Mechanical energy analysis of barefoot and minimalist running

Minimalist and barefoot running are still a challenging topic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the three-dimensional ankle and knee joint power and energy transfer in barefoot and two minimalist shod conditions with different sole stiffness. Fifteen healthy men ran 15 meters pass way in barefoot and two shod conditions. Five video cameras synchronized with a force plate captured kinematics and kinetics data in the three running conditions. Inverse dynamic approach was used to calculate joints power and mechanical energy compensation coefficient as an energy transfer index. Both shoes increased peak positive power in the ankle as compared to the barefoot in the sagittal plane. In the frontal plane, PVC shoe decreased peak ankle positive power as compared to nano shoe and barefoot condition. At the knee, PVC shoe showed higher values of peak power than the barefoot in the frontal and sagittal planes. In addition, the energy transfer of barefoot running at the horizontal plane was higher in both eccentric and concentric transfer than PVC shoes. The eccentric energy transfer of nano shoe at this plane was less than barefoot running. Barefoot running had better results (both functionally and pathologically) than two minimal shoes. Although the minimalist shoe with stiffer sole (nano shoes) was more similar to barefoot running. Runners are recommended to consider barefoot running in their workout program in order to reduce injuries and improve performance, and it is best to choose the minimal shoes that mimic barefoot running.