Footwear Design as an Intervention to Alleviate Post Long-distance Running Induced Fatigue

Abstract

Besides being one of the most participated in leisure sports activities, running is also the cheapest and most accessible, organized sport in the world. More and more people in the last decade have taken up the sport or running both professionally and for recreational or fitness reasons. Running requires an amount of preparation and most often, consistent training. There are a number of measures and precautions that runners all over the world take to keep their running safe and injury free. About one in every three recreational runners will have a running-related injury at some point in their life. Besides injuries, runners are also wary about fatigue and muscle soreness. Fatigue is a natural consequence of exercise and hard work. If not optimized, fatigue and tired muscles can sabotage performance. Post-run exhaustion can disrupt the overall standard of life and work efficiency. Both professional and recreational runners need a smooth and timely recovery to be ready able to go on with their daily routine with minimum to no pain that may be due to a recent long-distance run. There has been a great deal of medical and technological advances in running footwear. This study aims to investigate the potential value of recovery footwear in recovery optimization from the exhaustive fatigue that follows the completion of long-distance running. There is evidence that indicated that the specific-made recovery shoes promoted recovery from perceived fatigue. The researcher collected information from a focus group that comprised a team of a product development consulting group of three industrial designers from the Daniel Richard Design (DRD), a factory manager from a performance footwear company and two recreational runners. Questionnaires were also tools used to collect information from both professional and recreational athletes. It is evident in the results of this study that recovery footwear is very useful in conditioning for all types of runners. Recovery from exhaustion/fatigue could likely be accelerated simply by wearing lightweight, heavy cushioned and unbalanced recovery shoes during everyday life for people who run long distances for recreational, medical or professional purposes.