What we can learn about running from barefoot running: an evolutionary medical perspective
One article on PainSci cites Lieberman 2012: Does barefoot running prevent injuries?
PainSci notes on Lieberman 2012:
Lieberman summarizes his thoughts about barefoot running in this paper.
“Barefoot running raises more questions about injury than we have answers at the moment … We simply do not yet know if experienced barefoot runners have fewer injuries than habitually shod runners.”
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
Barefoot running, which was how people ran for millions of years, provides an opportunity to study how natural selection adapted the human body to run. Because humans evolved to run barefoot, a barefoot running style that minimizes impact peaks and provides increased proprioception and foot strength, is hypothesized to help avoid injury, regardless of whether one is wearing shoes.
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Specifically regarding Lieberman 2012:
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Cannabidiol (CBD) products for pain: ineffective, expensive, and with potential harms. Moore 2023 J Pain.
- Inciting events associated with lumbar disc herniation. Suri 2010 Spine J.
- Prediction of an extruded fragment in lumbar disc patients from clinical presentations. Pople 1994 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
- Characteristics of patients with low back and leg pain seeking treatment in primary care: baseline results from the ATLAS cohort study. Konstantinou 2015 BMC Musculoskelet Disord.
- Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of universal school-based mindfulness training compared with normal school provision in reducing risk of mental health problems and promoting well-being in adolescence: the MYRIAD cluster randomised controlled trial. Kuyken 2022 Evid Based Ment Health.