Running head: EFFECT OF ATHLETIC SHOES ON INJURIES

Effect of Athletic Shoes on Injuries

Jared Bustillos
University of Texas at El Paso
RWS 1301

Abstract
It is believed that some athletic shoes are capable of increasing an athletes possibility of
acquiring an injury, but also that other types of shoes are capable of decreasing the chances of an
injury. It is beneficial for athletes to know how athletic shoes can affect the possibility of
injuries. This paper covers multiple articles and studies that provide information about athletic
shoes. I analyzed these articles and research experiments and the results provided different
conclusions depending on the type of shoes. I concluded that it is possible that the type of shoe
does affect the possibility of injuries on athletes, but it is also possible that the type of shoes does
not affect the chances of injuries. It depends on the intended activity, the design of the shoe, and
the amount of activity that the shoe has been through. In this paper, I will examine basketball
shoes, running shoes, and cleats. There is a different answer for the effect that each of these
shoes have on the possibility of an injury.

Effect of Athletic Shoes on Injuries

Bad athletic shoes can increase the chance of injuries, but good athletic shoes can help
decrease the possibility of an injury. This is because of the specific design and engineering that
goes into the shoe, the shoes purpose, and the quality of the shoe. Some researchers have
conducted tests and have different perspectives on whether or not an athletic shoes design can
actually increase an athletes chance of acquiring an injury. There have been multiple studies on
this topic. The results of these studies show that the effects of athletic shoes on injuries vary on
the design, activity, and purpose of the shoe. The effect of athletic shoes on injuries is a problem
in the sports community because it is important to the players that they are able to stay healthy
and free of injuries.
There are many different types of athletic footwear that all have their own purpose.
Basketball is a sport where the type of shoe that is worn is very important to the athlete.
Basketball shoes have two main designs. There are low top basketball shoes and high top
basketball shoes. Low cut shoes do not offer the same amount of ankle support as the high top
shoes. High top shoes give basketball players ankles more stability and are supposed to reduce
the chance that a player injures their ankle. There is a study conducted in Australia that shows
that recreational basketball players that wore shoes with air cells in the soles were four times
more susceptible to ankle injuries (ABCNEWS). This study also noted that nearly half of the
ankle injuries occurred when the injured player landed on another players foot. Some
researchers believe that the type of basketball shoes do not have much to do with increasing the
chance of ankle injuries. Dr. Jon Shriner believes that this specific type of shoe does not have

anything to with causing ankle injuries. He finds that the outcome of the Australian study may
have been because ankle injuries are the most common injury in basketball and usually in
recreational players they occur because they don't precondition and they don't weight train"
(ABCNEWS). According to Nike, the air-soled shoes help protect the foot and ankle (ABC
NEWS). ABCNEWS also states that another good way to protect a players ankles is to replace
their shoes after about a month because the shoes wear down over time. This article addresses the
fact that recreational basketball players may not have the ability to replace their footwear after
every couple of months of constant use and this could be why the Australian recreational
basketball players have a higher chance of acquiring an injury.
There is another study that compares the amount of injuries among selected collegiate
basketball players shoes with cushioned heels against other collegiate players shoes that do not
have cushioned heels. These results showed that the players wearing the cushioned heel shoes
suffered from more ankle sprains than did the players who wore shoes without cushioned heels.
Although the results do show a difference in the amount of injuries based on the type of shoes
worn, the researchers concluded that there was not a large enough difference in how often the
players suffered from ankle injuries to say that the type of shoe increases the players chance of
injury (See Figure 1) (Curtis, Laudner, McLoda, McCaw, 2008). These researchers hypothesis
was that the cushioned heel shoes would decrease the amount of ankle sprains suffered by
collegiate athletes. The results of these observations demonstrated that the cushioned heel
basketball shoes do not decrease the number of ankle sprains that collegiate basketball players
acquire during the season.
Runners, like basketball players, should attempt to replace their athletic shoes after a
certain amount of time in order to avoid injury. Ryan Hall, who is a professional long distance

