Fitness & Exercise
This article is from the WebMD Feature Archive
Barefoot Running FAQ: Should You Shed Your Shoes?
Running is often touted as the perfect exercise, partly because it's so simple: Lace up your shoes and go. Now, a small but vocal contingent of runners says it can be even simpler and perhaps healthier -- just shed the shoes and run barefoot for an even better workout.
Barefoot running divisions are cropping up at organized runs across the U.S., and Christopher McDougall's barefoot running book, Born to Run, landed on the New York Times best seller list.
How to Revitalize Your Workout
By Lara McGlashan Gave up on the gym already? Maybe it's your workout. Maybe it's your mind-set. Either way, let us get you started again — with a program you'll never abandon.
Read the How to Revitalize Your Workout article > >
Curious? Here's the lowdown on barefoot running -- and what you should keep in mind if you try it.
Why the sudden interest in barefoot running?
It's not so sudden, advocates say, just in the spotlight more lately.
Barefoot running has been around since antiquity, say proponents such as McDougall. He visited the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico and found that they wear flimsy sandals but manage to run hundreds of miles without being plagued by injuries.
That triggered McDougall's conversion to running barefoot or wearing "minimal" running shoes designed to be somewhat like a glove for the foot. McDougall says he typically logs 50-plus miles a week, running barefoot.
Other long-time runners recall past fads of barefoot running. "I've been running for 51 years and every 10 years barefoot running makes a comeback," says Jeff Galloway, a 1972 Olympian and veteran runner who directs a marathon training program.
What's different about barefoot running?
It's not just about what's on -- or not on -- your feet. It's a matter of how your foot strikes the ground.
Supporters say that barefoot running has the ability to change the way the foot strikes the ground, with the impact not on the heel but farther forward on the foot.
In contrast, "It's really hard not to do a heel strike in conventional running shoes," McDougall tells WebMD.
Shifting the impact forward cuts the collision force, according to a study published in Nature in January 2010.
That study showed that barefoot runners who strike on their forefoot -- in other words, land on the balls of their feet -- generate smaller collision forces than runners who wear running shoes and generally strike on the rear of the foot or heel. The forces on the heel are up to three times the runner's body weight.
When running barefoot, "you are much better at sensing where your body is in relation to the ground. It forces you to be gentle," McDougall says. ''All this is about being more gentle and landing more lightly. It's hard to imagine how being more gentle could be bad."
Is a forefoot foot strike really better?
Experts disagree. "I've always been a proponent of landing on the heels for long-distance running," says Jeffrey A. Ross, DPM, MD, associate clinical professor of medicine and chief of the diabetic foot clinic at Ben Taub Hospital in Houston.
Healthy Living Tools
Ditch Those Inches
Set goals, tally calorie intake, track workouts and more, all via WebMD’s free Food & Fitness Planner.
Get StartedToday in Fitness & Exercise
WebMD Special Sections
Health Solutions From Our Sponsors
©2005-2012 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.
WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information.