My new favorite book is Born To Run by Christopher McDougall.  There were quite a few bombshells about running and how our bodies work but the biggest one was this nugget from page 173,

When E. C. Fredrick, then the director of Nike Sports Research Lab, arrived at the 1986 meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics, he was packing a bombshell.  ”When subjects were tested with soft versus hard shoes,” he said, “no difference in impact force was found.”  No difference!  ” And curiously,” he added, ” the second, propulsive peak in the vertical ground reaction force was actually higher with soft shoes.”

The puzzling conclusion: the more cushioned the shoe, the less protection it provides.

The book is about the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico who are renowned for their ability to run well beyond the distance of a marathon which they do for fun.  They run 50-75 miles all in sandals of some type while their older runners are often their strongest.

Researchers at the University of Oregon’s Biomechanics/Sports Medicine Laboratory were verifying the same finding. As running shoes got worn down and their cushioning hardened, the Oregon researchers revealed in a 1988 study for the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, runners’ feet stabilized and became less wobbly.

The book goes into explanation and examples how our bodies react better to the hard surface.  As tempting as it is to write the whole chapter in her, it would be a crazy long post.  But throughout the book he makes the point that people running without super cushioned shoes are fairing better including the writer who recovered from his numerous injuries by changing his running style and equipment.

An interesting note that he didn’t connect is the idea that Wilt Chamberlain, who had the highest average minutes per game, fewest games played to reach 15,000, 20,000, 25,000 and 30,000 points, and second all time leader in points, was still able to run a 50 mile ultramarathon at age 60.

Basketball players now only use their shoes once a night and sometimes change at half time. How did we go from shoes that lasted players a whole year to advanced shoes only lasting for one game? If shoe cushioning had such an important role in saving our legs and knees, how did his thin canvas shoes not destroy his knees with all of that pounding?

I remember talking to an Adidas college rep who said it was amazing the amount of force college basketball players put on their shoes.  He told me, and I couldn’t quite understand how, that these guys were essentially destroying the shoes in one game which goes along with the theory that more cushion equals more force.

If you run, want to run, or just like a good story, you should pick up the book.  There is a great story about how we are actually designed to chase down gazelles…and there is proof.

So this is Dumbelievable because Nike has known for a long time that cushioning doesn’t help and even hinders or injures. They have finally seen that others have realized this and they market a basic shoe that I won’t name because they don’t deserve the publicity.  But check out the Vibram Five Fingers, they are the ones to first create this type of shoe as far as I know.  While cool, I bought some cheaper Body Glove shoes that are similar.  I’ll give those a try and see what happens.

This story is also Dumbelievable because it is extremely counter intuitive. Cushioning makes us hit the ground harder?  We can chase an animal until it falls over?  Amazing.

UPDATE: Another barefoot study.  This one from Harvard.