ArticleEuropean journal of sport science2026
The Effects of Shoe Sole Thickness on Running Style and Stability During Downhill Running at Different Speeds.
Article in European journal of sport science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Assessing running stability: a systematic review of methods.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Pooled it
- The Effects of Shoe Sole Thickness on Running Style and Stability During Downhill Running at Different Speeds.European journal of sport science · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Advanced footwear technologies (AFT) like carbon plates and thick, lightweight soles were developed to enhance running performance. Previous research on sole thickness focused on level running; however, downhill running, with different biomechanical demands, remains underexplored. This study investigates how running shoe sole thickness affects running style and stability during downhill running at different speeds. Seventeen experienced male runners ran at 10 and 15 km/h on a -10% slope in three shoe conditions: a traditional control shoe (CON27, 27 mm), a thinner AFT-shoe (AFT35, 35 mm), and a thicker AFT-shoe (AFT50, 50 mm). Running style was analyzed using step frequency normalized to leg length, duty factor, vertical center of mass oscillation, vertical stiffness, leg stiffness, and lower limb angles in the sagittal and frontal planes. Increased stability was assessed using both nonlinear (lower maximum Lyapunov exponent for local stability and lower detrended fluctuation analysis for global stability) and linear methods (reduced ankle eversion for ankle stability). Both AFT35 and AFT50 altered running style via changes in ankle and knee kinematics (p = 0.001) and improved global stability (p = 0.004) compared to CON27 but did not affect spatiotemporal variables or local stability. Within AFT design, AFT50 affected ankle kinematics in both the sagittal and frontal planes, with differences of up to ∼4° (p < 0.001). These effects were consistent across running speeds. In conclusion, AFT-shoes characterized with thicker soles influence joint kinematics and global stability during downhill running, whereas sole thickness within AFT designs primarily affects ankle stability and sagittal kinematics.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.