How effective are new technologies?

Super shoes and super spikes with thick foam and carbon elements appear to be helping top athletes set new records. Now two studies are examining whether there really is a link between the technology and performance.

A German biomechanics expert warns that high-tech shoes increase the risk of injury, and advises amateur runners to avoid using them altogether.

Shoe stimulants

At the 2016 Summer Olympics marathon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the top three men wore a pair of new running shoes from sporting goods manufacturer Nike with noticeably thicker soles. The carbon elements and innovative damping systems used in them clearly gave the athletes such a huge advantage that some spoke of unfair “technical doping.” After all, not all marathon runners had the opportunity to compete in super shoes.

However, new shoes were not banned. Because The specific rules for shoe innovations were published by World Athletics (WA) only in 2020.the umbrella organization for all national athletics federations. For example, these rules prohibit professional runners from wearing shoes with a midsole thicker than 40 mm. But that doesn’t stop manufacturers from producing models for the leisure sector that are thicker and softer – true to the motto “more is more.”

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However, a research group at ETH Zurich has determined whether this is actually true. In a test with 16 well-trained runners Test. They ran on a track in shoes with 30, 40 and 50 mm of midsole thickness, comparing running economy, running comfort and some biomechanical variables. Running economy is the ratio of oxygen consumption to a given running performance: the less oxygen consumed at the same running speed, the better.

The 40mm shoe provided the most comfort, and the 50mm shoe provided the best running economy. So the 50mm shoe has no advantage here. No differences in ground contact, stride frequency and stride length were found between the three groups, according to the results of the study presented at the 42nd Congress of the International Society for Biomechanics in Sports in Salzburg in mid-July.

With super highs reaching new records

However, footwear innovations are also happening at shorter distances and in other athletics disciplines – as the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo demonstrated. There, several athletes set records with their feet stuck in high-tech spikes – also known as super spikes.

The spikes have small dots on the sole that are intended to improve traction and allow for better energy transfer. In the Super Spikes, the midsole is equipped with carbon elements and special dynamic foams, similar to the super shoes in the marathon sector, which are intended to make them lighter, softer and more dynamic.

how A study conducted by an American research team now indicates thatThose super spikes may have played a bigger role in the Olympic records. The group recruited nine well-trained men and had them run on a treadmill in different shoes. In fact, the running economy was slightly better on the super spikes, which could translate to a 1 to 1.5 percent improvement in times, according to co-author Jeff Burns. “A 1.5 to 2.0 percent increase in economy could mean the difference between medal contention for an elite runner and not qualifying for the Games,” Burns is quoted as saying.

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With high performance comes injuries.

Biomechanics professor Gert-Peter Brüggemann also sees a connection between the records set in the past few years and new shoes – both super-long-distance shoes and super-spikes. However, at the same time, injuries in the upper area have also increased, according to Brüggemann, who for many years headed the Institute of Biomechanics and Orthopedics at the German Sports University in Cologne.

According to Brugman, athletes, in addition to numerous studies, describe particular problems in the knee, the Achilles tendon complex and the shin, and in the metatarsus and wrist. The latter can According to a 2023 study, this leads to symptoms of fatigue such as stress fractures..

Looking at the new shoes, the expert explains that on the one hand, more foam is used in them, which means that the body is in a higher position. At the same time, the carbon elements strengthen the sole longitudinally, which puts more pressure on the Achilles tendon and the metatarsus in particular. The biomechanics of the shoes can lead to an overload of those areas where athletes complained of problems. “We have rarely seen such clear links between biomechanical loads and orthopedic outcomes,” says Brugmann.

like jumping on a trampoline

He recommends that athletes run as little as possible in such competition shoes during training – but on the other hand, the body should be given enough time to get used to the technology and learn how to handle soft shoes. It's like “jumping on a trampoline, where the leg muscles are tense enough to use the trampoline.”

However, Brugman advises recreational runners against wearing such fancy shoes – at least based on a study he conducted, the full results of which will be published soon. For this purpose, more than 400 amateur runners were observed for six months – and they were randomly assigned different shoes: some wore super shoes, another part ran in standard shoes, and the third group was equipped with so-called U-Technology shoes. In these shoes, the cushioning elements are not located under the heel, but in the form of a horseshoe around it – and Brugman accompanied the development of such shoes as a scientific consultant.

In fact, the risk of injury in the ultra-shoe group was more than 30 percent higher than for runners wearing standard running shoes, according to the study. According to Brugman, shoes with horseshoe elements would have reduced that risk by 60 percent — and showed: “We can use technology to control stress and ultimately injury risk.”