Heel Strike Running Causes IT Band Injury vs Forefoot Striking
The evidence is clear that heel striking when running is a magnet for IT band injury, which is prevent by forefoot striking.
ITBS
How Heel Strike Running Causes ITBS vs Forefoot Running
Heel strike running was proven to yet again cause another injury, ITBS, by causing the foot to wrestle too much with the ground during the heel-to-toe rollover action. This was found to transfer increases in bending and rotational stress from the foot to the IT band as compared with forefoot striking, which was found to have the most stabilizing effects on the foot-ankle complex throughout all phases of running gait.
Does Heel Striking Cause IT Band Pain? YES!
Heel strike running dramatically increases the risk of IT band pain by encouraging crossover foot steps. The mechanical consequence of crossover foot-steps when runnng is it causes the shin to bend too far inwards, resuling in more tractional and frictional forces on the IT band, while causing the IT band to compress the knee’s outer fat pad, causing it to become painfully inflamed. These mechanical risk factors were found to be corrected with forefoot running, which automatically alignes the shin more vertically at landing, which prevents an over-stride and crossover footsteps.
Are Traditional Running Shoes Bad for Your Knees?
Becaue of their stiff structure, traditional running shoes are bad for the knees because these shoes were found to push the feet and ankle into extreme positions, resulting in increased rotational stess up the shin to the knee.
Forefoot Running Prevents IT Band Injury
Forefoot running is better for IT band injury prevention because it was found to naturally engage safer mechanics that was found to relieve excessive vertical impacts, tensile stress, bending strain and higher rates of loading off IT band than heel strike running.