Many runners may be wearing the wrong shoes for their particular stride or the right shoes that were chosen for the wrong reasons, according to a new scientific review about running shoes and injury risks.

新近一项关于跑鞋和受伤风险的科学综述指出，许多跑步者穿着的鞋子并不适合其特有步态，或者，他们虽然穿对了鞋，但选择这鞋的原因却完全不对头。

The study helpfully concludes that there is a reliable, scientifically valid¹ way for each of us to pick the right running shoes, but it’s so simple that most of us ignore it.

该研究帮助我们得出了这样的结论：我们想要挑选出正确可靠的跑鞋，可以遵循一种科学而有效的方法，只是这个方法太过简单，以至于我们大多数人都忽视了它。

The connection between running shoes and running injuries is surprisingly controversial and, from a scientific standpoint, unsettled.

跑鞋与跑步损伤之间的关联出人意料地充满争议，科学上对此也尚无定论。

Most of us who run have heard that we should choose our shoes based, for the most part, on two broad technical criteria².

跑步爱好者们大多都听说过选择跑鞋大致要根据两大技术标准。

The first is whether and how much our foot pronates, or rolls inward as we land. Orthopedists, coaches and runners long have believed that over- or under-pronation contributes to the risk of running injuries and should be controlled using particular types of shoes.

第一是当我们足部着地时是否存在翻转，如果有，程度如何。长期以来，骨科医生、教练和运动员都认为，足部外翻（pronation/over-pronation，或称足踝内旋过度）或内翻（under-pronation，与前者相反）都可能会造成跑步受伤的风险，应使用特定类型的鞋子来加以矫正。

More recently, impact force, or the pounding that we experience with each stride, has also been getting plenty of attention, especially in relation to barefoot running and the question of whether we should wear shoes at all. Some barefoot-running proponents³ claim that running without shoes or in minimal⁴, slipper-like models somehow changes impacts and substantially reduces the risk for injuries.

近来，我们跑步时受到的冲击力（即触地反冲力）也日渐为人所关注，在涉及赤足跑步以及我们是否就不该穿鞋的问题上尤其如此。一些支持赤足跑步的人声称，不穿鞋子或者只穿最简单的家居鞋会从某种程度上影响触地反冲力，从而大大降低受伤的风险。

But Benno Nigg, the lead author of the new review, and his colleagues were skeptical⁵. An emeritus⁶ professor of kinesiology at the University of Calgary in Canada and one of the world’s foremost experts on biomechanics, Dr. Nigg wondered whether science really supports the idea that the right shoes can alter and fix someone’s running form and lessen⁷ injuries.

不过，新近这篇综述的主要作者本诺·尼格(Benno Nigg)和他的同事们对此持怀疑态度。尼格博士是加拿大卡尔加里大学(University of Calgary)的运动学荣誉退休教授，也是世界上一流的生物力学专家之一，对于合适的鞋可以改变和纠正人的跑步姿势、减少伤害这种观点，他很怀疑它是否具有切实的科学依据。

So for the new review, which was published last week in The British Journal of Sports Medicine, Dr. Nigg and his colleagues trolled through decades’ worth of studies about running injuries, shoes and their relationship.

于是，在这篇上周发表在《英国运动医学杂志》(The British Journal of Sports Medicine)上的综述中，尼格博士和他的同事们回顾了近几十年来关于运动损伤、鞋以及这两者之间关系的研究。

It soon became clear to the researchers that most of our beliefs about running injuries and shoes are, in fact, myths.

很快，研究人员就发现，我们关于跑步造成的损伤和跑鞋的大部分认识其实都是谬谈。

Pronation, for instance, does not seem to be a problem requiring correction. In the one large-scale experiment studying pronation, almost 1,000 novice⁸ runners, some of whom pronated and some of whom did not, were given the same running shoes and followed for a year.

例如，足外翻似乎并不是一个需要矫正的问题。在一项研究足外翻的大型试验中，研究人员发给近1000名跑步新手（其中部分人存在足外翻）同样款式的跑鞋，并对他们进行了为期一年的随访。

At the end of that time, many of the runners with normal feet and form — who did not overpronate — had become injured, but a much smaller percentage of those who overpronated had been sidelined.

