These shoes were made for... running? at 15:07

Lately I've been trying to get back into running, which is becoming a bit difficult due lack of motivation.  I prefer activities such as basketball and lacrosse to stay in shape, but I've been thinking about running another half marathon with my sisters in May.  The other day a friend and I were discussing where to get shoes, when a third party interrupted and told me I should run barefoot.  He went on and explained his side that stated shoes actually are the cause of most injuries and it is better for your body to barefoot. In all honesty, I didn't believe - so I decided to do some of my own research. Are shoes really the cause of injuries? Even though it's an older article (2006), Athletic Footware and Running Injuries seems to agree with most articles I've read. So let's start with the basics:

Most running injuries are caused by impact, typically repetitive impact.  As you are running, your heal takes an impact that is 2.5 times your body weight.  This doesn't take into account the different road types, so the impact could actually be more than that.  Most stresses are absorbed from the knee down, causing over half of all running injuries to be located between the knee and ankle.

There have been several attempts to create shock absorbers and cushions to alleviate the forces your feet and legs endure.  There have been studies in the past that focus on the heal, sole, and ball of the foot; however, most research has overlooked the big picture: your entire body. Not to mention majority of the studies to improve shoes only focus on the physical mechanics of running. Even though these studies seem logical (we all wear shoes!) they go against the nature of the human body. 

When walking/running barefoot, the contact your skin makes with the ground is the most important action.  This informs the body how your heal should be struck down, or how your ankle needs to rotate.  Another aspect of running barefoot is the runners consciousness to the area. The runner sees the areas that need to be avoided.  While running with shoes, the sensory aspect is lost causing the body to become more comfortable, and in a way, lazy. The runner's foot does not rotate correctly, just habitually, and the runner is not as observant to where they are running because the shoe provides pseudo- stability. 

From everything I've read, shoes are counter productive (in all aspects: sports/running/walking).  Even though they are designed to aid our feet and legs by transferring some of the forces, our bodies were actually designed to take that impact.  By avoiding the forces, we actually do our body harm.  With that being said, I found no studies on how torn up your feet become by running shoeless, or how many diseases will be spread by going barefoot in public. Even though it may be damaging in the long run, I am going to stick with shoes.  I would rather take my chances with injury compared to coming down with some foot fungus.