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ABSTRACT
The outsole of a running shoe must provide enough traction for the athlete to avoid slipping during running. What is unknown is whether there is any point to designing running shoe outsoles with traction above this minimum required traction. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether performance could be enhanced by increasing the outsole traction of a running shoe. A commercially available running shoe (Control) was compared against the same shoe model with the outsole modified with a higher traction rubber (High Traction). The available traction of each shoe was measured with a traction testing system. Twenty male athletes completed a maximal effort timed running course in both shoes on two different surfaces. When wearing the Control running shoe, the athletes were able to complete the course on an asphalt road surface at maximal effort without slipping. When completing the same course wearing the High Traction shoe, the subjects were able to perform the course even faster. Therefore, the results show that the role of running shoe outsole traction is not to merely provide adequate traction to avoid large scale slips, but can also help athletes enhance performance of high-traction tasks such as accelerations and changes in direction.
Keywords: Footwear, Running Shoe, Outsole, Traction, Performance
1. Introduction
Footwear properties can enhance athletic performance. For instance, researchers have shown that reducing running shoe mass can increase running economy (Catlin & Dressendorfer, 1979; Divert et al., 2008; Frederick, 1984), and incorporating properly engineered carbon fiber insole plates into footwear can positively affect jump height and sprint time (Stefanyshyn & Fusco, 2004; Stefanyshyn & Nigg, 2000; Tinoco et al, 2010; Toon et al., 2009; 2011).
An aspect of running shoes that could potentially affect performance is the outsole. The outsole, or 'tread', of the shoe is the bottom part of the shoe that directly contacts the ground. As such, one important role of the outsole is to provide the athlete with traction. Clearly, if the outsole of a shoe provides insufficient traction, the athlete may slip during running, thus negatively affecting performance. However, if the outsole traction of a shoe already provides sufficient traction to avoid slipping, it is not clear whether there is any performance benefit if the traction is increased even further.