Barefoot and minimalist running: The current understanding of the evidence

Abstract

Barefoot running and minimalist running have gained considerable popularity in the last years in the running community. This popularity has been achieved by bookseller Born to Run, some specific scientific publications, main stream media coverage and websites devoted to the benefits of barefoot running. However, in the last years, much more evidence has been produced in this topic. This article summarizes the current evidence available on barefoot versus shod running at three different aspects of running: economy running, biomechanical differences and injury rates between both trends. The available current evidence about barefoot or minimalist running versus shod running suggests that there are no systematic benefits of one over the other in any of three different aspects reviewed. Clearly, it seems that the theoretical benefits attributed to barefoot and minimalist running are not supported by the current evidence available.