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Nike FREE: a new approach to running

Nike are making waves in the running world with a new approach and a new range of shoes that are based on the natural style, proprioception, and muscle development of running barefoot....

nike free running shoe Traditional running shoes are designed to cushion and support the foot and this allows the wearer the ability to run on hard, unnatural surfaces such as bitumen or concrete whilst minimizing the risk of impact related injury. In short they allow you the wearer to run farther, run faster and longer BUT…
whilst running full time in traditional running shoes seems like the right thing to do by supporting and cushioning your feet, you maybe making your feet and lower extremities physiologically lazy.

The theory goes that if you support an organism it becomes weaker and dependant on that support, if you challenge and organism and use it extensively it becomes stronger through natural progressive adaptation. Think of using a crutch after spraining an ankle: if you dont ever walk without your crutches your body will never learn to walk normally as your muscles wont be challenged to get strong again after the injury.

The human body is a complex machine that adapts and adjusts to its environment and the foot is no different. Wearing cushioned and supportive shoes is good for a number of reasons such as:

1. The foot is being protected from puncture wounds caused by stepping on sticks, stones other sharp objects and cushioning from the repetitive impact on the ground.

2. The foot is supported to help align the body and prevent over or under pronation related injuries.

So there are obviously some positives to wearing normal shoes. But only wearing supportive and highly cushioned shoes 100% of the time can actually serve to weaken the feet and lower legs. Why?

1. Normal shoes can restrict the range of motion that the foot would normally go through when barefoot. This serves to make the foot do less work as it adapts to the supportive environment.

2. Normal shoes can also cause delays in proprioception. Proprioception is "the body’s natural ability to know where it is in space", and the bare foot is extremely sensitive to its environment and can adapt and adjust to different surfaces. If you cover the foot up (eg cushion and support it), you are masking this proprioception. The foot doesn’t know what is happening underneath it and what surface is that its trying to adapt and adjust to. This delays signals from the foot to the brain as to what it needs to do to adapt and adjust on each step, almost making the foot and lower limbs "drunk" and slow to react.

So there are also some negatives to running or walking in normal shoes. Because of that, and based on what a number of athletic coaches already suspected, Nike have developed the FREE range of shoes. These shoes can develop the musculature of the foot and increase not diminsh "proprioception".

nike free running shoe So how do you start wearing the Nike FREE's? The key thing with the human body is that it takes time to adapt to different environments and situations. Everyone’s adaptation time will be different so with Nike FREE they are designed to be half way between barefoot and halfway between a traditional running shoe. This way you can gradually adapt to reawakening your feet and lower legs and get some benefits of barefoot training such as increased proprioception and range of motion and some benefits of a running shoe like some cushioning, protection from sticks, stones and sharp objects and a little support.

So on a scale of 0.0 to 10.0, with Barefoot representing 0.0 and 10.0 being a traditional shoe, Nike FREE should come in at 5.0.