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Wow, the premise of the article looking at strengthening the intrinsic foot muscles is astoundingly lacking of common sense.  You seriously think 10 weeks is going to change structure formed over many years and the study was likely done with subjects that are likely done growing or almost done.  That said, arches are not going to change unless the foot is constantly stressed to that form or traumatically changed.  


Not surprised people start having foot pain when they take away all support and cushioning that it has become accustomed to, especially when they likely have joint dysfunction occurring that is asymptomatic.

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Not too surprised by the heel strike economy gain as it is a bit more passive and probably decreases the number of strides needed to cover the same amount of distance.  I haven't read "Born to Run" but I wonder what kind of efficiency they talk about.  From a different stand point, I could see it being more efficient to forefoot run but I haven't put that much thought into  to lay out all the details so don't quote me on that.


I would expect plenty of people to incur injury going to minimalist shoes.  After years of having support to no support, great setup for dysfunction among the many joints in the ankle foot complex.  That doesn't mean I don't support wearing minimalist shoes as I do see some great benefits to them - proprioception being a huge component.  When kids learn to walk, it is extremely important that they be barefoot for the sensory input they receive from the ground for development.  

I wonder what foot exercises prior to even starting a running program in minimalist shoes would do to lessen that number?  People are impatient and even though they say they are building up slowly, I doubt it.  It is like patients I see, they start feeling good and then come back and say, "Well....I tried this out..." and it didn't go well.  Sometimes it works fine but other times, not so much.