Critical Mass

It is happening: Critical Mass.  Many people in the so called "Barefoot Running Community" have been running barefoot for years.  Barefoot runners often experience less pain and dramatic improvement in nagging running injuries when they begin to run barefoot.  With the publication of Christopher McDougal's best seller Born to Run in the spring of 2009, there has been a rash of recent converts.  More recently, two significant studies have found legs in major news media.  These studies have further pushed the concept of running barefoot out to the general public. The first study, published in PM&R: The journal of injury, function and rehabilitation in December 2009, showed "increased joint torques at the hip, knee and ankle with running shoes compared with running barefoot."  The second, a Harvard study published in the end of January 2010, found impact forces to be much less dramatic in barefoot runners than those who wore running shoes.

There are increasing numbers of runners beginning to question the use of over supportive, over cushioned shoes. At the same time, scientific evidence is mounting that supports the view that the use of highly protective running shoes may increase a runner's propensity towards suffering running injuries.  The scientific evidence has prompted some running shoe companies, most notably Brooks and Road Runner Sports, to make statements warning of the dangers of running barefoot.

This web site will make a biased attempt to counter such irrational fears, and hopefully influence the big running shoe companies to develop thinner, lighter, flatter, more flexible "minimal" running shoes.  It will also be a catch-all repository, pointing to web sites and articles that support our title, Running Barefoot Is Good.