05/02/2023
Do Minimalist Running Shoes Prevent or Cause Injuries?
From 2010 to 2015, many runners, influenced by the book "Born to Run" and its bias against more cushioned-midsole running shoes, began to want to run "more naturally" and started flocking to running shoe stores to buy "minimalist running shoes" which had low "heel-drop" (i.e. little difference between rearfoot and forefoot sole thickness) and thin-soles which had little cushioning. This is at the same time that many runners, again influenced by the agenda of Chris McDougall and "Born to Run", began to run in the most popular "minimalist running shoe" of that era, the Vibram FiveFinger (VFF) shoe.
The VFF shoe was certainly unusual with its five-toe design and became popular with many runners. However, once it started flying off the shelves at running shoe specialty stores, the problems began to be reported in runners who started to train in these five-toed shoes. The first injury that I saw in one of my runner-patients in my sports podiatry practice was a 2nd metatarsal stress fracture which occurred in about 2010, soon after the runner had switched over to running in the VFF shoes.
However, it took a few years for the medical literature to start reporting injuries due to running in minimalist shoes. In 2011, Giuliani et al reported on two runners that developed metatarsal stress injuries from running in Vibram FiveFingers shoes (Giuliani J, Masini B, Alitz C, Owens BO: Barefoot-simulating footwear associated with metatarsal stress injury in 2 runners. Orthopedics, 34(7):e320-e323, 2011).
Then in 2012, Salzler et al published a paper where ten runners had transitioned to minimalist shoes with the result that they developed eight metatarsal stress fractures, one calcaneal stress fracture and one plantar fascial rupture (Salzler MJ, Bluman EM, MD, Noonan S, Chiodo CP, DeAsla RJ: Injuries observed in minimalist runners. Foot Ankle Intl, 33(4):262-266, 2012).
Understand that this was also at the time where many of the Barefoot Running and Minimalist Running Shoe zealots were claiming that minimalist running shoes actually produced fewer injuries than running in thicker-soled, more-cushioned running shoes. Later research, which will be covered in future posts, helped nail the coffin shut on the Barefoot Running and Minimalist Running Shoe Fads.
