Barefoot running in the British press

There have been some interesting stories about barefoot running in the British newspapers during the last week.

Ben Fogle, writing in the The Daily Telegraph, explains that despite the recent popularity of the book, ‘Born to Run’, the big running shoe manufacturers remain unconvinced. The article goes on to say that the industry warns that ‘the fad is a campaign by a fringe sector of the running community.’
Of course many of us who have tried running barefoot would disagree.

Ben Fogle goes on to describe how the former English professional lightweight boxer Jackson Williams, plans to be the first person to run across Australia barefoot. Jackson hopes to complete the journey in just 78 days — that’s 32 miles a day! Read the full article here.

A separate article in the Guardian newspaper briefly summarises recent research on the effect of running shoes on the runners that wear them. Or, more specifically, the joints in their legs.
The research revealed some quite alarming increases in joint torque stresses whilst wearing running shoes compared to running barefoot. Indeed, the report concluded that these increases were even greater than those experienced by subjects wearing high heeled shoes whilst walking. You can read the full research paper: The Effect of Running Shoes on Lower Extremity Joint Torques, here.