在随访期结束时，许多脚形和姿势均正常的跑步者都受伤了，而足外翻的跑步者中受伤的百分比则小得多。

Dr. Nigg and his colleagues write in their review that this finding suggests “that a pronated foot position is, if anything, an advantage with respect to running injuries.”

尼格博士和他的同事们在这篇综述中写道，这一研究结果表明：“如果非要说足外翻对跑步造成的损伤有任何影响的话，可以说这种姿势反而不容易令人受伤。”

Similarly, they found little evidence that forcefully striking the ground causes injuries or that changing or removing your shoes alters those impacts much anyway.

同样，他们还发现几乎没有证据支持跑步时足部用力撞击地面会引起伤害，换鞋或者脱掉鞋子可以改变触地反冲力等说法。

Perhaps most unexpected, running shoes designed to somehow “fix” someone’s running form turned out often to be ineffective and even counter-productive. In a series of studies, when military recruits were assigned running shoes meant to control their particular level of pronation, those soldiers were as likely, or even more so, to sustain running-related injuries than soldiers given shoes at random⁹.

也许最令人意外的是，专为“矫正”人的跑姿而设计的特殊跑鞋非但往往无效，甚至还会适得其反。在一系列研究中，一部分新兵领到可对他们各自特定的足外翻水平加以控制和纠正的跑鞋，其他人则是随机领鞋。研究发现，这两组新兵受到跑步相关伤害的可能性类似，甚至有时前者还更容易受伤。

But if shoes are chosen for the right reason, they can reduce injuries, Dr. Nigg and his colleagues concluded after parsing¹⁰ all of the relevant studies.

然而，尼格博士和他的同事们分析了所有相关研究后得出的结论是：依据正确的理由来选择鞋子确实可以减少伤害。

And the right reason does not involve pronation control or impact forces.

而这所谓正确的理由并不包括控制足外翻以及冲击力。

What matters, the researchers conclude in their review, is comfort. In one study from 2001 (overseen by Dr. Nigg), researchers asked soldiers to try six shoe inserts, which varied¹¹ in terms of cushioning, arch height, heel shape, thickness and other variables. The soldiers were asked to pick the one insert that felt the most comfortable to them and wear that insert inside their shoes during their subsequent military training. A separate group of soldiers wore standard footwear as controls.

研究人员在综述中总结道：关键的问题在于舒适。在2001年的一项研究中（尼格博士为其责任作者），研究人员要求士兵们试穿了在减震缓冲、足弓高度、鞋跟形状、厚度和其他变量等方面不尽相同的六种鞋内托，并要求他们挑选出自己觉得最舒服的一种在随后的军事训练中将其垫在自己的鞋里。穿着标准鞋的另一组士兵是研究的对照组。

After four months, the soldiers wearing the shoes fitted with inserts that felt comfortable to them had a much lower incidence of injury than those wearing standard shoes.

四个月后，鞋内垫有令他们自己觉得舒服的鞋内托的士兵中的受伤率远低于只穿着标准鞋的士兵。

This finding makes scientific and common sense, Dr. Nigg said. Our bodies are actually “very good judges” of how each of us should move and run, he said. When we ignore or fight our bodies’ natural movement pattern, he said, such as by trying to control pronation, the risk of injury rises.

尼格博士表示，这一结果既合乎科学又符合常识。他还指出，对于应该如何行动和奔跑，我们自己的身体实际上是“很好的裁判”。当我们忽略或违抗了我们身体的自然运动方式，比如试图控制足外翻，受伤的风险就会增加。

Instead, he said, we should pay close attention to our body’s opinion about running shoe options.

我们倒是应该密切关注我们的身体对跑鞋的选择意见。

“Try on four or five pairs,” Dr. Nigg said. Jog around the store or the block in each.

“最好能试穿个四五双鞋，”尼格博士说，分别穿着每双鞋在商店或街区里慢跑上一圈。

“People can usually tell right away which shoe feels the most comfortable,” Dr. Nigg said. “That is the one to choose.”

“人们通常马上就能分辨出其中哪双鞋最舒服，”尼格博士说。“那就是理想之选。”