I hate to sound controversial but...
If their were benefit to wearing shoes with an elevated heel in certain circumstances that I knew of I would also mention that. And if those other circumstances applied to anything else I done, such as football(soccer), sprints and agility stuff, then I would deffinitly wear them. I still own a pair of the shoes in question, but I only use them for painting & decorating ;-)
This is something I have asked about constantly because I couldn't get my head around the fact that their were so many negatives associated with them, yet, they were every where in sports shops, channels, athletes recommend them etc...
Really it's all just sales pitches. The only situation I have been told they could help in is the 1 in a million people who have shortened Achilles tendons... So they have a biomechanical reason for poor ROM at the ankle that they can't change.
Here's an interesting article that is somewhat relevant. It was posted on Eric Cresseys blog.
Feet Hurt? Stop Wearing Shoes
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... d=89830802
Obviously, it's possible i've just not found a plausible explanation as to why you should wear cross trainers. I'm always open minded to one but as far as I can tell, they feel comfortable because most people have crappy ankle ROM... I know when I started wearing Nike frees, my feet were killing me for about 2 weeks but I can't wear anything else anymore, apart from chucks of course.... Or anything else that doesn't a have a big heel...
KPj