16/03/2023
Fact from fiction - minimalist shoes 👟
Pros 👍 -
Increase Strength 💪 - Strength of the intrinsic foot muscles seems to increase by 57% and therefore can help reduce the risk of foot injuries, but not prevent them! However, minimalist shoes don’t seem to increase foot width 🤔 PMID - 30113521.
Improve Balance 🤸♂️ - Minimalist shoes have been shown to increase balance which in elderly population could reduce the incidence of falls especially in the senior population 🙌PMID: 27195735.
Improve Proprioception 🧠 - This is the body’s understanding of where a joint is, in space, this is linked but not the same as balance PMID: 25364479.
Increase Muscle Size 🦵 - Strength is ability to move weight however muscle size is associated with muscle hypertrophy. This could help reduce injury risk because minimalist shoes may also increase tendon rigidity PMID: 25364479.
Cons 👎 -
Fix ‘Posture’ 🤣 - The idea that there is a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ posture is a fallacy, I have other posts on this with a host of research attached to it, so check those out!
Cure Bunions 🦶 - Bunions are mostly associated with genetics and high heels. So a lot of the minimalist shoe community say wide toe box shoes will fix this but remember so can wider toe box trainers! There is some modelling evidence that indicates barefoot shoes may reduce risk of bunions! PMID: 35651545
Increase Performance 🏃 - There is no evidence that I’ve found that indicates that performance increases with minimalist shoes.
Improve Running Economy 👟 - Running economy is the efficiency of running and the evidence suggests this is not improved by barefoot running PMID: 21622635 & 25364479
As always facts in science are context driven by each individual and just because research does not currently exist or support something does not mean this won’t change. However, some claims made in the barefoot community do not align with current evidence in accordance to pain science and contemporary research.
