What happens to our feet when we run in sneakers
Sport And Fitness / / December 19, 2019
To choose the right sports shoes, you need to understand what exactly is going on with your foot while running. Tells how shoes affect the muscles of the foot and the activity should be afraid of injuries while running in sneakers.
New research in the field of mechanics running showed that allegedly running shoes work as light absorbers and thus alter the innate resilience of the foot. It's just going a bit wrong, we thought before.
In order to follow the effect of running shoes on the foot, the researchers from the University of Queensland 16 healthy volunteers implanted intramuscular electrodes that recorded their muscle activity Stop. Then they asked the participants of the experiment to run in sneakers and barefoot on a treadmill to be equipped with pressure sensors. Particular attention was paid to the longitudinal arch of the foot muscles, which act as springs, shrinking at a time when the foot touches the ground, and closing during the push.
The results showed that when running in running shoes, these "springs" are not working at full capacity: approximately 25% lower than when running barefoot. This once again confirms that the sneakers soften every blow of the foot on the ground.
Adherents running barefoot typically use this argument in discussions, proving that running shoes lead to a decrease in muscle activity, atrophy or injury. But in practice it turned out that the shoes are working the muscles of the foot even more than when running barefoot.
To deal with the findings, the researchers relied on the results of previous experiments. In the course of those investigations the muscles were stimulated by means of electrodes. It was found that the muscles of the foot work as a unit, rather than individually. Researchers have suggested that with the support of the arch of the foot muscles running shoes in the end must make greater efforts to achieve more stiffness of the whole system.
When the researchers used the data to various mechanical models, we found that most optimal embodiment wherein the running shoe act as a spring, operating in conjunction with the muscles of the foot. In other words, running shoes increase the natural elasticity of the foot, rather than working shock absorbers.
At the moment, to draw final conclusions about the benefits of running in running shoes or running barefoot is impossible, as there is still a lot of research. In sneakers still has its advantages. In previous studies have shown that our body at the level of reflexes trying to maintain the rigidity of the legs while running. This may be due to the fact that our brain uses leg stiffness for balance and control of the center of gravity when running. And as the shoes add rigidity arch of the foot, the foot muscles have to work even more, increasing the overall rigidity and reducing the risk of injury.
Further studies should help us to understand how different soles of shoes affect the foot when running on different surfaces, such as concrete. In defense of the shoe can be said that at the moment, scientists have come to the conclusion that changes in biomechanics lower extremity while running shoes are not the result of reducing or disorders of neuromuscular function. In other words, the shoes do not cause deformation or stop disturbances in their work.