Podiatry Experts

Barefoot running had been popular not too long ago but interest in it and the number participating in it have decreased noticeably. It was a craze which lasted a few years and was largely influenced by social media discourse. This was a temporary trend towards barefoot running which took off about 2009 with a lot more interest in running without running shoes. It was touted in many books, websites and magazine reports that barefoot running was more natural, that it was a more economical way to run and that you got a lesser amount of injuries running barefoot. Many runners tried using barefoot running as opposed to using running shoes and interest in it peaked around 2013. The sales of minimal or barefoot running shoes furthermore peaked at around that time, reaching nearly 10% of the running shoe market.

After that initial interest and peak interest in barefoot running and minimalist running shoes have been gradually dropping. Runners lost interest in it. The sales of the minimalist running shoes have been decreasing steadily since around mid- to late 2013. The alleged advantages for barefoot running did not eventuate to most runners that tried running barefoot but, naturally, those who touted barefoot running just are convinced that those runners were doing it wrong. As the scientific research accumulated, the benefits were not simply there. All of the running injury rate studies were showing that the risk of injury was exactly the same if you were running in shoes versus running without running shoes and most of the running economy studies were also demonstrating that often there were no systematic advantages.

While some runners, that are rather vocal, still do their running barefoot the important market shift has now been towards maximalist running shoes with the Hoka One One running shoe being the market leader in that category of running shoes. It has now achieved the stage where the Hoka's now outsells the entire class of minimalist running shoes giving a clear sign of the popularity of cushioned running shoes compared to running barefoot.