The Running Shoe Recommendations You’ve Never Heard
Picking out a pair of new running shoes has become overly complicated. Treadmill analysis, foot molds and pressure mapping are all current practice nowadays in running stores across the country. They eventually all lead to recommendations based on your arch. Does it collapse or is it high? While this is common practice we don’t see that it’s very predictive of whether or not you’ll be injured (1,3). What should we use if foot posture doesn’t seem to help us decide?
The first recommendation is the most vague and the answer everyone hates- whatever is most comfortable. You may be thinking, “WoW WhAt A bReAkThRoUgH rEcOmMeNdAtIoN”, but you would be surprised how many people I talk to that consider every other measurement, besides whether or not it feels good to wear. What we find is that people will instinctually reduce their own risk of injury when picking a shoe based on comfort (4). So next time you’re at your local running store, make that salesman work for their commission. Try on and trial run every shoe they have if you have to! Just make sure that your final decision strongly relates back to your comfort and not the salesman’s opinion of what’s “good”.
Secondly, alternate between multiple pairs. When runners switch between different models of shoes we see a 39% decrease in running related injuries (2). I’ll say it again 39%!!! If that doesn’t blow your mind then go back and read it a third and fourth time, because that number is astronomical. I’d be willing to bet that foam rolling, icing, and stretching combined don’t decrease running related injury risk by even a TENTH as well as simply alternating between running shoes. With one pair of shoes, you’re constantly stressing the same areas over and over and in the same way. With two pair, your body is being stressed differently. This causes it to adapt and strength in multiple ways and reduce the same consistent stress, that if too much for your body will eventually cause an injury.
Need help with traininng?
References:
Knapik JJ, Trone DW, Tchandja J, Jones BH. Injury-reduction effectiveness of prescribing running shoes on the basis of foot arch height: summary of military investigations. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2014 Oct;44(10):805-12. doi: 10.2519/jospt.2014.5342. Epub 2014 Aug 25. PMID: 25155917.
Malisoux L, Ramesh J, Mann R, Seil R, Urhausen A, Theisen D. Can parallel use of different running shoes decrease running-related injury risk? Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2015 Feb;25(1):110-5. doi: 10.1111/sms.12154. Epub 2013 Nov 28. PMID: 24286345.
Nielsen RO, Buist I, Parner ET, et alFoot pronation is not associated with increased injury risk in novice runners wearing a neutral shoe: a 1-year prospective cohort studyBritish Journal of Sports Medicine 2014;48:440-447.
Nigg, B., Baltich, J., Hoerzer, S., & Enders, H. (2015). Running shoes and running injuries: mythbusting and a proposal for two new paradigms: ‘preferred movement path’ and ‘comfort filter’. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49, 1290 – 1294.