Runners wearing hi-tech expensive trainers are more likely to injure themselves than those who use simpler shoes with no cushioning, new research suggests.
A study found that thinner trainers encouraged athletes to land on the ball of their foot rather than the heel, putting significantly less stress on the body.
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Those wearing traditional trainers, by contrast, exert a much higher "loading rate", the speed with which force is applied to the body when a runner's foot hits the ground.
Running as a sport or simply as a means of keeping fit continues to grow in popularity. Figures from Sport England earlier this year revealed that two million people in the UK are now running regularly, a jump of 73 per cent in the past 10 years. In Australia, running also has one of the largest participation rates.
However, injury rates have not fallen despite decades of research.
Dr Hannah Rice, who led the research at the University of Exeter, said: "So many people use running as a means of reducing the risk of chronic disease, but about three quarters of runners typically get injured in a year.
"Footwear is easily modifiable but many runners are misguided when it comes to buying new trainers.
"This research shows that running in minimal shoes and landing on the balls of your feet reduces loading rates and may, therefore, reduce the risk of injury."
The research found that modern-day runners in cushioned footwear tend to land on their heel, known as a "rearfoot strike", while those who run barefoot are more likely to perform a "forefoot strike", landing on the ball of the foot.
Rearfoot strike runners experience an abrupt vertical impact force each time the foot lands on the ground. That impact force is often missing when running with a forefoot strike, but previous research has shown that forward-backwards and sideways forces can be higher, meaning the total force is similar.
"This seems to suggest that for runners in traditional, cushioned running shoes, foot strike pattern may not matter for injury risk," said Dr Rice.
"However, we suspect that the same may not be true of runners who regularly use minimal shoes, which don't have the cushioning provided by traditional running shoes."
She said that becoming accustomed to running in minimal shoes that lack cushioning promotes a landing with the lowest loading rates, and that this is likely to reduce the risk of injury.
Many runners are new to the sport and a record quarter of a million people applied for a place in the 2016 London Marathon, more than 55 per cent of whom had not run seriously before.
A pair of new cushioned trainers, such as Asics men's Metarun, can cost about £200, whereas minimal running shoes can be bought for £30.
The most common running-related injuries are often referred to as "runner's knee", a tender pain around or behind the kneecap, Achilles tendinitis and shin splints.
Stress fracture and ankle sprains are also a risk, although less common.
The University of Exeter study is published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise.
The Telegraph, London