The Ascent Journal

Running shoe research is a black box to some degree. Researchers put the shoe on a runner’s foot and have them run. Then, we measure some things while they run. In one sense, you can still argue that the results of this kind of research is useful and well controlled. Through a different lens, by changing the shoe, we’ve changed several things at once. A recent paper proposes one way to think more clearly about what might be going on inside the black box.

The recent work of Tizian Scharl and his team help clarify how running shoes affect female running form. Their 2024 paper is a one-hundred-and-seventeen page clinic on the form changes running shoes cause for female runners.

Running-related overuse injuries remain a plague on the sport, sidelining some 20% of runners for at least a few days each training block. Shoe manufacturers and running retailers have worked with clinicians (podiatrists, physical therapists, etc.) to help runners and walkers alike find a footwear solution that will keep them free from injury. With the advances in shoe design and materials science over the last decade, what should we know about footwear's injury-reducing c

An explanation of how much road running and trail running fitness translate to one another.

What some of the latest developments in running footwear might mean for all of our success in the sport. I grew up with the barefoot...