motion control shoes

What’s in a Shoe? Stability.

Nicole Lowe McBride1 Comment

Everyone’s Feet pronate. Pronation is when your foot rolls inward to distribute the forces of impact as your foot makes contact with the ground. Normally, this is about 15%. The arch of your foot is the biggest factor in your pronation.

There are three basic types of shoes as far as stability goes. A neutral shoe, which allows your foot to move in its natural way; a stability shoe, which gives your foot some assistance to not over pronate; and a motion control shoe, which gives your foot maximal support to not over pronate.

If you go into a running store to purchase your shoes, they are likely to watch you run and walk in bare feet and then with various shoes on. They are trying to determine if you pronate, supinate beyond what’s normal. Their recommendations for shoes typically follow this pattern:

People with normal arches will typically run in either a neutral or stability shoe.

Those with low arches or flat feet typically use a stability or motion control shoe. Flat footed runners typically overpronate meaning their foot rolls in farther than it should toward the big toe. Because of this, a stability shoe is usually a good option. However, if you see that the outside of your shoe’s sole is being worn faster than the rest, you’ve got too much control going on in the shoe and need to switch to something neutral.

Heavier runners (men between 160-180 and women 140-160) who over pronate will likely need more than just the average stability shoe. Look into the motion control shoes to help with the overpronation.

Those with high arches under-pronate (supinate) and so typically do best in a neutral shoe. A little note here: Women have a greater quadricep angle and wear down the outside of their shoes more quickly than men, but it doesn’t mean you supinate.

Over or under pronation can place you at high risk for particular types of injuries. Overpronation causes extra stress and tightness in the muscles. Too much motion in your foot can cause calluses, bunions, runner’s knee, plantar fasciitis, and Achilles tendinitis.

Under pronation (supination) places extra stress on the foot, which could lead to you developing ITband syndrome, Achilles tendinitis, and plantar faciitis.

The problem with all of this information is the research doesn’t really support it. It’s all theory. Now, I’m not saying you should throw out your tried and true running shoes and go with something different as far as stability. What the research supports is choosing the amount of stability that you are most comfortable in. This may take some trial and error. You can pull on a pair of shoes and they feel great in the store, but when you take them for a run, they just don’t work. This is why you should always check the return policy of a store before you buy the shoes.

Pronation can change as you become a more experienced runner because the muscles and tendons of your feet and ankles become stronger. When I first began running, I overpronated, then I supinated for a while. When you go to get new shoes, try some different things on. You may find your feet have changed and you’re more comfortable in a different shoe.

The stability of a shoe won’t necessarily impact your ability to run faster either. The issue will be the weight of the shoe. Heavier shoes are going to slow you down. For every 100 g  of shoe weight you can anticipate a 0.8% decrease in speed. The more stability you have in a shoe, the heavier it’s going to be.

The big take away from all this is, the stability of a shoe isn’t going to reduce your injury risk. Go with what is comfortable, but check in every once in a while to make sure your favorite shoe, is still your favorite.

Happy running. Next up is heel to toe drop.

What’s in a Shoe?

Nicole Lowe McBrideLeave a comment

Overwhelmed by the shoe choices at your local running store? Well, you’re not alone and if you shop online there are even more options. A common occurrence in the running community is that whenever we have a new ache or pain we blame our shoes. And yes, shoes can contribute to aches and pains, but we like to blame shoes because it’s an easy fix and it means it’s not us.

We don’t like to think it’s our training load, lack of strength, a muscle imbalance or some other thing that will take months to change. We want it to be something easy, so we can get back to running as much as we want as soon as we want.

This desire for shoes to fix our problems and make us the best runner possible has lead me to my next series of posts.  There will be a post on the following shoe features stability, heel to toe drop, and cushion. In each post I’ll cover things like will it reduce the risk of injury? Is it best for a certain type of foot arch, pronation, wide feet, foot strike? Is it best for a specific surface? Is it best for a beginning runner/experienced runner? And will they make me faster?

First, I want to cover some general shoe information. You should replace your shoes every 300-500 miles. The range can change depending on the durability of the shoe itself and on you as a runner, such has how hard you land with each stride. Running on the road will wear your shoes out faster than running on a trail, but the way you run has more of an impact than where you run. As you become a more experienced runner, you’ll know when your shoes are worn out. If you’re new to running, write down when you bought your shoes on the tongue of the shoe or on your training calendar and then after 200 miles go to the running store and run on their treadmill in a new pair of the same shoe you’re running in.

Owning more than one pair of running shoes and alternating between them is a good idea, but the upfront costs sucks. You can buy two pairs of the same shoe and get benefits because it takes about 24 hours for a shoe to fully recover from a run. So, if you run two a days, or you run with less than 24 hours between workouts you’ll have fresh shoes. It’s even better if they are different brands with different features.

If you are a runner you also have to think about what you have on your feet when you’re not running. You may be increasing your risk of injury by wearing unsupportive casual or dress shoes all day long. Replacing your everyday shoes regularly is important too. You can’t be walking/standing around all day in crappy shoes and then expect to stress your feet during a long run and be just fine.

Lacing your shoe up properly also ensures that the shoe is able to function like the manufacture intends. If they are too loose or too tight, they are not doing what you need them to do and they’re not going to work for your feet. If you can slip your foot in and out easily, it’s too loose. If you can pry your shoe off easily with the other foot, it’s too loose. If you feel tingling in your foot, it’s too tight. If the top of your foot gets sore, it could also be too tight.

