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The Science of Running Shoes

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* A study comparing the minimal Vibram FiveFingers with Hoka Minimax shoes suggests there may be more Achilles tendon stress in minimal shoes<ref name="SinclairRichards2015"/>. However, the group size was small (n=12), and there's no indication that the runners had experience with either type of footwear.
=Running Shoes & Injury Rates =
Several studies have found there is no evidence to support the idea that running shoes can reduce injury rates<ref name="RichardsMagin2009"/><ref name="van Gent-2007"/><ref name="van Mechelen-1992"/>. One 2015 study did show a reduced injury rate with motion control shoes.
* A study of 247 runners over 5 months showed no difference in injury rates between firm and softly cushioned shoes<ref name="TheisenMalisoux2013"/>.
* Three studies compared evaluated the idea that shoe type should be determined by arch height<ref name="KnapikTrone2014"/>. Runners were put into two groups, with one group assigned shoes based on the shape of the arch, and the other group just assigned a stability shoe regardless of their arch. These studies found no difference in injury rates. The studies were done by the US Army (2168 men, 951 women), Air Force (1955 men, 718 women), and Marine Corps (840 men, 571 women).
** The neutral runners had higher levels of pain in the neutral shoe than the stability shoe. The pronating runners had higher levels of pain in the stability shoe than the neutral shoe. This is the opposite of most recommendations for shoe and foot type.
** Note that while the overall sample size was reasonable (81), each individual subgroup was quite small (5 to 18 runners) and variation within subgroup of results was large. The subgroups also varied significantly in weight, BMI, age, and years of running experience.
* A study of 372 recreational runners assigned them randomly either a neutral or motion controlled shoe and found that those in the neutral shoe had a higher injury rate<ref name="MalisouxChambon2016"/>. The study is unusual in that it blinded both the subjects and the testers to the type of shoe used. The shoe type is not identified in the study, other than to say they were commercially available and modified so the runner would not know the brand or type. Both types of shoe were a 10 mm drop, and the motion control shoes had a [[Medial Post]] made of both firmer foam and a plastic insert. The study found that those in the neutral shoe had nearly twice the injury rate of those in the motion control shoes. When the subjects were divided by their [[Pronation]], the study found that the injury rates were only different in those runners with Pronation (~25% of both groups). The study also noted that the greatest predictor of injury is a history of prior injuries, and both groups had ~75% of previously injured runners.
* An intriguing study suggests of 264 runners preparing for a marathon found that runners who swapped between multiple shoes had lower injury rates than those who only used a single pair at a time<ref name="MalisouxRamesh2015"/>. However, the data is self-reported and there were other differences between the groups, such as the multiple shoe runners having run more half-marathons than the single shoe group.
=Shoes and Running Economy=
<ref name="FuFang2015">Weijie Fu, Ying Fang, David Ming Shuo Liu, Lin Wang, Sicong Ren, Yu Liu, Surface effects on in-shoe plantar pressure and tibial impact during running, Journal of Sport and Health Science, volume 4, issue 4, 2015, pages 384–390, ISSN [http://www.worldcat.org/issn/20952546 20952546], doi [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2015.09.001 10.1016/j.jshs.2015.09.001]</ref>
<ref name="Sinclair-2016">J. Sinclair, J. Richards, J. Selfe, J. Fau-Goodwin, H. Shore, The Influence of Minimalist and Maximalist Footwear on Patellofemoral Kinetics During Running., J Appl Biomech, Mar 2016, doi [http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jab.2015-0249 10.1123/jab.2015-0249], PMID [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26959346 26959346]</ref>
<ref name="MalisouxChambon2016">Laurent Malisoux, Nicolas Chambon, Nicolas Delattre, Nils Gueguen, Axel Urhausen, Daniel Theisen, Injury risk in runners using standard or motion control shoes: a randomised controlled trial with participant and assessor blinding, British Journal of Sports Medicine, volume 50, issue 8, 2016, pages 481–487, ISSN [http://www.worldcat.org/issn/0306-3674 0306-3674], doi [http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2015-095031 10.1136/bjsports-2015-095031]</ref>
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[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Injury]]