Shoes. Do they really work? Pt 1
Shoes. These things on our feet seem to be of some controversy as of late.
It seems especially big in the crossfit community, but even beyond that, to be extremely concerned with your shoes, or lack there of. I see tons of crossfitters, and people in general wearing Vibram Five fingers and Nike Frees. Along with the Paleo diet, we’re going back in time to become cavemen living in the 21st century. To be honest, I kind of despise these things. They seem to be a big trend that everyone will forget about in 10+ years; however, I am also intrigued. I often find myself wondering what it would be like to run (especially longer distances) in these “shoes.” If I didn’t like them, at least they would be handy slippers!
Given all of this interest in running, I decided to use my research training/education, as well as my interest in running (because I used to run varsity track/x-country) to further look in to the issue. I understand that evolutionary biologists have made their observations, but I also know that a general rule, especially with athletic technique, cannot be applied to the whole of society (at least in my humble opinion). I’m going to sift through the literature and research the scientific evidence.
The scientific community has shown interest in this issue, at least to my knowledge and recollection, as of a few years ago. One of the first influential peer reviewed journal articles came to surface in 2008. It was titled “Is your prescription of distance running shoes evidence-based?” This article, out of the University of Newcastle, states that prescribing shoes based on a runner’s specific gait is not evidence based and really proves ineffective, and essentially, useless. They took a variety of runners and a variety of motion controlling shoes (including neutral shoes) and asked the subjects a series of questions. After a database throughput, they essentially (and I’m really simplifying here) came to the realization that “ [the] true effects of PCECH running shoes on the health and performance of distance runners remain unknown.” They go on to mention that the community has been prescribing a treatment with an unknown benefit for 20+ years. Something I certainly found interesting. I’m not sure if this contributes for or against, but it certainly should contribute to your running shoe purchases in the future! Instead of having a salesmen tell you what shoe you “should” be wearing, try out a variety of types and get what one feels best for you. Listen to your body, not the salesman/woman. If you feel you can’t make that decision on the spot, got for a moderate run on the treadmill (even if you hate it) and figure out if that shoe works for you. If not, most places will take them back.
Here is the link to the article again… This is just the first part in a little bit more research I plan to do. Even if this were the only one, this is a pretty significant finding. However, I feel I should sift through more papers and find some more good ones!
Hope this gives us something to think about
Source: New England Journal of Sports Medicine
Abstract - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18424485
Full article - http://bjsm.bmj.com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/content/43/3/159.full?sid=1dbd82fc-8d9a-44d4-98ee-ac645ffa5830
