If you’re a runner no doubt of late you’ve heard the debate being fought out about the need to wear running shoes or not.

On one side there’s an emerging body of knowledge suggesting that the bare foot is the best shock absorber available and that running shoes are the bane of all evil by detracting from the foot’s inherent ability to function properly by “propping it up”. Whilst on the other side of the equation there are running shoe manufacturers – some of whom have attempted to mimic and improve barefoot running by re-engineering shoes to do just that (e.g. Newton designed shoes, the NIKE Free, etc.) – who have vested interests and a lot of research to support their running shoe technology.

The truth probably sits somewhere in the middle.

A research group from Harvard University headed up by Professor Daniel Lieberman found that those running in shoes tended to heel strike more than barefoot runners who land mid to forefoot. Lieberman and his team raised the hypothesis that heel strike creates a sudden and large ground force reaction (impact) through the ankles, knees, hips and other joints whereas mid to forefoot landing where the impact is cushioned by the “give” in the foot and calf lessens these forces considerably. Detractors on the other hand point to the increased incidence of calf and Achilles problems directly attributable to running in this manner.

If we look at things from an evolutionary perspective running shoes are a relatively new innovation emerging in the 1970’s. In fact people have been running (pretty successfully) for thousands of years without purpose built running shoes. Many Kenyan and other African tribes still run barefoot to this day.

So what to do?

Ditch the running shoes and start running in bare feet or shoes designed to mimic barefoot running?

Chances are if you do, and try to maintain your current running volume, you’ll end up injured.

Barefoot running forces you to use the muscles of the lower leg (and feet) in a significantly different manner to running in shoes. Consequently there is a significant transition period from one form of running to the other. Then of course there are the issues to be faced by runners in urban, built up areas. Whilst African bushmen may be running over soft natural terrains where the only prerequisite to run on such surfaces are a few calluses on the soles of the feet, those of us running in cities are forced to deal with hard concrete and asphalt surfaces that are often littered with glass and other dangerous debris.

The debate is still young (and passionate) and there are sound arguments on both sides, so a sensible starting point would perhaps be to start doing some of your warm up running, drills and gentler running sessions on softer surfaces (e.g. The local grass oval in bare feet) - once you’ve checked for debris – to slowly strengthen the small intrinsic muscles of your feet and adapt your calves and Achilles tendon to the new loading forces of barefoot running.

One thing is for sure, those in the running fraternity are bound to hear a whole lot more about this topic in the future.