Barefoot running has been a large trend about ten years ago that lasted a couple of years which pulled in plenty of interest, particularly in social media. At the end of 2008 to early 2009 there were escalating promises that athletic shoes were in fact bad for the athletes and has been responsible for a lot of the injuries which athletes are getting. It was regardless of the extraordinary volume of science and engineering which went into improving running footwear in order to avoid those running injuries. These claims led to a trend for athletes to experiment with running not using athletic shoes and running barefoot or running in what become often called minimalist athletic shoes. Most of these running shoes had minimum technology or features inside them and were simply just a safety covering up of the feet.
The barefoot running craze was pushed by a large existence in social media. There had been loads of web sites, books, courses, magazines and forums focused on and advocating barefoot running. A number of extraordinary promises were made for barefoot running as to what it might do for the athletes. It had been believed that up to 25 % of runners perhaps have experimented in some way with barefoot running. Nonetheless, by late 2013 and earlier 2014 involvement with barefoot running had evaporated away and athletes weren’t any longer excited about it. This lack of interest was despite all the astonishing assertions that got made around the great things about it as well as the statements coming from some that it had been intending to put the running footwear organisations bankrupt. This in no way occurred.
The trend decreased because the assumed benefits rarely built up for the majority of runners who used it. There initially were a lot of comments made how the science backed up without running shoes running, when in actuality there was no research which indicated that it turned out superior and subsequent research has shown that the overuse injury incidence in barefoot or minimalist running is not really less than people who run in the cushioning athletic shoes. There was clearly a lot of research done on barefoot as well as minimalist running, but that science did not reveal that it was any better, it simply demonstrated that it was different. The undeniable fact that there was a huge amount of research which was misunderstood by those who pushed barefoot running as demonstrating it was better, when that is not exactly what it demonstrated.
At the end of the barefoot fad, the Hoka One One running footwear organization launched some maximally cushioned running footwear which were made fun of and loathed by individuals advocating barefoot running. Even though, athletes liked this footwear and the Hoka’s have become a major manufacturer in the athletic shoes market and since 2014 the movement continues to be for the more maximally cushioned running footwear from all of the running shoe companies.
You can find however a tiny group of die hard barefoot athletes which was ever present. Currently the minimalist running shoes make up around 0.3-0.5% of the running shoe market for the recent years. The maximalist running footwear carry on and dominate the market for the past 5-6 years and there is absolutely no indicator of any drop in their market share or even a return of an fascination with barefoot or minimalist running shoes.
What is the science behind going barefoot?
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