Shoe selection and exercise

There are more and more fancy looking shoes entering our stores moving towards 2012. Many of these are offering more support and dynamics designs. Can the need for a fancy looking shoe offering more support contribute to incorrect technique, increase the chance of injury and leave out wallet feeling empty? 

Let's look at resistance or gym based training first. Bare foot training has been proven to be the most effective as it allows for more sensory contact with the ground and therefore better balance. Muscle recruitment through the lower limbs is higher and therefore overall better results can be achieved. Gyms however require footwear to be worn at all times and Vibram five fingers lead the way in shoe design allowing for barefoot training in gyms to be possible. If your a serious gym nut go get a pair and see the difference. If you happen to feel weird wearing them in public then a flat sole shoe such as volleys or converse are the next best thing.

Training in runners will make stability increasingly difficult to maintain due to their cushioning nature and therefore cause an exercise in some cases to become less beneficial and potentially more dangerous.

Whilst running at higher speeds the body naturally rises up to running on the ball of the foot or toes. This allows for a faster more efficient stride and is the bodies way of reducing shock up through the skeleton when making contact with the ground. Commonly whilst running at slower speeds people generally fall back to planting the heel first which can cause shin splints, knee and lower back pain.The need for more cushioned footwear therefore increases. Barefoot running causes the individual to maintain striking the ground even at slower speeds with the ball of the foot or toes and therefore once the style is adopted is considerably more effective and results in less wear and tear on the body. 

So the question remains is a more cushioned runner only really masking an incorrect running style and should I move towards barefoot training . . .?