Running correctly is natural/instinctual. Running poorly is what we are raised to do in crappy over cushioned shoes. Watch videos of barefoot kids running, their form is great
What's wrong with "bad" form? The guy ran his races, maybe had fun, didn't mention injuries. What's the problem?
I say this as a barefoot runner. I've stopped caring about "running naturally" or similar nonsense. If you look at the research, things that correlate with injury are mostly doing "too much, too soon". There are a couple other things, but from this I conclude that if you do something gradually (like build from 5k to a marathon over some years), then you are minimizing your risk of injury. But if you do something non-gradually such as couch to 10K, or 10K with form A to 10K with form B, you are increasing your risk of injury.
Certain types of shoes that may or may not prod you into some "more correct" form do not correlate with lower injury rates. I don't think much research has been done on bare feet, but reading barefoot runners' forums leads me to believe injury rates are at least in the same ballpark as any other group of runners.
I won't speak for all runners, but for me, running with incorrect form is a fast way to make myself immobile.
I've had bad knees since I was 16, with surgeries to boot. Even 20 minutes of running used to require an ice pack for half an hour, and walking would be difficult for at least the next two hours. I suspect it's somewhat genetic, since both my father and brother also have frequent knee injuries.
Barefoot running has allowed me to increase both my range and my speed without causing any pain or swelling.
You have to make the distinction between injuries caused by too-much-too-soon and long-term injuries caused by the method of running. To say that barefooters have just as many injuries as other runners might simply be a consequence of many people transitioning too fast from inch-thick heels to barefoot.
As for long-term injuries (non-transitional), the jury's still out, but all clues so far point towards barefoot or minimalist shoes being the most beneficial. [1]
I've seen some of the studies referenced in that review, and what I gathered is that elite level running (in shoes) correlates with signs of osteoarthritis (seen in x-rays), but does not correlate with increased symptoms of osteoarthritis (runners did not report more pain than non-runners). If I recall, this was from the small study that included only Finnish elites. Other studies (the Lane study) have not found an increase in signs of osteoarthritis in non-elite (shod) runners.
Anyway, it's an interesting question.
> To say that barefooters have just as many injuries as other runners might simply be a consequence of many people transitioning too fast from inch-thick heels to barefoot.
It may indeed. I'd just like to add that I personally know shod runners who never get injured (former coach), so any hypothesis that claims "shoes lead to acute injury in all cases" is simply false. Of course, the more interesting question is what happens in "most cases".
