Abstract
BackgroundBarefoot locomotion has evoked an increasing scientific interest with a controversial debate about benefits and limitations of barefoot and simulated barefoot walking and running. While most current knowledge comes from cross sectional laboratory studies, the evolutionary perspective suggests the importance of investigating the long-term effects. Observing habitually barefoot populations could fill the current gap of missing high quality longitudinal studies. Therefore, the study described in this design paper aims to investigate the effects of being habitually barefoot on foot mechanics and motor performance of children and adolescents.MethodsThis study has a cross-sectional, binational design and is part of the “Barefoot Locomotion for Individual Foot- and health Enhancement (Barefoot LIFE)” project. Two large cohorts (n(total) = 520) of healthy children and adolescents between 6 and 18 years of age will be included respectively in Germany and South Africa. A barefoot questionnaire will be used to determine habitually barefoot individuals. The testing will be school-based and include foot mechanical (static arch height index, dynamic arch index, foot pliability) and motor performance (coordination, speed, leg power) outcomes. Gender, BMI and level of physical activity will be considered for confounding.DiscussionThe strength of this study is the comparison of two large cohorts with different footwear habits to determine long-term effects of being habitually barefoot on foot mechanics and motor performance.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13047-016-0166-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Barefoot locomotion has evoked an increasing scientific interest with a controversial debate about benefits and limitations of barefoot and simulated barefoot walking and running
There is an ongoing debate on the advantages and disadvantages [1, 2] with most of the knowledge coming from cross-sectional laboratory or field studies [3,4,5]
While this emphasizes the evidence for short-term effects [3, 4], the influence of long-term barefoot locomotion on biomechanics, motor performance and injuries remains unclear [Hollander K, Heidt C, Van der Zwaard B, Braumann KM, Zech A
Summary
Barefoot locomotion has evoked an increasing scientific interest with a controversial debate about benefits and limitations of barefoot and simulated barefoot walking and running. Numerous studies show that acute barefoot walking or running change foot strike pattern from a rearfoot strike to a mid-or forefoot strike with subsequently more ankle plantar flexion at foot strike [6,7,8], decreased stride length and increased stride frequency [4, 6, 7], reduced ground reaction forces [3, 6, 7] and increased range of motion (ROM) in the midfoot and MTP joints [6] While this emphasizes the evidence for short-term effects [3, 4], the influence of long-term (habitual) barefoot locomotion on biomechanics, motor performance and injuries remains unclear [Hollander K, Heidt C, Van der Zwaard B, Braumann KM, Zech A. Few prospective studies which evaluated the effects of regular barefoot running interventions in habitually shod people reported no or controversial findings regarding relative injury rates [9], biomechanics [10] and running economy [11, 12]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
