Medical Talk
Best Foot Forward
By Mike Tester
Jul 30, 2006, 13:07

Musicians have always known that the first step to playing a masterpiece is making sure your instrument is properly tuned. The same should also apply to athletes when it comes to their shoes, according to new research by Dr. Benno Nigg (right).

Dr. Benno Nigg

Nigg – one of the world’s leading experts in the field of bio-mechanics – has found that the world has been thinking about running shoes in entirely the wrong way. As it turns out, you may not need those giant cushy trainers after all because it appears it is the body’s own vibrations, not the pounding of feet on the ground, that wrecks knees and other joints.

After years of researching the optimal footwear for athletic performance, Nigg and colleagues in the Faculty of Kinesiology’s Human Performance Lab noticed surprising contradictions and inconsistencies in the research surrounding impact forces.

“If impact forces are the biggest contributor to joint injury