The long-standing belief that more cushioning means less impact when running has turned out to be false, especially in runners who heel strike. Heel strike running generates the most net mechanical impact, which was found to compound itself more quickly in thick cushioned running shoes as compared with minimalist shoes, which encourages a less force-intensive, more controlled forefoot strike.
Because impact levels always exceed tolerance, heel strike runners need all the help they can get to reduce injury. This is why their shoes have more padding under the heel (called a crash-pad) than the front of the shoe, shown below:
Research (references below article) has found the reason injury rates are too high in heel strike runners is their shoes, regardless of heel-pad thickness, produces too much impact that cannot absolutely be absorbed. Not only that, the more padding under the heel, the higher the heel height, the more instabilities of the foot at landing, which transfers more torsional and rotational stress up the leg.
In alignment with this, a study by Sterzing et al. in the journal, Footwear Science, found that larger crash-pads did not weaken the heel strike transient force (burst in collision impact at landing), and instead, these shoes caused heel strike runners to land with more force, resulting in an unusually high average loading rate. Based on their data, the researchers noted that experts must refrain from claiming that greater under-heel cushioning reduces impact, because it doesn’t.
The researchers also found that a more effective, long-term strategy for reliably reducing impact is not with thicker crash-pads, but by modifying foot strike as the biggest improvement in sustainably preventing damaging impacts from exceeding tolerance is with switching from heel strike to a forefoot strike (shown below). That said, the benefits of forefoot running has now been more well-reported than the ‘protective benefits’ of cushioned running shoes.
The current standard of preventing running-related injuries is cushioned running shoes, but the ongoing research on impact mechanics gives more recognition to the legitimacy of these shoes as being a source of injury, especially if you heel strike when you run. Its more accurate to adopt forefoot running based on the very statically significantly reductions in widespread impact. That said, here are all the injuries forefoot running prevents that are directly caused by heel strike running.
References:
Heidenfelder, J., Sterzing, T., & Milani, T.L. (2010). Crash-pad thickness systematically reduces impact shock in running shoes. Footwear Science, 2(2), 85 91.
Nigg, B.M., Cole, G.K., & Br € uggemann, G.P. (1995). Impact forces during heel-toe running. Journal of Applied Biomechanics, 11, 407 432.
Sterzing et al. Running shoe crash-pad design alters shoe touchdown angles and ankle stability parameters during heel toe running. Footwear Sci, 2015; 7(2); 81-93.
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