Biomechanical Position Differences Between Running Barefoot Versus Running with Shoes

Overview

Humans are most biomechanically efficient without shoes. Does this mean that the use of shoes puts our body in a worse biomechanical position to run? This project seeks to find an answer to this question by comparing running positions with and without shoes. The variables collected include the hip angle, internal knee rotation, shin angle, and foot contact point in relation to the hip position at maximum force load. Testing took place on three different days with five trial runs each day. This totaled 15 barefoot trials and 15 running shoe trials to compare to each other. Videos were taken of each trial for the frontal and lateral views of my running. The CoachNow app was then used to analyze the different biomechanical positions in each video. T-tests were performed on all of the measurements to determine if there was a statistical significance between found data. It was hypothesized that if you are running barefoot it will put your body in a more desirable biomechanical running position than running in Brooks. This project has accepted my hypothesis after looking at the data collected. Most of the barefoot data points were closer to the preferred running positions found from reliable sources.

Competition history

• AJAS 2025 Category not listed

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