Evolution is a wonderful thing. But then along comes Cultural Evolution. We learn to change our environment rather than evolve to suit it.
Occasionally it works. Thick clothes keep us warm so we can survive cold climates. Hats keep the skin cancer at bay so we can survive hot climates. We dont need to evolve because we can adapt (similar terms – whole different time scale).
So when people started putting a heel in a shoe surely that would help us run? No. Surely it would stop us getting injured? No again. So why did they do it?
The human foot (with a lot of help from Natural Selection) has evolved two arches – bone supported by ligament:
- A transverse arch runs from one side of the foot to the other.
- A longitudonal arch runs the length of the foot.
It is this longitudonal arch that plays such a wonderfully effective roll as a shock absorber. In fact, this analogy is apt, because just like a shock absorber, the longitudonal arch of the foot has two roles:
- It absorbs shock to reduce impact when the foot contacts the ground (also called ground reaction force or GRF).
- It stores this energy to then increase the body’s ability to generate power – like hitting your teacher with a rubber band from across the classroom.
So the foot is beautifully evolved to do what it is that it does. Stop injury and increase performance. The naked human foot is really really good at… well… being a foot!
You can very quickly experiment withe the evolved function of the foot. Remove your shoes and run on a hard surface.
What you will have noticed is that you land on the ball of your foot. If you landed on your heel, you now have a sore heel, compressed joints and rattled eyeballs. In effect – heel running is like removing your cars shock absorbers. The car won’t last as long, and it won’t perform as well.
Natural, intuitive running on the ball of your foot allows the longitudonal arch to play is dual role in injury prevention and performance enhancement.
The modern running shoe was designed for people who ran on their heels (a very small number of ‘non-intuitive movers’). The modern running shoe has been designed to prevent injury and increase performance. The difference is, millions of years of Natural Selection (a process of evolution) has done a much better job of this than humans have in the 100 years or since since Spalding gave birth to the modern running shoe in 1907.
So what does the shoe do wrong? Basically, it makes it ok to run incorrectly. While this may be fine in the short term – the long term is a whole different matter.
- “They concluded that running shoes exerted more stress on these joints compared to running barefoot…” (The Effect of Running Shoes on Lower Joint Extremity Torques).
- “Scientists have found that those who run barefoot, or in minimal footwear, tend to avoid “heel-striking,” and instead land on the ball of the foot or the middle of the foot. In so doing, these runners use the architecture of the foot and leg and some clever Newtonian physics to avoid hurtful and potentially damaging impacts…” (Harvard University (2010, February 1). Barefoot running: How humans ran comfortably and safely before the invention of shoes.).
- “Clogs and stability shoes, conventionally believed to provide appropriate cushioning and support, actually increased the loading on the knee joints, as opposed to shoes with less ‘support,’ flatter heels and more flexibility” (Rush University Medical Center (2010, March 25). Shoes: A treatment for osteoarthritis in the knees?. ScienceDaily.).
So if you must wear shoes go for something minimal and gradually retrain your feet.
