Purpose. The current investigation aimed to examine the effects of running barefoot and in conventional and barefoot inspired footwear on the loads borne by the tibiofemoral joint.

Methods. Fifteen male participants ran at 4.0 m/s over a force platform whilst running barefoot, in barefoot inspired footwear and also in conventional footwear. Lower body kinematics were collected using an eight-camera motion capture system. Peak tibiofemoral force, peak tibiofemoral stress, and tibiofemoral load rate were extracted and compared between footwear via one-way repeated measures ANOVA.

Results. The results showed that the tibiofemoral instantaneous load rate was significantly lower in conventional footwear (106.63 BW/s) in comparison with barefoot running (173.87 BW/s), Vibram Five Fingers (160.17 BW/s), Merrell (155.32 BW/s), Inov-8 (167.79 BW/s), and Nike Free (144.72 BW/s).

Conclusions. This indicates that running barefoot and in barefoot inspired footwear may place runners at increased risk from running-related tibiofemoral pathologies.