Tips on how to run with a forefoot strike.
Does Foot Strike Really Matter in Running? YES!
Outlining the center mass definition and why its position during running dramatically affects performance and injury prevention.
Forefoot Running Tips
Why Are My Feet Tired After Running?
One of the main causes of tired feet after running is foot strike pattern. It turns out, how you land on your foot when you run has big implications for your foot’s energetics, whereby heel strike running was found to cause more rigid, high impact landings, while the line of travel of the foot when interacting on the ground was found to undergo a more harmful line of trajectory, tied to more over-pronation (i.e. the heel is forced into extreme positions) as compared with forefoot running, which was found to make more efficient, yet passive use of the foot. All in all, heel strike running causes the foot to grapple too much with the ground, which was found to be both inefficient and ineffective from an economical and injury preventative standpoint.
Ankle Pain From Forefoot Running
Ankle pain in a new forefoot runner is adaptive pain as the ankle, which is used more functionally in forefoot running thanin heel strike running, is just gaining more developmental strength to the new running condition. The pain will vanish once the ankle has adapted to forefoot running. Why does this pain arise in the first place? Its because the ankle has a bigger role to play in balancing the body, which significantly eases mechanical strain off the knee. In contrast, in heel strike running, the ankle is not used in this functional way but the knee is, which is why over-use knee injuries are higher in heel strike runners, since the additional mechanics engaged by landing heel-first was found to mis-use the knee in ways that causes loss of cartledge to the joint!
Barefoot Running Injuries: Top of Foot Pain
The main cause of toe injury from barefoot running is the toes are being used too much to aggressively push the entire weight of the body forward into the next step. This problem can be completely avoided by landing properly on your forefoot because it makes the knee softly bend and the torso shift slightly forward, which in turn, causes the foot to actually spring up on its own, thereby relieving the toes from being over-engaged to push the body forward through each step.
Is it Faster to Run on Your Forefoot? YES!
There are certain factors at work that make forefoot running more economical than heel strike running. One proven factor is that landing forefoot-first enhances the leg’s spring compression, meaning the leg is more spring-enabled. This was found to dramatically reduce muscle energy costs, which puts you in a much stronger economic position. At the same time, forefoot running also does a better job at preventing increases in impacts from spreading out onto the rest of the leg and body.