Energy Expenditure during Walking, Jogging and

Running in Bare and Shod Conditions

Junichiro Yamauchi

1,2,3

, Hideaki Koike

and Keiji Koyama

Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan

Future Institute for Sport Sciences, Tokyo, Japan

Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand

Toin University of Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

Keywords: Running Shoes, Foot Function, Running Economy.

Abstract: This study was to compare between barefoot and wearing running shod conditions on energy expenditure

during walking, jogging and running. Healthy young individuals performed walking (4km/hr), jogging

(8km/hr) and running (12km/hr) on the treadmill in barefoot (BARE) and shod (SHOD) conditions.

Respiratory gas analysis was performed using a computerized metabolic measurement cart on a breath-by-

breath mode. Exercises with a shod condition were significantly higher energy expenditure than those with

a barefoot condition in walking, jogging and running.

1 INTRODUCTION

Many people living in developed countries in

modern era wear shoes when they have walking,

jogging, running and daily activities. However, over

the long period, humans do not use footwear after

they became an upright bipedality. Through the

evolutional processes of human, the human foot

naturally adapts to bear body weight through the

daily activities over years. It is considered that the

human foot is anatomically designed to live with a

barefoot in bipedal locomotion.

Recently, the effects of barefoot running receive

a lot of attention to sports scientists (Jungers 2010).

Lieberman et al.(2010) shows that running with

barefoot reduces impact force when contacting the

ground and repetitive stress to the legs. Running

with barefoot uses natural shock absorbers of the

foot arches, Achilles tendons (ankle joints), and

lower legs (knee joints) by landing with forefoot;

while, running with shoes allows you to land heel

first due to the padding of modern shoes which may

increase stride length, and to go up impact force to

the legs. Therefore, it can be speculated that running

with a barefoot have better energy usage as

compared to a shod condition because of the shock

absorber function of the foot.

2 PURPOSE

This study was to compare between barefoot and

wearing running shod conditions on energy

expenditure during walking, jogging and running.

3 METHODS

Subjects

Healthy young individuals (age, 21.6±0.5 years;

mean±SD) participated in this study. The methods

and all procedures used during this experiment were

in accordance with current local guidelines.

Experimental procedure

Healthy young individuals performed walking

(4km/hr), jogging (8km/hr) and running (12km/hr)

on the treadmill in barefoot (BARE) and shod

(SHOD) conditions.

Running shoe was 308.5g. Each exercise was

performed for three minutes in random order with

sufficient time for recovery between trials.

Measurements

Oxygen consumption (VO2): Respiratory gas

analysis was performed using a computerized

metabolic measurement cart on a breath-by-breath

mode (AE-310, Minato Medical Science, Osaka).

The subject wore a mask that enclosed both the

mouth and the nose for the entire protocol. VO2

was averaged for the last 2 min of the rest, and for

the 1 min 45 sec after 1 minute of the exercise

periods. Relative VO2 (ml/kg/min) was calculated

and used for analysis.

Yamauchi J., Koike H. and Koyama K..

Energy Expenditure during Walking, Jogging and Running in Bare and Shod Conditions.

 2014 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

Heart rate (HR): HR was measured using a heart rate

monitor (FT4, Polar FT, Kempele). The device

consisted of a sensor strip worn comfortably onto

the skin at the chest level. The sensor strap detected

the electrical impulses of the heart and transmitted

the information to the watch, displaying HR beats

per minute. HR was measured every 1 min

throughout the experiment.

The rating of perceived exertion (RPE): RPE was

assessed by the Borg scale (Borg, 1982). It is a ratio

scale that assesses the participant subjective level of

exertion ranging from 6 to 20, where 6 was ‘no

exertion at all’ and 20 was ‘maximal exertion’.

Subjects marked a number that most closely

represented their level of physical exertion during

exercise. RPE was measured every 1 min

throughout the experiment.

Data analysis

All data are presented as means±S.D. The

differences in all parapeters between BARE and

SHOD were tested using a paired t-test. The level of

statistical significance was set at p<0.05.

4 RESULTS

Relative VO2 (ml/kg/min) for BARE and SHOD

were 11.28±1.95 and 12.22±1.54 in walking,

27.87±4.54 and 29.59±3.13 in jogging, and

39.89±5.18 and 41.1±4.96 in running, respectively.

These differences represent 9.6±11.4%, 7.4±9.1%

and 3.2±4.9% of a barefoot condition in walking,

jogging and running, respectively, and exercises

with a shod condition were significantly higher

energy expenditure than those with a barefoot

condition. RPE was not significantly different

between the two conditions.

5 CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that wearing running shoes

may cost higher energy expenditure than a barefoot

condition in walking, jogging and running.

REFERENCES

Jungers, WL. (2010). Biomechanics: Barefoot running

strikes back. Nature. 28. 463, 433-434.

Lieberman, DE., Venkadesan, M., Werbel, WA., Daoud,

AI., D'Andrea, S., Davis, IS., Mang'eni, RO., Pitsiladis,

Y. (2010). Foot strike patterns and collision forces in

habitually barefoot versus shod runners. Nature. 463,

531-535.