Abstract: Implementations disclosed herein provide for shoes including one or more wave cushions that provide temporary storage of the shoes’ impact energy with the ground and return of a portion of that energy to enhance a runner’s running economy. The wave cushions may include a pair of foundation layers, each with an engagement surface and a sinusoidal sectional profile. The sinusoidal sectional profiles are phase offset, and the elastic membrane is oriented between the engagement surfaces. The engagement surfaces together act as alternating matched pairs of actuators and cavities. Each actuator stretches a portion of the elastic membrane into a cavity when a runner’s weight is applied, converting the runner’s kinetic energy to potential energy stored in the stretched and deformed elastic membrane. As the runner’s weight is removed, the elastic membrane springs back into a substantially planar orientation, transferring the stored potential energy back to the runner as kinetic energy.