Kinematic Adaptations during Prolonged Running in Minimal Footwear

INTRODUCTION High vertical loading rates (VLR) of the ground reaction forces have been linked to increased risk of stress fractures when running [1]. Previous footwear research has shown that there are clear kinematic differences between shod, minimal and barefoot running conditions [2]. Moreover, it has been shown that these kinematic changes are coupled with altered loading rate patterns [2,3]. Runners who are transitioning away from traditional footwear may be unaware or misinformed of the biomechanical changes that are induced by minimalistic footwear. Gait retraining through biofeedback has been successful in reducing loading rates over an 8-week training protocol [4] but consumer availability to biofeedback when running is limited. To the authors’ knowledge, there are have been no published studies reporting lower limb adaptations over a prolonged period of time (10 min) in minimal footwear, rather discrete running trials are typically used to characterize footwear differences. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to measure kinematic adaptations in the right lower limb while treadmill running in minimal footwear for a prolonged trial. Prior to conducting the study, it was hypothesized that a transition period would exist when running in minimal shoes with no prior experience.