There has been a lot of attention being paid to barefoot running as of late. Most of the comments in the media on barefoot running tend to treat it as a curiosity and give the impressions that there is a huge interest in barefoot running when is reality 99.9% of runners do not do it. Certainly no elite runners or triathletes do it and they like to look for every edge that they can get. Even Zola Budd who competed at the Olympics running barefoot has had to resort to using running shoes to prevent injuries from developing.
Many claims get made for barefoot running that the evidence does not support. Many barefoot runners like to point to the publication in Nature recently as proof that barefoot running is better than running shoes. However, the research did not actually show that and even the author had to publish a statement on his website to distance himself from that interpretations of his research by the barefoot runners and the media.
The barefoot running community also like to claim that running shoes are the cause of many of the overuse injuries that runners get, but again there is no evidence to show that. However, the barefoot running groups do like to misrepresent research to claim that it does show that.
The barefoot running community also like to claim that there are less injuries in barefoot runners. However, all you have to do is visit the barefoot blog and running forums and look at how many barefooters are asking for help with all the injuries they have. See this discussion on stress fractures in those using the Vibram Five Fingers.
