Recent quotes:
Maximal running shoes may increase injury risk to some runners -- ScienceDaily
"We were surprised by these results," said Christine Pollard, director of the FORCE Lab and an associate professor of kinesiology. "We thought we would see the opposite. Typically, increased cushioning results in a reduction in the impact peak and loading rate of the vertical ground reaction force. We suspect that the large amount of cushioning across the entire midsole caused the runners to rely more on the shoe than on their own internal structures to attenuate these forces."Faster = lighter
The model shows that cadence has a direct effect on energy efficiency of running and ground-foot impact intensity. Furthermore, it shows that higher cadence implies lower risk of injury and better energy efficiency.Why We Walk on Our Heels Instead of Our Toes | UANews
As Webber explains: "Humans land on their heel and push off on their toes. You land at one point, and then you push off from another point eight to 10 inches away from where you started. If you connect those points to make a pivot point, it happens underneath the ground, basically, and you end up with a new kind of limb length that you can understand. Mechanically, it's like we have a much longer leg than you would expect."'Minimal' shoes may reduce running injuries | EurekAlert! Science News
"Our research tells us that becoming accustomed to running with a forefoot strike in shoes that lack cushioning promotes a landing with the lowest loading rates, and this may be beneficial in reducing the risk of injury"Virtual reality study finds our perception of our body and environment affects how we feel: Interaction of bodily, spatial cues serves to regulate emotions, exploratory behavior -- ScienceDaily
As one might expect, a bouncy gait intensified people's experience of the environment as negative and frightening when they were walking high off the ground. But surprisingly, at ground level a bouncy gait gave people more positive emotions about the environment. This meant high up, a bouncy gait made people explore the environment more below the horizon, whereas on the ground it increased their exploration above the horizon.Why We Get Running Injuries (and How to Prevent Them) - The New York Times
The never-injured runners, as a group, landed far more lightly than those who had been seriously hurt, the scientists found, even when the researchers controlled for running mileage, body weight and other variables.Choosing the Right Running Shoes
But if shoes are chosen for the right reason, they can reduce injuries[…]What matters, the researchers conclude in their review, is comfort. In one study from 2001 (overseen by Dr. Nigg), researchers asked soldiers to try six shoe inserts, which varied in terms of cushioning, arch height, heel shape, thickness and other variables. The soldiers were asked to pick the one insert that felt the most comfortable to them and wear that insert inside their shoes during their subsequent military training. A separate group of soldiers wore standard footwear as controls. After four months, the soldiers wearing the shoes fitted with inserts that felt comfortable to them had a much lower incidence of injury than those wearing standard shoes.
The lighter the lower your limbs, the better pace you can go for a given amount of oxygen. Some of the cool studies that have confirmed this is they take runners and put 8 lbs on their waist and it increases how much oxygen they have to use a little bit when they run at a certain pace. But if they take that same 8 lbs and put it around each ankle, so it’s 4 lbs each ankle, it’s a 20% difference in the amount of energy they have to use to go the same pace. Weight at the end of your limb makes it hard to swing your legs, which makes your running economy much worse.