Barefoot Runner

I've finally managed to get my hands on The Lieberman "letter": Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners reported in January's edition of Nature and I've read through it, the accompanying Harvard site and a lot of the reviews other people have made, and here are my observations.

First and foremost, I believe this paper has been over-hyped and misinterpreted (possibly deliberately as it makes "good news") in a big way. I think the main reason for this is it's the first major research paper in years that actually involves comparisons between barefoot and shod runners. There have been other recent studies that have documented the merits of different foot strikes (fore/mid/heel), but none have made the comparison between barefoot and shod runners. There's also the added attention barefoot running is currently enjoying thanks to Christopher McDougall's book: Born to Run (my review).

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Just a quick note to say, no, I've not been sleeping under a rock (sleep, what's that?). Yes, I've heard about the Lieberman Paper and seen/heard the BBC news article and all the other summaries and opinions cropping up all over the net since it was released earlier this week, I've just not had the chance to actually sit down and read it, or more specifically the Harvard site setup for it, yet.

The thing is my wife and I have just had our first baby and sadly she's got a heart condition, so I've spent most of my free time (when I'm not cramming in 6 hours of solid work in the morning) travelling to and from Oxford (I live 35 miles away in Reading) every day to see my little one.

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to read it in the next few days and post my own opinions on it. From the little bit I've read in various locations, my initial thoughts are: "It's about bloody time some one published a modern paper detailing one/some of the benefits of barefoot running" and "I told you so", but this is only based on second hand information.

Time for a beer, dinner, relaxation, and maybe some reading of this study on my iPod Touch instead of TV tonight, though I do now have a two rather interesting books to read too: Brain Training For Runners (I love subjects involving using the brain to better our lives - think Tony Buzan) and Why We Run. Naturally, both will get a review here once I'm done with them.

Same runner, same day, with no instruction given in between videos.

Whilst this lady's barefoot form isn't brilliant in the first place (better example of good barefoot form), it's very clear what a difference wearing shoes makes and it certainly helps to explain (not the same cause though as I definitely strike forefoot in shoes too) the niggles I encountered following wearing shoes for one run.

A good article on the correlation of running injuries and the super-dooper high tech shoes on the market.

Athletic Footwear and Running Injuries

Everything you and I always believed about running shoes and running injuries may be wrong! Here's the scoop: The modern running shoe itself may be the major cause of running injuries! Stated another way, the modern running shoe, presently thought of a protective device, should be reclassified as a "health hazard".

It's a couple of years old, but still some useful and valid information here.