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Effects of Barefoot Running vs. in Shoes on Physiology and Mood

NCT01733381 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 22

Last updated 2025-07-31

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Aerobic exercise impacts bodily processes implicated in the pathophysiology of major depression. Consistent with these effects, aerobic exercise in general, and running in particular, has been repeatedly shown to have both immediate mood elevating and longer-term antidepressant effects. To the investigators' knowledge, all studies of running as a therapeutic intervention for mood have had subjects run in standard running shoes, despite increasing evidence that running barefoot or in shoes with minimal effect on foot strike (i.e. "minimally shod") leads to marked changes in how people run in ways that might have physiological effects of relevance to health. Thus, nothing is currently known about differences in effects on depression-relevant physiological or emotional functioning between running either barefoot or minimally-shod vs. running in standard running shoes (hereafter called "shoed). The current pilot study is designed to begin addressing these issues by examining effects of minimally shod vs. shoed running on non-invasive measures of autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning and mood state.

Conditions

  • Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) Functioning and Mood State

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Arizona

    lead OTHER

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2012-11-30
Primary Completion
2014-02-28
Completion
2014-02-28

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01733381 on ClinicalTrials.gov