I may be old school by mentioning Sorbathanes but 10's of 1,000's of combat arms guys can't be wrong. Wait, we all volunteered so maybe our judgement is off to begin with. Oh well, I've used them as inserts for over 20 years in all my hardcore footwear.

Also welcome Stephen. When you do a Google search for the benefits of V5F, you will find 1,000's of advocate blogs and personal reviews and zero scientific research that backs up their claims. In fact Vibram, whether rightly or wrongly, is being sued for injuries because there is no empirical study that backs their claims.

Bonafides. I bought my first pair of v5f in 2006 when they were only sold by independent retailers out of cars and back offices. Zero retail. I have been a running and triathlon coach. I have probably and with conservative estimation run 750 miles in v5f over the years. Mostly as a training tool but some obstacle course and trail races, not including just wearing out and about.

It is hard to refute anyone's personal opinion and for those that it works for in changing running biomechanics, as they did for me going from heel strike to midfoot, they work. But the fact remains that people transitioning from running shoes to v5f do not always find they work and my increase the rate of plantar injuries and possibly increase injury to the knee joint and quadriceps tearing. However these studies are still quite small and can also be attributed to a full range of issues with the runners one inherent flaw in adapting to the new footwear.

The only scientific study I found is this from ACE , though there are a few others. All stating five finger shoes can work if your body adapts but that is not a given just putting on the shoes. In fact I have read the best way to adapt to the vibram is to change your running biomechanics in your running shoes first and then switch to a minimalist shoe.

Glad they worked for you. They also worked for me, but the real science coming out, not the personal testimony's, is at best neutral towards the overall benefits of using them over regular running shoes to stop injuries.