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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
general
Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners
Nature, Volume 463, No. 7280, Year 2010
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Description
Humans have engaged in endurance running for millions of years, but the modern running shoe was not invented until the 1970s. For most of human evolutionary history, runners were either barefoot or wore minimal footwear such as sandals or moccasins with smaller heels and little cushioning relative to modern running shoes. We wondered how runners coped with the impact caused by the foot colliding with the ground before the invention of the modern shoe. Here we show that habitually barefoot endurance runners often land on the fore-foot (fore-foot strike) before bringing down the heel, but they sometimes land with a flat foot (mid-foot strike) or, less often, on the heel (rear-foot strike). In contrast, habitually shod runners mostly rear-foot strike, facilitated by the elevated and cushioned heel of the modern running shoe. Kinematic and kinetic analyses show that even on hard surfaces, barefoot runners who fore-foot strike generate smaller collision forces than shod rear-foot strikers. This difference results primarily from a more plantarflexed foot at landing and more ankle compliance during impact, decreasing the effective mass of the body that collides with the ground. Fore-foot-and mid-foot-strike gaits were probably more common when humans ran barefoot or in minimal shoes, and may protect the feet and lower limbs from some of the impact-related injuries now experienced by a high percentage of runners. © 2010 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
Authors & Co-Authors
Lieberman, Daniel E.
United States, Cambridge
Harvard University
Venkadesan, Madhusudhan
United States, Cambridge
Harvard University
Werbel, William A.
United States, Ann Arbor
University of Michigan Medical School
Daoud, Adam I.
United States, Cambridge
Harvard University
Dandrea, Susan
United States, Providence
Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Davis, Irene S.
United States, Newark
University of Delaware
Mangeni, Robert Ojiambo
Kenya, Eldoret
Moi University
United Kingdom, Glasgow
University of Glasgow
Pitsiladis, Yannis Paul
Kenya, Eldoret
Moi University
United Kingdom, Glasgow
University of Glasgow
Statistics
Citations: 1,293
Authors: 8
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1038/nature08723
ISSN:
00280836
e-ISSN:
14764687
Research Areas
Violence And Injury