Running is considered as one of the most effective forms of exercise for many athletes who are also health conscious individuals. Usually people run with shoes having stiff soles. However, it may sound strange to you, but nowadays barefoot running is getting its popularity in the community. Well, let us find out the science facts about this running type. Is this beneficial for you or not?
Barefoot running doesn’t mean that you need to be completely barefoot. There are quite some minimal running shoes that can protect your feet from spiky objects on the ground without giving your feet support and cushioning like regular running shoes.
According to the human and evolutionary biologist Prof. Daniel Lieberman, barefoot running is healthier compared to running with shoes. Thus it helps to strengthen the foot as the intrinsic muscles of the foot support the arch work harder. In addition to this, he also implied that typical running shoes are composed of thick soles as well as thick pads that results the foot to do less work. There is also a possibility that it may lead to develop a collapsed and low arch.
On the other hand, a certain published paper entitled Royal Society Interface opposes the finding of Lieberman. Luke Kelly together with his team at the University of Queensland, Australia stated that there is an increase in the use of foot muscles when individuals tend to run with shoes compared to running barefoot. Since foot will interact to the soft landing surface of a particular shoe. Thus it needs more muscles to maintain stability.
Several scientific research studies revealed that barefoot running have lots of benefits to individuals. However, it was still under observation before formulating a final hypothesis about it. To mention a few, the following are some of the benefits of it.
If you choose to try barefoot running be careful. Start out slowly just one or two miles in the beginning. You could also end a run with ten minutes of slow barefoot running on a soft surface.
On the other hand, barefoot running has also some potential disadvantages. This can be best summed up in the following examples.
To sum it up, barefoot running can be beneficial to make your feet healthy. However, it can also have a negative impact when it comes to the protection of your feet. It still depends on the individual if he or she chooses to run barefoot or not. Meanwhile, with careful training, barefoot running can be advantageous both for your feet and endurance.
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