Landing with a forefoot strike over a heel strike has led the way in injury prevention and performance. A report by Forner et al., in the journal Foot & Ankle International found that landing with a forefoot strike when running stops the flow of impact up the leg by localizing impact absorption to the forefoot, mid-foot and ankle. This also eliminated the rapid rise in heel impact that’s associated with heel strike running.
Also, because the heel is the last part of the foot to contact the ground in forefoot running, there’s little to no impact on the heel, which is why heel injuries are extremely rare in forefoot strikers vs heel strikers.
Likewise, a similar study by Daoud et al., in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found another way forefoot running prevents injury. It was found to reduce foot-ground impact as foot-ground contact time was reduced as compared with heel strike running. This means by landing forefoot-first when running, the foot spends less time on the ground, resulting in a contact with the ground that’s so brief that certain impact variables are not fully produced or produced at all. Read more here!
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