SPAIN – Spanish researchers from the universities of Granada and Jaen conducted a study showing that running barefoot helps optimize the technique and reduces the risk of injury in runners.

The study proves that “barefoot running” significantly reduces the chances that the athlete suffers injury, as long as it is done in the right way because it produces significant changes in support technique employed by the foot in contact with the floor.

In the study, published in the Journal of Sport and Health Science, they involved 39 volunteer runners, who developed a progressive program with specific exercises, conducted on natural grass, with which they have achieved excellent results.

The University of Granada said that according to the conclusions, running barefoot seems more efficient and would initiate contact with the ground foot in the metatarsal area (front support) career technical biomechanical pattern.

He noted that the use of the usual modern protective footwear seems to encourage the opposite technique: initiate contact with the ground with the back foot (calcaneal area, delayed support), which generates significant peaks of impact that adversely affect health and runner athletic performance.

He said that there is great interest in this tendency to run barefoot, supported by a growing number of brokers, as well as many researchers are delving into the advantages and disadvantages of this form of locomotion.

He said that currently, is a non-majority practice, but increasing.

He explained that the footwear used by humans over the past millennia can be classified as clearly minimalist; whose key element was the implementation of protective soles.

He added that there have been advances that have radically changed the design of functional elements in the athletic footwear during the last three decades: cushioned midsoles, motion control technologies and technologies to optimize damping capacity.

However, he said that the benefits of these recent technological advances in the athletic footwear are discussed in scientific forums.

According to the study, the benefits of barefoot running are achievable as long as they get to acquire some technical habits.

Otherwise, the barefoot race could involve the appearance of other risk factors. Therefore caution should be exercised when started in this practice.

In this work he involved the multidisciplinary research team at the University of Granada called Human Lab, located at the University Joint Institute Sport and Health (IMUDS), which features the most advanced technologies to address comprehensively analyzing health indicators and efficiency of the runners.