SoylentNews

When running, bare feet act like springs, absorbing the shock of striking the road, which they then use as energy to push off into the next stride. Shoe-doubters have claimed that overly bouncy running shoes interfere with that process, encouraging foot muscles to relax and eventually weaken.

[...] The running shoes did, in fact, interfere with the foot’s ability to act like a spring, decreasing how much the foot’s arch was able to compress when it hit the ground—whereas bare feet would have flattened out like a pancake, shod arches only got 75% of the way there. But in response, the foot didn’t relax, as many had suspected. Running shoes actually made those muscles work harder to keep the arch stable