Darwin en running?

No, the title is not refering to all the attention Darwin got last year. It has to do with scientific research from the States. Carry on reading.

Early January I posted an article (and youtube clip) on forefoot or heellanding. This previous article also refered to other scientific research on the effect of the straing on the lower body due to heellandings.
This article on BBC News roughly has the same findings but refers to other research. However this research also suggest that wearing cushioned running shoes may have changed the way in which many of us run. A kind of evolution and hence the title!

Forefoot
The researchers used high speedcameras. I cannot embed the footage so please visit the BBC site. The footage shows the impact of a heel strike, the effect of the cushioned landing with shoes and the forefoot strike of barefoot runners.

Hammer
The heel strike is compared with the blow of a hammer with htree times your body weight. Thankfully this is softened by the modern runningshoe.

Efficient
Besides absorbing the impact, it seems that forefoot strike also makes better use of the engery stored in ankle and the arch of the foot. So a more efficient style of running.
Is it al positive? No! The straing on calf muscle and achilles tendon is higher. Swithing to a new runningstyle comes with the risc of injuries.