Do Carbon-Plated Running Shoes Increase Your Risk of Injury?
Carbon-plated running shoes have changed distance running.
From elite marathoners chasing world records to recreational runners trying to shave a few minutes off their PB, "super shoes" are now everywhere.
But alongside the performance benefits has come another question:
Do carbon-plated shoes increase your risk of injury?
It's an understandable concern. These shoes can feel very different from a traditional daily trainer, and they alter aspects of how we interact with the ground.
The problem is that the conversation around carbon shoes and injury has moved considerably faster than the actual research.
At the moment, the fairest answer is:
We don't have convincing evidence that carbon-plated shoes directly cause more running injuries.
But, as usual with running injuries, there is a little more to it than that.
What Makes a Carbon-Plated Shoe Different?
When people talk about "carbon shoes", they're usually referring to what researchers call advanced footwear technology, or AFT.
These shoes generally combine several features:
A lightweight design
Highly responsive foam
A relatively large midsole stack
A curved or rocker-shaped sole
A stiff plate, often made from carbon fibre
It's important to recognise that the carbon plate isn't working by itself.
The performance benefits come from the interaction between the plate, foam, geometry and overall design of the shoe.
Research consistently suggests that these shoes can improve running economy, meaning runners can maintain a given pace at a slightly lower metabolic cost.
That's great for performance.
But improving performance doesn't necessarily tell us anything about injury risk.
Why Did People Start Worrying About Injuries?
One reason is that carbon-plated shoes do change certain aspects of running biomechanics.
The stiff plate and rocker geometry can alter movement around the foot and ankle, including how much the toes bend and how work is distributed through the lower limb.
This led to a fairly reasonable theory:
If the shoe changes how forces are distributed, could it also move stress towards tissues that aren't accustomed to it?
In 2023, Tenforde and colleagues published a paper describing five cases of navicular bone stress injury in competitive runners using carbon-fibre plated shoes.
The paper generated quite a lot of discussion within running and sports medicine circles.
However, it's important to understand what that research can and can't tell us.
Five injured runners can alert us to a potential problem.
It cannot establish that the shoes caused those injuries or that runners wearing carbon shoes are generally more likely to become injured.
What Does the Newer Research Show?
More recent research has started looking at this question more directly.
A 2025 longitudinal study followed 271 runners, recording their training, footwear use and running-related injuries over 41 weeks.
Interestingly, runners using advanced footwear technology generally ran further and faster than runners who didn't.
Despite that, there wasn't a statistically significant difference in the proportion reporting running injuries:
63% of AFT users compared with 58% of non-users.
The researchers were careful to note that these were unadjusted results and that more analysis is needed.
Still, this doesn't support the idea that simply wearing carbon shoes dramatically increases injury risk.
Another 2025 prospective study followed 195 half-marathon runners for 12 weeks.
In that particular study, runners using the Nike Alphafly 3 actually experienced fewer injuries than runners wearing the control shoe.
That certainly doesn't mean carbon shoes prevent injuries either, especially as this was one specific shoe comparison and further independent research is needed.
But again, it doesn't fit neatly with the idea that carbon-plated shoes are inherently dangerous.
But Don't Carbon Shoes Change Your Biomechanics?
Yes.
But "changes biomechanics" does not automatically mean "causes injury."
That's an important distinction.
A recent systematic review and meta-analysis looking specifically at carbon-plated footwear found that the biomechanical differences were generally more subtle than people might expect.
Across the included studies, carbon-plated shoes did not consistently alter overall leg stiffness or power at the hip, knee or forefoot compared with non-plated shoes.
There appeared to be some changes around the ankle, but the overall picture was not one of dramatic redistribution throughout the entire lower limb.
More broadly, research into running biomechanics and injury has repeatedly shown that simply identifying a biomechanical difference doesn't mean we've identified an injury mechanism.
The relationship between running mechanics and injury is far more complicated than that.
So Could Carbon Shoes Still Contribute to an Injury?
Potentially.
I don't think the sensible conclusion is that footwear never matters.
Different shoes can alter where and how forces are experienced, and individuals may respond differently to those changes.
Someone who suddenly switches from a flexible, low-stack daily trainer into a very stiff, high-stack carbon shoe may experience unfamiliar loads through their feet, calves or ankles.
There may also be particular injuries or individual runners for whom certain footwear characteristics are less appropriate.
What we currently lack is enough high-quality long-term research to confidently say exactly who is at risk, which injuries might be affected, and how large that effect actually is.
That's very different from saying:
"Carbon shoes cause injuries."
I Think There's Another Important Factor: How We Actually Use Them
This is where I think the discussion gets particularly interesting.
Most runners aren't putting on their carbon shoes for a relaxed 30-minute recovery jog.
They're putting them on for:
Intervals. Tempo runs. Threshold sessions. Long marathon workouts. Races.
In other words, the shoes are often being used during some of the highest-intensity and highest-demand sessions of the week.
