And as for the dangers of ‘minimalist’ shoes, as I understand it, the biggest problem is people don’t work their way into it enough. It takes time for the musculature and tendons to catch up to the training. But people just switch shoes and keep doing the same old thing, which is injury city.
That is correct. You cannot heel strike with minimalist shoes. Heel striking is what causes the jarring on the knees and really your whole leg and foot. However, if you were barefoot the pain receptors in your heel would immediately prevent you from running like this. Cushined shoes remove this pain and allow you to heel strike which still gives the high impact injuries to the knees, shins, etc.
It is hard not to heel strike with conventional shoes. Almost all shoes have the heel 12 mm above the toe, so when you try no to hit the ground with your heel it still does give you a heel strike due to the elevated nature of the heel. Low drop shoes of 0 – 4 mm take this into account. But since we all have been wearing 12 mm drop shoes our whole lives, it is not a quick thing to just switch over to low drop. You have to slowly work up the muscles that have not been in use since you started wearing shoes. I have really enjoyed the New Balance trail minimus shoes since I started on them. I still have “regular” tennis shoes that I wear to play basketball and just hang out in.
