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Phoenix666 writes:

Runners who wear running shoes with no cushioning and land on the ball of their foot rather than the heel put significantly less demand on their bodies, new research suggests.

Researchers compared how quickly the force acts when runners' feet hit the ground -- known as the loading rate -- which has been shown to influence running injury risk.

The study of 29 runners found significantly lower loading rates for those who wore so-called minimal running shoes and landed on the ball of their foot, compared to people in normal running shoes, regardless of whether the latter landed on the heel or ball of the foot.

The article may be of academic interest to Soylentils.

[Editors note: I wonder if Vibram will get its money back based off this study? Also, we ran a somewhat related story a few months ago on the detriment of shoes to the foot's natural spring action...]

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