View from the industry


Primal discovery


Primal Lifestyle’s Matt Walden explains the intriguing logic behind minimalist footwear, for which demand is growing fast


F


or many years, the concept of cushioning the foot and supporting it has been conventional, mainstream and unchallenged ‘wisdom’. However, there is a growing understanding in various allied fields - from biomechanics to physiology, from hormonal health to nutrition - that our evolutionary heritage provides huge clues as to how the human body should function. The result is that conventional wisdom is being challenged.


Could it be that nature got the design of the foot correct?


Increasingly, research is suggesting that the answer to this question is a resounding ‘Yes!’


What about concrete surfaces you might ask. What about running injuries?


The simple answer is: the foot is designed to traverse miles and miles of rocky terrain; research comparing shod with unshod runners suggests there are lower impact forces and lower joint torsion in barefoot runners. Populations that grow up barefoot have better arch formation, lower injury rates and improved athletic performance – and all on what most of us ‘developed country’ dwellers would consider ‘sub-standard’ nutrition, exercise education, conditioning techniques, and so on. It turns out that sometimes development can reach so far that you can end up developing something you don’t actually need!


This is why Professor Lieberman found conclusively that it is footwear (or lack


thereof), not genetics, that dictates running style; and similarly, why a study published in June this year in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, co-authored by Gordon Valiant, who works for the Nike Sports Research Laboratory stated: "Despite over 20 years of stability elements being incorporated in running footwear there is, as yet, no established, clinically-based evidence for their provision".


12 SGB SPORT AUGUST 2010


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