Abstract
The Endurance-Running hypothesis proposes that natural selection has shaped humans into endurance-running specialists. Running-related-injury rates between 20-79% suggests modern humans are prone to injury in this species-specific movement pattern. This opinion piece offers a novel perspective on high-injury prevalence in human endurance running, focussing on evolutionary mismatch between modern athletic footwear and evolved foot structure and function. We propose that non-anatomically shaped, structured, cushioned footwear can lead to maladapted foot structure and loss of biologically-normal function including stability, elasticity, sensory feedback and subsequent movement control. The structure and function of the human foot and its possible impairment by modern footwear has received little attention in running-related literature, but could provide a new area of enquiry and potential solutions for many running-related injuries.
Highlights
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Humans are adapted for endurance running, but injury rates are high, A mismatch between evolved structure and function of the foot, and design features of modern footwear could explain the high injury rate in the derived movement pattern of endurance running, Evidence suggests that the design features of modern footwear can deform foot structure and impair foot function
The Endurance-Running hypothesis proposes that natural selection has shaped humans into endurance-running specialists [1,2,3]
Summary
Link: Northumbria University has developed Northumbria Research Link (NRL) to enable users to access the University’s research output. Single copies of full items can be reproduced, displayed or performed, and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided the authors, title and full bibliographic details are given, as well as a hyperlink and/or URL to the original metadata page. The full policy is available online: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/policies.html. This document may differ from the final, published version of the research and has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies.
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