Buying the right size of running shoe is obviously important for comfort and for functionality. Running shoes should be ½ to one size too big because your feet tend to swell during long runs. Many people have one foot that is longer than the other or a toe on one foot that stretches out further than on the other foot. Make sure you’re getting shoes that fit your longest foot, including its toes. They also need to be wide enough for your toes to splay (spread out) when you land and push off the ground.

If you wear orthotics in your shoes, make sure and take them with you to the running store because it will change they type of shoe you will likely buy. Orthotics or over-the-counter insoles provide support to your arch, a running store may recommend a shoe with more support if they don’t know you put in an orthotic or how much support the orthotic provides.

Happy running. Next up is Stability.

Shoe Week!

Nicole Lowe McBrideLeave a comment

shoe types

Stability, Motion control, Neutral, What?

How do you know which shoes are right for your feet? There are definitely a ton of options out there. Just about every brand of shoe has every type of shoe. More and more types of shoes come out all the time too, making the decision all the more difficult. Most new runners go into a running store and get recommendations from the staff. This is what I recommend for new runners. So let’s go over some basic shoe terminology and information.

I’m going to start with the most straight forward, the neutral shoe.  A neutral shoe means exactly what it says, neutral. It doesn’t guild or force your foot to behave in a particular way. It lets your foot do whatever it does naturally for you. There’s nothing more to it. Most people are going to fall into this category. In fact, most research says this type of shoe carries the least amount of injury risk for all types of feet.

Stability shoes control the movement of your foot. It provides added support to the inside of the forefoot to prevent it from rolling inward (pronating) too much. Pronation can be cause by your arches collapsing. Collapsing arches can cause aches and pains up in your ankles and lower leg. Stability shoes are recommended for runners who need a little bit of correction to their foot movement. The shoes do this by having extra stuff (the technical term is EVO) in the arch of the foot. These shoes are going to have less flexibility than other shoes. People with flat feet and low arches are typically steered toward stability or motion control shoes.

Motion Control shoes are the more intense version of a stability shoe. These shoes do the same thing as a stability shoe only they do more of it. These are more stiff than the above two types of shoes. They are also more expensive.

Of course, there are more aspects to consider when choosing a shoe such as toe box width, weight, stiffness, inside seams, and how your heel fits into the heel cup. Basically find shoes that fit your feet well. You should love your running shoes and want to wear them all the time.

If you are a new runner and choose to wear stability or motion control shoes, have your feet re-evaluated at a running store after six months. Your feet get stronger the more you run and you may not need the clunky shoes.

 

The perfect shoe?

Nicole Lowe McBrideLeave a comment

brooks pure

Flat feet, high arches, over pronation, supination, and heel striking, as runners we hear many recommendations on what type of shoe we need based upon our foot type, but what does the research say?

Thirty-five to fifty-six percent of runners are injured each year. The type of shoe you run in, has little impact on the frequency of injuries. That’s right my fellow runners, how often you are injured doesn’t have much if anything to do with the type of shoes you run in.

A research study done in North Carolina with 700 runners, all of which had been running for more than ten years, and who ran approximately 20 miles a week showed no difference in injury rate regardless of wearing stability shoes, motion control shoes, or cushion shoes, Gross (2011). There was also no difference in injury rate based upon heel, mid-foot, and forefoot strikers.

Everyone thinks that running injuries are caused by impact forces and pronation issues.  Pronation is looked at as being a problem because the extra rotation of the foot causes more rotation in the ankle, muscles and tendons. There have been a few studies, which show that there is no difference in injury rate for marathon runners who over pronate Wen et al. (1997), Wen et al. (1998), and Nigg et al. (2000).

There have been studies on whether or not motion control shoes actually stop pronation as well. The resounding answer is No they do not change the way the foot and lower leg muscles and tendons move Stacoff (2001), Bulter (2007), and Dixon (2007).

All right so pronation isn’t the culprit we thought it was, what about impact forces? The running community has long believed that the greater the force when you hit the ground the more likely you are to suffer from injuries because of the increased stress to the foot and leg.

Studies on whether or not cushioned shoes actually reduce internal and external impact forces show that there is little to no reduction in the forces, Nigg (2000).

Another study, Nigg (1997), showed that there is not a difference in chronic injuries rate between high impact runners and low impact runners. Nor does the type of surface you run on make a difference in injury rate. To make this even more confounding, impact forces increase bone density!

Why doesn’t  impact forces have an impact on frequency of injury? Because your body adapts to the surface it is coming into contact with Nigg (2000) and O’Flynn (1996). The idea is that when you impact the ground, your foot sends a signal to your brain saying how hard the surface is and your body adjusts using your leg joints (which act like a spring: hip, knee, and ankle).  There is also research showing that choosing your shoes based upon your arch height does not reduce injuries either Knapik (2009)

When  you have a cushioned shoe, your body just takes the extra cushion into account and remains more stiff through your leg. Regardless of the amount of cushion under your foot, you impact the ground with the same force because of the sensory feedback from foot to brain.

IF shoes don’t help prevent injuries, what does? Training properly by increasing miles slowly, no more than 10% a week. Misalignment of joints, think about seeing a chiropractor. Tight soft tissues, use your foam roller.

Okay, so which shoes should I buy? The ones that feel the most comfortable. Try on different types of shoes and go for a run around the block or on the treadmill for a quarter mile. If they feel good, buy them.