So imagine a runner develops calf pain after doing a hard 10 km race in carbon shoes.
Was it the carbon plate?
Maybe.
But that runner may also have:
Run considerably faster than normal
Been close to maximum effort
Increased training before the race
Completed more speed work recently
Been fatigued from their training block
Run further at race pace than they normally do
Suddenly it becomes much harder to separate the shoe from the training taking place inside the shoe.
The Shoe Might Be Getting Blamed for the Session
This is probably one of the biggest problems when discussing carbon shoes and injuries.
Carbon shoes are strongly associated with fast running.
And fast running is a different physical stimulus from easy running.
If runners disproportionately wear one particular type of footwear for their hardest sessions, injuries occurring around those sessions could easily be attributed to the shoes when training load is an equally plausible contributor.
Interestingly, the 2025 longitudinal study found that runners using AFT shoes were also running greater distances and at faster speeds than non-users.
That doesn't prove training caused their injuries either.
It simply demonstrates why footwear research is difficult.
The runner, shoe and training programme don't exist independently of each other.
It's Rarely One Thing
Running injuries are usually multifactorial.
Training characteristics, previous injuries, recovery, health factors, tissue capacity and biomechanics can all contribute to the overall picture.
Large reviews of running injuries continue to identify training characteristics alongside health, lifestyle and biomechanical factors rather than one universal cause of injury.
So when somebody develops an injury after buying carbon shoes, I'd be cautious about immediately blaming the footwear.
I'd want to know:
What else changed?
Did you start doing more intervals?
Did your overall mileage increase?
Did you suddenly start training for a marathon?
Did you race significantly more?
Did you go from wearing the shoes once every few weeks to three sessions per week?
Often, the answer isn't hiding inside the shoe.
Should You Gradually Introduce Carbon-Plated Shoes?
I think this is sensible.
Not because we have evidence that carbon shoes are inherently dangerous, but because introducing any meaningfully different training stimulus gradually is usually reasonable.
If you've never worn them before, you probably don't need to buy a pair on Thursday and run a marathon in them on Sunday.
Start with a shorter session.
See how they feel.
Allow yourself some exposure before using them for a major workout or race.
This is also the approach suggested by the authors who originally raised concerns around bone stress injuries and carbon footwear.
Do You Need to Save Them Only for Race Day?
Not necessarily.
There's no strong evidence suggesting that carbon shoes become dangerous simply because you train in them regularly.
A small survey of recreational runners has reported injuries among AFT users, particularly in people using them more frequently, but the study involved only 61 runners and could not establish that the footwear caused those injuries.
The decision is therefore likely to come down to factors such as comfort, cost, training goals and how well you tolerate the shoe.
Personally, I'd be more interested in the overall structure of someone's training than whether they did their Tuesday interval session in carbon shoes.
So, Do Carbon-Plated Shoes Increase Running Injuries?
Based on the research we currently have:
We can't confidently say they do.
There are biomechanical differences between carbon-plated and traditional running shoes, and there have been case reports raising concerns around certain injuries, particularly bone stress injuries.
Those findings shouldn't be ignored.
But they also shouldn't be interpreted as proof that carbon shoes cause injury.
Newer longitudinal research hasn't demonstrated a clear increase in overall running injuries among runners using advanced footwear technology, and one prospective study actually found fewer injuries in a specific carbon-shoe group.
At this stage, I think it's more useful to view the shoe as one variable within a much bigger training picture.
The Bigger Question Might Be What You're Doing in the Shoes
If your carbon shoes only appear for your hardest sessions, there's a good chance the training you're doing while wearing them deserves just as much attention as the footwear itself.
Your shoes matter.
But so do your mileage, intensity, training progression, recovery, previous injuries and current physical capacity.
So if you've recently bought carbon-plated shoes and developed an injury, don't automatically assume:
"The shoes injured me."
Instead ask:
"What changed around the time this injury developed?"
Sometimes the shoes might be part of that answer.
But they're unlikely to be the whole story.
At Dunmore Osteopathy in Chatswood, I work with runners experiencing running-related injuries and help identify the factors that may be contributing to their symptoms.
That includes looking at training volume, intensity, footwear changes, recovery and physical capacity rather than simply blaming one piece of equipment.
References
Tenforde A, Hoenig T, Saxena A, Hollander K. Bone Stress Injuries in Runners Using Carbon Fiber Plate Footwear.Sports Medicine. 2023.
Arndt T, Dahlström Ö, Jacobsson J, Timpka T, Kvist J. Longitudinal follow-up of running injury incidence in recreational runners in relationship to the use of Advanced Footwear Technology shoes. Footwear Science. 2025.
Ryan M, Farina EM. Does advanced footwear technology cause or protect against injuries? A 12-week prospective investigation in 195 half-marathon runners. Footwear Science. 2025.
Martin SG, Kobayashi EN. Carbon plates in running shoes biomechanics: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. 2026.
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