How Can I Make My Running Form Better? Change Your Footwear!

The first place to start in improving your running form is to make sure you’re landing with a forefoot strike, not a heel strike. A forefoot strike is  proven to be the best way to connect on the ground because it prevents the kind of impact that causes severe bone injuries as compared with heel strike running. Most notably, landing with a forefoot strike greatly improves other major aspects of your stride that result in a more maximal level of impact protection and better energy economy!

How Can I Make My Running Form Better?

Factual reviews on biomechanics in running have concluded the best place to start in optimizing your forefoot strike landing is to run in minimalist shoes because for one, these shoes are fully flexible and very wide, which will make your feet stronger than ever as they’re engaged independently in a continuous way.

How Can I Make My Running Form Better? Change Your Footwear!

As shown above, minimalist shoes have a wider toe-box, allowing the toes to spread fully for better balance control and increased surface area to disperse impact evenly.  This will also improve toe flexor strength, which is an important parameter for enhancing balance and jump performance! This is also why minimalist shoes are effective therapy for both foot weakness and shape irregularities. 

How Can I Make My Running Form Better? Change Your Shoes!

For Another, unlike conventional running shoes (shown above left), minimalist running shoes (shown above right) are flat and allow you to feel the ground. This is the most effective combination proven to correct stride imbalances, such as heel striking, over-striding and over-pronation. This is because the heightened ground-feel adds more stimulus for enhanced neuromuscular and reflexive responses that account for the automatic removal of the burst in collisional impact at landing, a higher step-rate tied to more controlled pronation, a shorter over-stride angle which minimizes high brake loads and safer knee and shin angles.

Equally beneficial, the flat sole helps you leverage a proper forefoot strike landing which is also the best way to power the arch and achilles tendon for better running economy.  This is because the foot’s arch and Achilles tendon become more effective at storing and releasing elastic energy when a forefoot strike pattern is employed. This safe lots of energy because it reduces muscle costs.

But, it’s not just the feet that benefits immensely from minimalist shoes. You’ll also enjoy big improvements at the ankle by reducing ankle stiffness and increasing ankle range of motion. This makes the ankle better at stabilizing the foot, especially making you more stable on a treadmill and on uneven terrain.

Last but not least, a groundbreaking study the journal, Nature, found that minimalist running shoes are better for your knees by reducing knee angular motion during treadmill running. This means that theres no conflicting internal and external rotation forces attacking the knee as compared with conventional running shoes. 

Under-Heel Cushioning Leads to Troubled Running Form!

Current research shows that when a running shoe has more cushioning under the heel than the toe-box, heel strike potential increases and so does over-striding, leading to peak impact forces the body cannot absorb. This is why injury rates in running remain high, even with all the advancements in running shoe technology.

How Can I Make My Running Form Better? Change Your Footwear!
The main cause of heel striking when running is a running shoe with too much cushioning under the heel. In consequence, impact is produced in larger amounts, and landing this way leads to insufficient impact absorption and poorer elastic energy loading, which coincides with greater muscle energy costs and injury.


Worse still, thick cushioned-heeled running shoes cause the foot to wrestle too long on the ground, allowing more time for over-pronation, which means the foot is pushed into extreme, over-straining positions. There’s very clear evidence that minimalist shoes reverse all of these mechanical impediments linked to running-related injuries. 

It’s for all these reasons that there’s good reason minimalist shoes continue to gain a reputation for being more safe and practical than standard running shoes. However, minimalist running shoes aren’t the only answer to better running form. Doing some barefoot running on a regular basis leads to even bigger and faster mechanical modifications that are safer and more functional! Read more here!

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References:

Lieberman et al., 2010. Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners. Nature, 463:531-35.

Bretta Riches

"I believe the forefoot strike is the engine of endurance running..."

BSc Neurobiology; MSc Biomechanics candidate, ultra minimalist runner & founder of RunForefoot. I was a heel striker, always injured. I was inspired by the great Tirunesh Dibaba to try forefoot running. Now, I'm injury free. This is why I launched Run Forefoot, to advocate the health & performance benefits of forefoot running and to raise awareness on the dangers of heel striking, because the world needs to know.
Bretta Riches

P.S. Don't forget to check out the Run Forefoot Facebook Page, it's a terrific place to ask questions about forefoot running, barefoot running and injury. I'm always happy to help!