Purpose. The aim of the current study was to comparatively examine the effects of energy return, spring and conventional footwear on the kinetics and kinematics of running.

Methods. Twelve male runners ran over an embedded force platform at 4.0 m · s⁻¹ in the three footwear conditions. Lower limb kinematics were collected using an 8 camera motion capture system and tibial accelerations were obtained using an accelerometer. Differences in kinetic and kinematic parameters between footwear were examined using one-way repeated measures ANOVA.

Results. The results showed that there were no significant differences in kinetic parameters between footwear. However, it was shown that that spring footwear were associated with significantly greater angles of peak eversion (−12.49°) and tibial internal rotation (13.09°) in comparison to the conventional footwear (eversion = −10.52° & tibial internal rotation = 10.84°).

Conclusions. Therefore, the findings from the current investigation indicate that spring footwear may place runners at increased risk from chronic injury related to excessive ankle eversion/tibial internal rotation.