I saw this article via a link from a Facebook friend (thanks Dave) and had to comment.
Keep in mind that when I worked as a biomechanist, I thoroughly studied running and primarily its relationship with running shoes. At Adidas, where I did this type of work for six years, we explored many variations of cushioning and stability technology in shoes to see what people could handle and could not handle.
When I left Adidas, minimal running started to get a rebirth. Since that time more and more people have been gravitating towards going barefoot or running in minimalist shoes. NIKE free's seemed to give it validation and Vibram came out with better and better products that at least give the skin of your feet protection. Although Vibrams are certainly shunned by the hardcore barefoot runners. Now, as the article points out, the book "Born to Run" is making the barefoot movement even more popular.
Due to this movement, the media has looked for links in science to aid or dispel the benefits of barefoot running. Unfortunately there are not a lot of studies available that effectively compare barefoot running to shod (meaning with shoes on) running. Sure, there have been a lot of studies done but there is not a study or a review that has been able to compare the frequency or severity of injuries of barefoot running to its counterpart. Instead, the media has picked up on the number of injuries that do exist with normal running shoes and a few experts who suggest that it is actually the shoes construction which cause those injuries.
Unfortunately, some of the media (and consumer) spin has led early adopters to believe that barefoot running IS better for you. In theory this sounds great. In fact, I am all for it in theory. I love the "natural" and "minimalist" take on it, I find that attractive in concept. But, I don't think the whole story has been told. I have talked and attended conferences where those experts have explained there entire thoughts. More often that not, they basically say,
"yes, we would be better off if we grew up as kids without running shoes and learned to run barefoot."
And, that is the key difference to me. If we develop and spend many years naturally getting used to barefoot running then yes it is very likely we will have less injuries compared to those growing up in running shoes. However, we do not. And, most of us do not have access to dirt trails, grassy fields etc. that condone this type of development. Instead, we grow up in littered concrete jungles and our feet need protection in those environments (vibrams only give protection to our skin, not to the astronomical increase in impact that occurs on asphalt/concrete compared to dirt).
It will be interesting to see the injury rates of barefoot runners after another ten years has passed and more people try it out. It is understandable that we will see much more plantar fascitis as it bears a lot of the stress when runners move towards a midfoot and moreso a forefoot strike which they will do to prevent heel bruising. Bruises will obviously occur at a higher frequency. And, as a result I am guessing we will see more stress fractures and join inflammation.
All in all, I am not really against barefoot running. I work with people every year to get them to run with a midfoot strike which tends to happen in barefoot running. Just make sure it is midfoot, because forefoot landing can lead to as many or more injuries when compared to heel striking.
If you want to stay injury free or if you are justifying a move to barefoot running because you want to have less injuries then you really need to take a long term approach (over years) to get used to them. Otherwise you could end up with more debilitating injuries than you had planned.
My best advice is to start choosing shoes with less and less cushioning and stability. Once you run a couple years in minimal racing flats (those that elite athletes who run 5-10k in) without problems, then you are ready to give barefoot a go. Or, keep using the shoes you are using now and learn to run with a midfoot strike in them. That will solve a lot of your problems.
