Abstract
Purpose
Minimalist running shoes are designed to induce a foot strike made more with the forepart of the foot. The main changes made on minimalist shoe consist in decreasing the height difference between fore and rear parts of the sole (drop). Barefoot and shod running have been widely compared on overground or treadmill these last years, but the key characteristic effects of minimalist shoes have been yet little studied. The purpose of this study is to find whether the shoe drop has the same effect regardless of the task: overground or treadmill running.
Methods
Twelve healthy male subjects ran with three shoes of different drops (0, 4, 8 mm) and barefoot on a treadmill and overground. Vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) (transient peak and loading rate) and lower limb kinematics (foot, ankle and knee joint flexion angles) were observed.
Results
Opposite footwear effects on loading rate between the tasks were observed. Barefoot running induced higher loading rates during overground running than the highest drop condition, while it was the opposite during treadmill running. Ankle plantar flexion and knee flexion angles at touchdown were higher during treadmill than overground running for all conditions, except for barefoot which did not show any difference between the tasks.
Conclusions
Shoe drop appears to be a key parameter influencing running pattern, but its effects on vGRF differ depending on the task (treadmill vs. overground running) and must be considered with caution. Unlike shod conditions, kinematics of barefoot condition was not altered by treadmill running explaining opposite conclusions between the tasks.
Abbreviations
- BF:
-
Barefoot condition
- BW:
-
Body weight
- D0:
-
0 mm shoe drop condition
- D4:
-
4 mm shoe drop condition
- D8:
-
8 mm shoe drop condition
- EU:
-
European Union
- EVA:
-
Ethylene-vinyl acetate
- GRF:
-
Ground reaction force
- vGRF:
-
Vertical ground reaction force
References
Altman AR, Davis IS (2012) A kinematic method for footstrike pattern detection in barefoot and shod runners. Gait Posture 35(2):298–300
Anderson FC, Pandy MG (1999) A dynamic optimization solution for vertical jumping in three dimensions. Comput Methods Biomech Biomed Engin 2(3):201–231
Bishop M, Fiolkowski P, Conrad B, Brunt D, Horodyski MB (2006) Athletic footwear, leg stiffness, and running kinematics. J Athl Train 41(4):387–392
Cavanagh PR, Lafortune MA (1980) Ground reaction forces in distance running. J Biomech 13(5):397–406
Chambon N, Delattre N, Guéguen N, Berton E, Rao G (2014) Is midsole thickness a key parameter for the running pattern? Gait Posture 40(1):58–63
Cheung RT, Rainbow MJ (2014) Landing pattern and vertical loading rates during first attempt of barefoot running in habitual shod runners. Hum Mov Sci 34(120):127
Daoud AI, Geissler GJ, Wang F, Saretsky J, Daoud YA, Lieberman DE (2012) Foot strike and injury rates in endurance runners: a retrospective study. Med Sci Sports Exerc 44(7):1325–1334
De Wit B, De Clercq D, Aerts P (2000) Biomechanical analysis of the stance phase during barefoot and shod running. J Biomech 33(269):278
Delattre N, Chambon N, Berton E, Gueguen N, Rao G (2013) Effect of time during a running session with minimal footwear. Footwear Sci 5(Suppl 1):S113–S114
Delp SL, Anderson FC, Arnold AS, Loan P, Habib A, Guendelman E, Thelen DG (2007) OpenSim: open-source software to create and analyze dynamic simulations of movement. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 54(11):1940–1950
Dingwell JB, Cusumano JP, Cavanagh PR, Sternad D (2001) Local dynamic stability versus kinematic variability of continuous overground and treadmill walking. J Biomech Eng 123(1):27–32
Divert C, Mornieux G, Baur F, Mayer F, Belli A (2005) Mechanical comparison of barefoot and shod running. Int J Sports Med 26(7):593–598
