沒有鞋跟的跑鞋

圖片來自FBR

Looking at the new running shoes unveiled by Spanish start-up FBR you would be forgiven for thinking it incomplete, but the missing heel in the sole is actually by design.

如果你看一眼西班牙初創(chuàng)公司FBR所推出的新型跑鞋，或許會認為它并不完整，但事實上，鞋底所缺少的鞋跟其實是故意設計的。

Athletic trainer Franc Beneyto came up with the idea for a heelless running shoe five years ago, after reading the book “Running with the Kenyans”, by Adharanand Finn, a journalist and amateur runner who lived for a few months in Kenya with athletes and coaches to investigate why they were able to run more, faster and get injured less frequently than others. In the book, Finn wrote that Kenyans had refined a natural running technique that didn’t require the support of the heel, but instead relied on the Achilles tendon, plantar arch, soleus and calf muscle. That got him thinking, and one day he just cut off the heel of a running shoe to see what running in it would feel like.

田徑教練Franc Beneyto于5年前看到記者兼業(yè)余跑步者Adharanand Finn所著的《Running with the Kenyans》一書之后，構(gòu)想出了無鞋跟跑鞋這一概念。Finn在肯尼亞與當?shù)剡\動員和教練共同生活了數(shù)月之久，以便弄清他們在跑步時為何比其他人跑得更遠、更快，并且更少受傷。

Finn在這本書中寫道，肯尼亞人已經(jīng)完善出了一種不需要足跟支撐的自然跑步技術，只需依靠跟腱、足底弓、比目魚肌，以及小腿肌即可。該書引發(fā)了Beneyto的思考，直到有一天他砍掉了跑鞋的鞋跟，決定親身嘗試跑起來感覺到底怎么樣。

“The feeling of power and freedom were incredible,” Beneyto told Spanish newspaper El Mundo. “The ankle acted like a spring that catapulted me forward with every step, so I just decided that I had to implement this concept as it was.”

試跑之后，Beneyto說道：「那種力量感與自由感令人難以置信?！埂改_踝的作用就像一個彈簧，每跑一步都會推動我前進，所以我決定必須實現(xiàn)這個概念」。

A few months later, Beneyto met Javier Gámez, a renowned doctor in biomechanics who recognized the potential of his heelless running shoe concept and proposed to have it analyzed at Sheffield Hallam University, in England, one of the best academic institutions in the world in sports engineering. The FBR shoe was compared to other conventional running shoes, and the results were so surprising that they were presented at various international Biomechanics and Podiatry congresses.

幾個月后，Beneyto遇到了著名生物力學醫(yī)生Javier Gámez，后者意識到了無鞋跟跑鞋概念的潛力，并提議將其送去英國謝菲爾德哈勒姆大學進行分析，這是世界上最好的體育工程學學術機構(gòu)之一。在對FBR鞋與其他傳統(tǒng)跑鞋進行比較之后，結(jié)果令人極為驚訝，從此他倆就出現(xiàn)在了各種國際生物力學和足病學大會上。

The Faculty of Physiotherapy of Valencia began testing the FBR concept on injured athletes, and the results of their research were equally impressive.

隨后，瓦倫西亞物理治療學院開始讓受傷運動員測試FBR這一概念，他們的研究結(jié)果同樣令人印象深刻

“Runners with various ailments returned to train normally after a progressive use of FBR prototypes thanks to the minimization of the impact of each footprint and a favorable change in their technique,” El Mundo reported.

據(jù)報道，在逐漸使用FBR原型之后，由于足跡影響的最小化以及技術的有利改進，患有各種疾病的跑步者開始恢復正常訓練了。

So what makes the FBR heelless shoe so special? Well, Beneyto says that it promotes a running technique supported by the metatarsal, which prevents joint injuries, whereas modern conventional running shoes incorporate more and more cushioning back, which modifies our natural way of running and makes injuries more frequent.

對此，Beneyto解釋稱，無鞋跟跑鞋促使跑步者利用跖骨支撐，從而防止關節(jié)損傷，而現(xiàn)代的常規(guī)跑鞋則包含越來越多的緩沖，這改變了我們的自然跑步方式，使得傷病更加頻繁。

“The cushioning does not eliminate the impact, it only decreases a bit and it continues to damage the joints,” Beneyto said.

緩沖并不能消除沖擊，只會減少一點，并繼續(xù)對關節(jié)造成損傷。

FBR(Faster & Better Runners) was founded by Franc Beneyto in collaboration with a team of researchers in biomechanics, designers, podiatrists, physiotherapists, lawyers, journalists and athletic trainers. Beneyto said that the decision to create their own company to produce the heelless running shoe was taken after numerous companies, both Spanish and foreign showed little interest in developing it.“We knocked on the doors of the main sports brands, both Spanish and foreign, to develop them, but many did not answer, so with great effort, we have managed to manufacture them in the Alicante area (Spain)” the entrepreneur said.

Beneyto表示，在許多公司(包括西班牙與外國公司)都表示對其研發(fā)沒什么興趣之后，他決定建立自己的公司來生產(chǎn)無鞋跟跑鞋。最后，他聯(lián)手由生物力學研究者、設計師、足病醫(yī)生、物理治療師、律師、記者、以及運動訓練師所組成的研究團隊，合作創(chuàng)立了FBR(Faster & Better Runners) 這一品牌。