite your good intentions.

Please contact us if you want to learn how to run pain free.

References

Lieberman DE, Venkadesan M et al. (2010). Foot Strike Patterns & Collision Forces in Habitually Barefoot Versus Shod Runners. Nature. Jan 463(7280): 531-535.

Read the ACE article (and the link to the paper) here.

*Picture from Flickr.com