(Washington Post) — Americans spent $59 million on “minimalist”
running shoes last year, on the premise that the most healthful
way to run is the way people have done it for thousands of
years: barefoot. Running barefoot, according to the hugely
popular 2009 book “Born to Run” and a landmark 2010 study of
Kenya’s famous Kalenjin distance runners, forces most people
onto their forefeet, which nature designed to absorb the
considerable impact that running places on feet and lower legs.
Traditional running shoes of the past 40 years, in contrast,
encourage runners to land on that cushy, raised heel, possibly
contributing to lower leg problems. But now a group of George
Washington University researchers, who tested a different
population of barefoot African runners, has determined that most
of them naturally strike the ground with their heels. Kevin
Hatala, a doctoral student in anthropology at GWU, expected his
group’s study of the Daasanach people of northern Kenya to jibe
with Harvard researcher’s Daniel Liebe