Sport products under the spotlight

In a recent BBC Panorama documentary a number of products related to successful sporting performance came under the spotlight with questions raised regarding the legitimacy of claims made by their manufacturers.  In our latest blog we will discuss some of the evidence presented by the program and where appropriate offer an alternative perspective.  It would seem prudent however to begin with the tenet (something which was not stated in the program) that sports products are designed and intended for use by athletes although admittedly their marketing campaigns do not always reflect this.  In the first blog we will deal with the issue of bare foot running. 

Bare foot running

There was a relatively large and interesting section within the Panorama program on the efficacy of modern training shoes and their impact upon performance.  It was stated by a number of experts that we would be better served running barefoot as this promotes a more fluid force transfer with the ground.  Indeed there is a body of evidence relating to the effectiveness of barefoot running, some of which can be found here http://www.sportsscientists.com/search?q=barefoot+running.  Whilst there is evidence suggesting barefoot runnig to be beneficial there is also the notion that some people cannot ‘learn’ how to run barefoot.  It would be easy at this point to slip into a scientific discussion on gait analysis, biomechanics and the energetic cost of running however in my opinion this is completely unnecessary as applying some simple common sense would appear to be the best course of action.

In a recent book entitled ‘risk’ its author, Dan Gardner, discusses the impact that the September 11^th attacks had on air travel in the US and the corresponding number of road traffic accidents.  In the midst of panic surrounding the safety of air travel people took to the roads in their droves and what followed was a marked increase in the number of fatalities as a result of road traffic accidents, far more than could have been expected in the air, Gardner argues.  A similar argument applies for barefoot running I suspect.  Whilst wearing modern training shoes may force us into a rear foot striking pattern it does protect us from a multitude of injuries that would be unavoidable if we all decided to suddenly ditch our Asics...broken toes, cuts and infections to name but a few.  Now I have been lucky enough to run through a number or beautiful cities however very few of these would I have attempted without appropriate footwear, running through the deserted grounds of Harvard is one thing (see Panorama footage) but up the crags of Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh is quite another!

There was also the assertion that expensive running shoes have no evidence in support of them improving performance.  The first thing to note here is that performance is a very difficult construct to measure, especially in controlled laboratory conditions however for the time being let us put that point to one side (we will discuss this in more detail when we look at supplements and hydration).  In all modern day running events performance has gradually improved over the years, some not so gradually when we look at the impact Usain Bolt has had on the 100m event.  I am not suggesting that running shoes have been responsible for this improvement but given that all athletes competing on both road and track wear some form of footwear they certainly do not seem to be detracting from performance.  Of course training shoes won’t make you run faster, any more than a pair of Predator boots will make you play like Stephen Gerrard, but surely this is not the common belief of the average person parting with their hard earned cash, or perhaps Panorama have evidence to contrary?