One of the only ways to prevent ankle injury when running is to either run barefoot or in minimalist shoes because the heightened feel of the ground translates into better muscular and reflexive stability of the ankle, allowing for both more controlled ankle and foot step stability as compared with thick cushioned running shoes, which was found to be threatened to the stability of the ankle-joint!
Long-term reliance on running shoes with excessive underfoot cushioning was found to reduce nerve supply in the feet, which contributes to frail, functionally weak feet as well as poor balance as compared with barefoot-inspired shoes, which were found to improve nerve communication efficiency. This in turn lead to greater muscle tone which promotes stronger muscles and soft tissues in the foot.
Contrary to popular belief that the thicker the cushioning of your running shoe, the less chance you have of getting injured, pioneering studies have discovered the standard running shoe with a large cushioned heel was an inadequate shock absorbent, reducing impact by only 10% in a heel strike landing. However, not all cushioned running shoes causes injury, only running shoes with more padding under the heel relative to the front of the shoe was found to push the heel too far in front of the hips at landing, causing a heel strike that is tied to a burst of collisional impact implicated in severe injuries, like long bone fractrure, knee ligament problems and even lower back disc degeneration as compared with zero-drop running shoes (running shoes with equal padding under the heel and the toe-box).
Running in barefoot sandals was found to do a better job at promoting foot health, especially strengthening the foot’s arch, while preventing a force-intensive heel strike and over-striding during, and instead, facilitated a low-impact, more stable forefoot strike landing.
One of the best strategies to avoid heel strike when running is to wear minimalist running shoes. This is because the flat, fully flexible and thin sole helps you feel the ground more clearly, while aligning the foot in a better postion of which taken together helps you mobilize a more targeted forefoot strike that generates less braking with no burst in high collisional impact.
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