runner, says that he replaces his running shoes about every two hundred miles, but Henry Klugh,
who is a running coach, says he may go two thousand miles without replacing his shoes (Kolata,
2013). One running coach suggested that one way to tell if a running shoe is bad is to check to
see if the bottom of the shoe contains less traction, then the runner should push the sole of the
shoe from the inside. If the runner can feel their fingers at the bottom of the shoe, then it is time
to replace the shoes. Another researcher by the name of Rodger Kram stated that running shoes
should be replaced when the E.V.A, or ethylene vinyl acetate, breaks down. E.V.A is the fabric
that outlines running shoes insoles. There is not enough data to tell when this occurs, though.
There is no solid evidence to show when a runner should replace their running shoes. This is
partially because the durability of a shoe depends on the athlete and the type of shoe, but it is
stated that a runner will know when their shoe is no longer reliable. There is also no solid
evidence that the cushion in running shoes is important to preventing injuries. The fit of the
shoes is also important to the person who wears the athletic shoes. This varies between each shoe
and the athlete wearing the shoe. According to Athletic Footwear and Orthotics in Sports
Medicine, there is a point system in place that rates shoes for stability that can be used to
compare shoes and the companies that make them (Werd, Knight, 2010).
Another important topic when considering athletic shoes relation to injuries is the
traction that these types of shoes generate. There have been studies attempting to figure out
whether or not the grip of a shoe in relation to the surface can influence the possibility of injury.
Any sport requiring cleats relies heavily on the traction generated by these shoes. This also
applies to any sport that takes place on a court. Researchers believe that rotational traction has a
notable effect on the possibility of injury (Reynolds, 2013). The
University of Calgary created a robot that wears cleats in order to test this theory because it was

too difficult of a test to apply to actual players. They used this robot to measure the sideways and
rotational traction high school football players cleats. They then tracked the injuries of these
various high school football players over the course of three seasons. The result of this
experiment was that the most injuries came from players who wore cleats that provided the
most rotational traction and had the least amount of injuries among players whose shoes had
provided the most forward traction (Reynolds, 2013). The researchers had previously believed
that a shoe with a large amount of forward traction would subsequently contain a large amount of
rotational traction, but this was untrue. Dr. Wannop says the safest cleat for athletes is one with
high translational traction values and relatively low rotational traction values (Reynolds,
2013).
In conclusion, there are two beliefs when it comes to whether or not athletic shoes
increase the chance of injury. Dr. Jon Shriner and Nike believe that air cell basketball shoes have
no negative effect on the possibility of an ankle injury, while an Australian studys result
provided evidence that showed that recreational basketball players with this type of shoe was
four times more likely to acquire an injury. A similar studys information did show a relation
between the type of basketball shoes worn and the number of ankle injuries acquired, but the
researchers decided that the difference was not large enough to conclude that the shoe design
affected the number of ankle injuries acquired by the group of players. It is widely agreed upon
that no shoes should be used when worn out because this could cause injuries. This holds true for
multiple types of athletic shoes. A University of Calgary study showed that a type of cleat with a
great amount if forward friction and a low amount of rotational friction was the safest type of
cleat to use when playing football. It is possible, according to the evidence, that both arguments
are true because each shoe is unique to the athlete and the sport or activity.

Resources
"Basketball Shoes and Injuries." American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine. American
Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.aapsm.org/about.html>.
"Study: Expensive Shoes Cause Ankle Injury." ABCNEWS. ABC, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
<http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=117542&page=1>.
Curtis, Claudia K., Kevin G. Laudner, Todd A. McLoda, and Steven T. McCaw. "The Role of
Shoe Design in Ankle Sprain Rates Among Collegiate Basketball Players." Journal of
Athletic Training. The National Athletic Trainers' Association, Inc, May-June 2008.
Web. 22 Oct. 2015. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2386428/>.
Kolata, Gina. "When to Retire a Running Shoe." New York Times. N.p., 18 Feb. 2013. Web. 09
Oct. 15. <http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/when-to-retire-a-running-

shoe/?

_r=0>.
Moyer, Catherine. "How to Choose the Right Athletic Shoe." About.com Health. N.p., 04 Dec.
2014. Web. 09 Oct. 2015. <http://foothealth.about.com/od/shoessocks/a/Choosing-TheRight-Athletic-Shoe.htm>.
Reynolds, Gretchen. "When Athletic Shoes Cause Injuries." New York Times. N.p., 15 May.
2013. Web. 09 Oct. 15. < http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/when-athletic-shoescause-injury/>.

Werd, M. B., & Knight, E. L. (2010). Athletic Footwear and Orthotics in Sports Medicine. New
York: Springer.

Figure 1