The latest trend in the running world is to run without shoes. New designs for minimal footwear are coming out from all the major athletic shoe brands along with a plethora of opinions in the media and blogosphere about the benefits or problems with them.
From all the reading I've done on the subject, it seems like the current athletic shoe design and our current way of life shapes the way we have been running lately. The cushioning of the shoe seems to have lull the runner into a false sense of comfort, allowing for a heavier heel strike while running. While running barefoot, the whole foot is used to cushion the impact of the stride, not just the heel. This really how the foot is "designed" to function. In the long run, it seems that running with minimal footwear would minimize the opportunity for injury. There is also a need to learn how to run barefeet. This sounds a little counter intuitive but since we spend most of our lives in shoes (leather coffins as Tom Meyers likes to call them) and we certainly have invested quite some time running with athletic shoes on, it is important to re-learn the proper techniques to absorb the stride with the whole foot. Otherwise, injuries will occur running barefoot or with shoes.
For more information, the Skeletal Biology Lab at Harvard University as devoted a great web site on the topic. Another interesting resource is the web site Running Barefoot which has some good tips and resources.
Keep moving!
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