Scientists say there is no evidence to support the widespread belief that running shoes with sophisticated cushioning or heel supports prevent injury.

Researcher Craig Richards from the University of Newcastle says his team searched almost 60 years of articles relating to running, shoes and injury prevention, and found no published tests on whether hi-tech shoes have a real world benefit.

"We searched all the articles we could identify in the major databases since 1950," Dr Richards told ABC Radio's PM program.

"None of them have actually been control trials and most of them are just reiterating expert opinion or referring to studies which have been performed in a laboratory which don't actually have any real world meaning.

"The bottom line is that these shoes have been experimental for the last 20 years and [are] still experimental."

Dr Richards admits some will argue with his findings.

"To health professionals, to runners to shoe retailers and to the sort of shoes that manufacturers have been producing this is absolutely heretical," he said.

"This is why it is such an interesting finding and one which really needs to be pursued by some careful scientific research now, to establish whether these shoes are good for you, whether they do nothing for you or whether they are actually harmful for you."

President of the Australasian Podiatry Council Brenden Brown says that does not mean consumers should necessarily jump off the treadmill and throw away their shoes.

"I think that it's quite easy to say to say that there are no studies out there suggesting that these shoes in fact work, but there are many products that we use in medicine, health and everyday life [and] there aren't studies to back up their use," he said.

Ben Ly, who manages a fitness centre in inner Sydney, says high quality performance footwear does make a difference to training.

"If you look at the Olympics that were in you know, the 70s and the 60s when they were running in pure flat based shoes on tartan [sic], a lot of people were probably getting more stress fractures than ever before," he said.

"There was no orthotics, there was no inbuilt arch.

"Flat feet is a growing problem. A lot of people are getting pronation in the ankle which relates to knee pain which relates to knee injury, which relates to the hip to the back. It all relates to everything, it all starts at your feet."

Liz Brett, a sports and recreation manager and former Australian Olympic volleyballer, also recommends people spend money on shoes to reduce the risk of injury.

"I do chat to people who come to the UTS fitness centre occasionally and particularly those who aren't wearing proper running shoes who are on the treadmill, I'll often go up and ask them if they've considered purchasing a pair of running shoes," she said.

"You can hear it, you can hear the slapping when you're on the treadmills and you think, it's just an injury waiting to happen."

But she admits she hopes she has not fallen victim to a marketing con job.

"Bloody hope not. I've spent too much money over the years on [shoes] to be conned," she said.

"While there may not be enough information out there or enough research on this particular topic, I do think it's fair to say that there really are good shoes that improve not necessarily improve performance but certainly reduce the risk of injury."

Adapted from a report by Emily Bourke for PM, March 11.