Well-trained Endurance Runners' Foot Contact Patterns: Barefoot vs. Shod Condition

We aimed to investigate the initial foot contact and contact time in experienced endurance runners at individualized speeds, in running shoes and barefoot. Forty-eight participants (33.71 +/- 7.49 y, 70.94 +/- 8.65 kg, 175.07 +/- 7.03 cm, maximum aerobic speed 18.41 +/- 1.54 km center dot h(-1)) were distributed into three groups according to athletic performance: highly-trained runners, middle-trained runners, and control group. An incremental running test until exhaustion was performed for assessing maximum aerobic speed. After >= 24 h of recovery participants randomly walked and ran, barefoot and in running shoes, over a pressure plate at similar to 4.7 km center dot h(-1) and 85 % of the maximum aerobic speed, respectively. They wore the same model of running shoes with homogeneous lacing pattern. A rearfoot strike was performed by 68.8 % and 77.1 % of participants when running barefoot and in running shoes, respectively. Considering the tendency to develop a rearfoot strike was lower in the barefoot condition, runners with higher performance may benefit from training in minimalist running shoes because their foot contact pattern could tend towards a non-rearfoot strike. Our results suggest that initial foot contact and contact time are related to running performance and may also be influenced by running shoes.

Automated summary

The study aimed to investigate the initial foot contact and contact time in experienced endurance runners at individualized speeds, in running shoes and barefoot. The results suggest that runners with higher performance may benefit from training in minimalist running shoes because their foot contact pattern could tend towards a non-rearfoot strike.