Divert C, Mornieux G, Freychat P, Baly L, Mayer F, Belli A (2008) Barefoot-shod running differences: shoe or mass effect? Int J Sports Med 29(6):512–518
Duquette AM, Andrews DM (2010) Comparing methods of quantifying tibial acceleration slope. J Appl Biomech 26(2):229–233
Fellin RE, Manal K, Davis IS (2010) Comparison of lower extremity kinematic curves during overground and treadmill running. J Appl Biomech 26(4):407–414
Fukano M, Nagano Y, Ida H, Fukubayashi T (2009) Change in tibial rotation of barefoot versus shod running. Footwear Sci 1(1):19–23
Gerritsen KG, van den Bogert AJ, Nigg BM (1995) Direct dynamics simulation of the impact phase in heel-toe running. J Biomech 28(6):661–668
Hamill J, Russel EM, Gruber AH, Miller R (2011) Impact characteristics in shod and barefoot running. Footwear Sci 3(1):33–40
Hamner SR, Seth A, Delp SL (2010) Muscle contributions to propulsion and support during running. J Biomech 43(14):2709–2716
Hollander K, Riebe D, Campe S, Braumann KM, Zech A (2014) Effects of footwear on treadmill running biomechanics in preadolescent children. Gait Posture 40(3):381–385
Horvais N, Samozino P (2013) Effect of midsole geometry on foot-stike pattern and running kinematics. Footwear Sci 5(2):81–89
Hreljac A, Marshall RN, Hume PA (2000) Evaluation of lower extremity overuse injury potential in runners. Med Sci Sports Exerc 32(9):1635–1641
Kadaba MP, Ramakrishnan HK, Wootten ME (1990) Measurement of lower extremity kinematics during level walking. J Orthop Res 8(3):383–392
Lieberman DE, Venkadesan M, Werbel WA, Daoud AI, D’Andrea S, Davis IS, Ojiambo Mang’Eni R, Pitsiladis Y (2010) Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners. Nature 463(7280):531–535
Lussiana T, Hébert-Losier H, Mourot L (2014) Effect of minimal shoes and slope on vertical and leg stiffness during running. J Sport Health Sci. doi:10.1016/j.jshs.2013.09.004
Milner CE, Ferber R, Pollard CD, Hamill J, Davis IS (2006) Biomechanical factors associated with tibial stress fracture in female runners. Med Sci Sports Exerc 38(2):323–328
Nigg BM, De Boer RW, Fisher V (1995) A kinematic comparison of overground and treadmill running. Med Sci Sports Exerc 27(1):98–105
Paquette MR, Zhang S, Baumgartner DL (2013) Acute effects of barefoot, minimal shoes and running shoes on lower limb mechanics in rear and forefoot strike runners. Footwear Sci 5(1):9–18
Pohl MB, Hamill J, Davis IS (2009) Biomechanical and anatomic factors associated with a history of plantar fasciitis in female runners. Clin J Sport Med 19(5):372–376
Shih Y, Lin KL, Shiang TY (2013) Is the foot striking pattern more important than barefoot or shod conditions in running? Gait Posture 38(3):490–494
Squadrone R, Galozzi C (2009) Biomechanical and physiological comparison of barefoot and two shod conditions in experienced barefoot runners. J Sports Med Phys Fit 49(1):6–13
Squadrone R, Galozzi C (2011) Effect of a five-toed minimal protection shoe on static and dynamic ankle position sense. J Sports Med Phys Fit 51(3):401–408
TenBroek TM, Rodrigues P, Frederick EC, Hamill J (2013) Effects of unknown footwear midsole thickness on running kinematics within the initial six minutes of running. Footwear Sci 5(1):27–37
Willy RW, Davis IS (2014) Kinematic and kinetic comparison of running in standard and minimalist shoes. Med Sci Sports Exerc 46(2):318–323
Conflict of interest
All authors disclose that there is no conflict of interest regarding this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by Jean-René Lacour.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chambon, N., Delattre, N., Guéguen, N. et al. Shoe drop has opposite influence on running pattern when running overground or on a treadmill. Eur J Appl Physiol 115, 911–918 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-014-3072-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-014-3072-x