Performance Enhancing Shoes - Banned?

[Guest guest]

As noted by Ken Jakalski:

Spira is a little shoe company that has started quite a stir in the

running world. Note the following:

That principal was also challenged yesterday, it emerged, in El Paso,

Texas, where a footwear company is suing the International

Association of Athletics Federations and USA Track and Field. Spira

Footwear claim that technological innovations have caused their

running shoes to be banned. They allege that sport rules banning

assisted devices violate US laws on restraint of trade and

monopolistic practices. They say athletics' rules prevent their

patented WaveSpring technology from gaining acceptance. The company

say seven runners will be wearing its shoes at the Boston Marathon

next Monday.

See below:

http://www.spirafootwear.com/

Spira's™ patented WaveSpring™ technology may be the most significant

advancement ever achieved in the footwear industry.*

WaveSpring™ returns energy with every step.

Ray Fredericksen, president of Sports Biomechanics, Inc. compares

typical midsole materials found in many athletic shoes to running in

sand. While initially perceived as soft and comfortable, these shoes

require the wearer to exert greater effort. Muscles must work harder,

causing fatigue and increasing the risk of injury.

Unlike traditional shoe midsoles made primarily of foams, rubber

compounds, or polymers, WaveSpring™ technology stores and disburses

energy with every step. Testing performed by an independent source

reports that 87% - 96% of the energy is returned from the

WaveSpring™. This is the highest energy return score for any midsole

material ever tested.**

WaveSpring™ is light and compact.

The WaveSpring™ is laterally stable, lightweight, compact, and can

easily fit into a typical shoe midsole. The technology is in the heel

and forefoot of the shoe. As such, it has the appearance of a normal

shoe. Looking from the outside no one will know you have a spring in

your step but you!

WaveSpring™ technology will not break down.

Traditional midsole materials work through compression and often

breakdown quickly. The WaveSpring™ is mechanical. The spring will

outlast the shoe. The wearer will have a " new shoe " feel from the

first day it is worn to the last!

" Unlike rubbers and polymers, the springs have an almost infinite

fatigue life. The shoe will fall apart before the spring performance

degrades. "

Popular Mechanics magazine

Shoe Technology Review, July 2003

" I feel it is the first technological advance that has been truly

meaningful in the shoe industry in many years. "

A. Chu Ph.D., PT, ATC CSCS

Director, Athletic Training & Rehabilitation

Stanford University

*Patented and patents pending.

**Sports Biomechanics, Inc., Michigan State University, May 2001

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Any comments?

Carruthers

Wakefield, UK