Oxygen Cost of Running Barefoot vs. Running Shod

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the oxygen cost of running barefoot vs. running shod on the treadmill as well as overground. 10 healthy recreational runners, 5 male and 5 female, whose mean age was 23.8±3.39 volunteered to participate in the study. Subjects participated in 4 experimental conditions: 1) barefoot on treadmill, 2) shod on treadmill, 3) barefoot overground, and 4) shod overground. For each condition, subjects ran for 6 min at 70% vVO (2)max pace while VO (2), heart rate (HR), and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were assessed. A 2 × 2 (shoe condition x surface) repeated measures ANOVA revealed that running with shoes showed significantly higher VO (2) values on both the treadmill and the overground track (p<0.05). HR and RPE were significantly higher in the shod condition as well (p<0.02 and p<0.01, respectively). For the overground and treadmill conditions, recorded VO (2) while running shod was 5.7% and 2.0% higher than running barefoot. It was concluded that at 70% of vVO (2)max pace, barefoot running is more economical than running shod, both overground and on a treadmill.

Comparação da potência anaeróbia mensurada pelo teste de RAST em diferentes condições de calçado e superfícies

“…Besides the surface, the use of different types of footwear may have influenced on the findings of the present study. Di Michele et al 14 , when compared the anaerobic threshold of 18 soccer players determined on treadmill and on natural grass did not observe significant differences when sneakers were worn at the two situations. However, Kunduracioglu et al 13 determined that field soccer players may present lower anaerobic threshold values, determined on field with cleats compared with the one determined on treadmill and wearing sneakers.…”

“…Nevertheless, many studies have demonstrated the influence of different surfaces on the energy expenditure [10][11][12] and on the determination of physiological variables 13,14 as well as of exercise performed barefoot or with footwear 15 . Moreover, Brechue et al 16 observed significant differences in the 40 m maximal performance on grass and on firmer surfaces, demonstrating hence the influence of different surfaces also on efforts with anaerobic predominance.…”

The effect of minimalist, maximalist and energy return footwear of equal mass on running economy and substrate utilisation

“…The velocity of the treadmill belt was validated prior to data collection in accordance with Sinclair et al (2014). In agreement with the procedure documented by Hanson et al (2010), participants were required to undertake a 3 min habituation period in all footwear conditions, during which they ran at the required velocity prior to the commencement of data collection.…”

“…Their observations showed that running in minimalist footwear was associated with significant improvements in running economy compared to conventional footwear. Similarly, Hanson et al (2010) showed that barefoot running was more economical in comparison to shod. However, as shoe mass is known to increase the oxygen cost of running for a given velocity (Frederick et al, 1986); studies of this nature have been scrutinised as minimalist footwear are typically much lighter.…”

“…Running economy is considered to be strongly associated with running performance (Cavanagh and Williams, 1982;Di Prampero, 2003;Saunders et al, 2004), serving as a better predictor of performance than indices of maximum aerobic capacity (Hanson et al, 2010). Greater economy is an indication that a runner is operating at a lower percentage of their maximum aerobic capacity for the same work output.…”