What is the Correct Foot Strike for Running?

What is the Correct Foot Strike for Running?

The correct foot strike for running is the forefoot strike, not the heel strike, and there’s very little, if not, no convincing evidence against this. This is because foot strike pattern has the biggest influence on impact production in running whereby there’s significantly less all-around force components in forefoot running. In fact, forefoot running was found to be much safer for the feet than heel strike running.

A study by Wellenkotter et al., in the journal Orthopedic Biomechanics investigated the effects of foot strike pattern on risk factors related to foot injury in runners and found that forefoot running reduced over-loads on the foot, total foot contact time, peak force and pressure on the foot and heel force, while also reducing medial metatarsal force and pressure time integral.

How did forefoot running do more to reduce stressful net loads on the foot than heel strike running?

Forefoot running directly increases step-rate (feet spend less time grappling with the ground), resulting in a ground-contact time that is so brief, many force components have no time to exceed tolerance and many stressors aren’t produced at all! Moreover, there’s less dramatic bounce in forefoot running, which reduces the downward force of the foot as compared with heel strike running. Read more here!

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