[1] Long-Term Wearing Minimalist Footwear Associated with Biomechanical Changes During Walking
What they Asked:
Does walking in minimalist shoes create different gait patterns than walking barefoot?
What they Checked:
Sixteen participants were divided into two groups. The experimental group were used to walking with minimalist shoes, while the control group were inexperienced. They were all asked to walk 5 meters over a force plate while wearing a pair of Primus Lite Knit and then again while barefoot.
What they Found:
There were no determinable differences in either group between walking with the minimalist shoes or walking barefoot.
Go to Article![[2] Foot Callus Thickness Does Not Trade Off Protection For Tactile Sensitivity During Walking](https://api.apiflash.com/v1/urltoimage?access_key=4d0e3c7943a64f81a56c759b5522fa18&url=https://www.bareshoes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Foot-callus-thickness.pdf)
[2] Foot Callus Thickness Does Not Trade Off Protection For Tactile Sensitivity During Walking
What they Asked:
Do foot calluses reduce the ability of the sensory nerves in our feet to feel the ground to a similar degree as wearing shoes?
What they Checked:
Eighty one participants (41 male & 40 female) from Kenya and 22 participants (14 male & 8 female) from New York were divided into two groups. The first group were those who were habitually barefoot (wore shoes less than 3 days a week) and the second group were those defined as habitually shod (wore shoes almost everyday). Tests were performed on both groups that checked sensory responses, mechanical properties, callus thickness and impact forces in all the participants.
What they Found:
Those who habitually walked barefoot demonstrated thicker calluses than those who were habitually shod. However, this did not effect their tactile sensitivity compared to those who were typically shod. This means that they could still receive sensory feedback from the ground despite their thicker calluses.
Go to Article[3] Is Being Barefoot, Wearing Shoes and Physical Activity Associated With Knee Osteoarthritis Pain Flares? Data From a Usually Barefoot Sri Lankan Cohort
What they Asked:
Do walking barefoot and physical activity have any influence on knee osteoarthritis pain flares?
What they Checked:
Over a longitudinal period, about 180 individuals, 90% of them women averaging age 60, completed questionnaires over the phone about flare ups in their osteoarthritis pain.
What they Found:
While physical activity performed 1 to 2 days before these flares was associated with an INCREASED risk of pain, walking barefoot 1 to 2 days beforehand demonstrated a REDUCED risk for pain.
Go to Article[4] Influence of Various Thong Style Flip-flops on Gait Kinematics and Lower Leg Electromyography
What they Asked:
Is there a change in muscle activity when walking with flip-flops?
What they Checked:
By examining the walking patterns of 79 female college athletes with and without flip-flops while measuring their muscle activity with an EMG (Electromyography Graph).
What they Found:
There were multiple participants in who flip flops created improper movement during gait and increase muscle activity within the foot and ankle by either limiting or over-using their range of motion.
Go to Article[5] Effects of Wearing Athletic Shoes, Five-Toed Shoes, and Standing Barefoot on Balance Performance in Young Adults
What they Asked:
Do the use of Vibram Five Finger shoes increase efficiency in with static balance?
What they Checked:
Forty-nine participants between the ages of 18 - 30 years old performed three 10 second tests of standing on one leg with their eyes closed. They were examined on a Biodex Stability System, which measures how stable they were in all directions during the examinations.
What they Found:
Those wearing typical athletic shoes (which were defined as being "relatively wide" and having a low heel height) scored lowest on the anterior-posterior (forward and backward) balance test compared to the barefoot and Vibram Five Finger shoe groups.
Go to Article[6] Effects of Shoe Sole Thickness on Joint Position Sense
What they Asked:
Do thicker soles effect the bodies ability to sense the positioning and movement of the ankle joint?
What they Checked:
They placed 20 individuals around the age of 25 on different angled boards under 3 different conditions: barefoot, with thin soled shoes and with thick soled shoes. They were asked to guess the change of the degree of their ankle during dorsiflexion, plantarflexion, inversion and eversion.
What they Found:
While in all conditions there was no significant difference between dorsiflexion and eversion, while wearing the thickest soles there was a large discrepancy of accuracy among the participants in plantarflexion and inversion. This indicates a reduces joint sense while wearing thing soled shoes.
Go to Article[7] Increased Vertical Impact Forces and Altered Running Mechanics with Softer Midsole Shoes
What they Asked:
Are vertical impact forces changed when the softness of the midsole is increased?
What they Checked:
Using 93 different runners (47 male and 46 female) who ran 30 minutes or more a week, they asked them to run with a heel-to-toe technique over a 30m platform five times in 3 different shoes that were identical except for the hardness of the midsole. They measured the joint stiffness in various muscles overlapping the ankle, knee, hip and lower back.
What they Found:
The softer the midsole was in the shoe, the greater the joint stiffness was in the muscles being measured. This indicated the bodies increase preparation for shock traveling up the kinetic chain.
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