Its been made abundantly clear to say conclusively that foot strike in running has major implications for injury, such as plantar fasciitis whereby heel strike running produces impacts that are both more enormous and immediate on the plantar fascia than forefoot running, which was found to minimize damaging impacts to the plantar fascia while maximizing its spring properties.
A study by Chang et al., in the journal of Clinical Biomechanics found that heel strike running increased the risk of injury to the plantar fascia tendon because the higher-than-normal amounts of impact on the heel at touchdown (shown above) lead to plantar fascia degeneration and fragmentation as well as reduced thickness and atrophy of the fascia! The end result: plantar fasciitis turns into a chronic condition!
In alignment with these findings, another study by Riberio et al., in the journal PLOS ONE found that plantar loading was higher over the calcaneal area in heel strike runners, and was pegged to be a major risk factor for plantar fasciitis.
Because of the accompanying high impact conditions as shown in the diagram above, the plantar fascia will always suffer under heel strike running, since landing heel-first when running always produces a damaging form of impact called the impact transient, which is a burst in collisional impact distinctive to heel strike running, but is eliminated with forefoot running. Its the heel strike transient, coupled with the prolonged, intensive brake force that also leads to deposited fibrosis of the heel pad, which causes the heel pad to lose elasticity and shock-absorbing capacity –this is what initiates plantar fascia degeneration and pain.
The Take Home Message
In running, to sustainably safeguard your plantar fascia from injury, you need to move away from heel striking and land with a forefoot strike because it reliably reduces impact at the heel thereby preventing heel pad damage which is in large measure crucial for staving off plantar fasciitis.
Remember, firm research shows that runners without an inflamed plantar fascia have less plantar loading on the heel, so it would make sense that a forefoot strike landing is better on the plantar fascia because little to no force filters through the heel pad. Not just that, forefoot running prevents the kind of impacts that also cause long bones fracture, chronic knee pain and lower back damage! Read more on that here!
If you’ve enjoyed this post, you’ll love the content on my YouTube channel, here, where I show why forefoot running works, and why heel strike running hurts.
References:
Chang R, Kent-Braun JA, Hamil J. Use of MRI for volume estimation of tibialis posterior and plantar
intrinsic foot muscles in healthy and chronic plantar fasciitis limbs. Clin Biomech. 2012; 27(5):500 – 505.
Davis, I. What can we learn from watching children run? AAMA J Fall, 2011; 7-8.
Ribeiro et al. Dynamic patterns of forces and loading rates in runners with unilateral plantar fasciitis: a cross-sectional study. PLOS ONE, 2015; DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0136971.
Rome K, Campbell R, Flint A, Haslock I. Heel Pad Thickness — A Contributing Factor Associated with
Plantar Heel Pain in Young Adults. Foot & Ankle International 2002; 23(12):142 – 7.
Lemont H, Ammirati K, Usen N. A Degenerative Process (Fasciosis) Without Inflammation. J Am Podi-
atric Med Assoc. 2003; 93(3):234 – 7.
Mahowald S, Legge BS, Grady JF. The correlation between plantar fascia thickness and symptoms of
plantar fasciitis. J Am Podiatr Med Assoc. 2011; 101(5):385 – 389. PMID: 21957269.
Sahin N, Ozturk A, Atici T. Foot mobility and plantar fascia elasticity in patients with plantar fasciitis. Acta Orthop Traumatol Turc. 2010; 44(5):385 – 391. doi: 10.3944/AOTT.2010.2348 PMID: 21343689
Schepsis AA, Leach RE, Gorzyca J. Plantar fasciitis. Etiology, treatment, surgical results, and review of the literature. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1991; 266:185 – 96. PMID: 2019049
If you’d like, you can support Run Forefoot and help keep it going by making a donation in any amount of your choosing:
Or, you can support Run Forefoot by shopping at the BEST Barefoot Shoe Brands, and be sure to bookmark these links 🙂
Lonowear: https://lonowear.com/?ref=cedsholh
Saguaro: https://www.saguaro.com/?ref=9bVA8fEkmDvB-I
Vibram FiveFingers: https://amzn.to/3VQLAUI
Vivobarefoot: https://amzn.to/3vycQOY
Be Lenka: https://www.tkqlhce.com/click-7600968-13947200
Xero Shoes: https://xeroshoes.com/go/Run_Forefoot
Iguaneye: https://www.iguaneye.com/?ref=8tfXVc92
Soft Star Shoes: https://shrsl.com/3mp1b
Wilding Shoes: https://bit.ly/3lIygQP
Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.
Your article helped me a lot, is there any more related content? Thanks!
Your point of view caught my eye and was very interesting. Thanks. I have a question for you.