hi everyone it's bretta riches from
runforefoot.com and today I'm going to be
talking to you about why it's a good
idea to avoid wearing a running shoe
that is very sickly cushioned that has
very foamy squishy underfoot cushioning
and the reason being is that especially
if you were a new forefoot runner it's
very important to be able to not only
feel the ground but to run in a shoe that
has no compressible materials whatsoever
because when you run in a thick running
shoe that's as thick as a phone book
what's going to happen is this
creates a very unstable landing
environment. In addition to not being
able to sense the ground properly
landing in super sick cushioning like I
said creates a very unstable landing
surface because the foot is trying to
push through the compressible material
to reach for a more stable, harder
landing surface and the result of
running in very thick cushioned running
shoes that are foamy feeling is that to
a new forefoot running beginner, this may
cause a hyper extension injury
especially if you have muscle strength
imbalances especially in your hips
your abductors and abductors and this is
why it's very important to choose a
running shoe in your beginning stages of
a learning forefoot running when you
become more experienced and when you
have developed the proper musculature to
facilitate a forefoot strike landing then
you can wear thick cushioned running
shoes if you choose to but if you are
learning forefoot running like I said
you're recruiting new muscles to land
with a forefoot strike then if you were
to run with a heel strike so that's why
it's very important to create a very
stable landing surface and I'm going to
talk about some of the bad points that
have been brought up in the scientific
literature with regards to thick
compressible running shoes. So a study by
the towel 2008 found that running over
surfaces that have that have foamy material
or if you wear a running shoe that has a
very thick compressible foam midsole
cushioning that this increased body sway
the researchers
found that when you run on harder
surfaces balance was less interrupted so
basically what the researchers found is
that if you run on a harder running
surface or if you run in a very thin
running shoe that you are more likely to
make less balance errors versus if you
were to run in a very thickly cushioned
running shoe or if you were to run on a
very thickly cushioned matted surface now
it's very customary for recreational
runners to wear very thick cushioned
running shoes but that could be the
reason why injury rates are
astronomically high in runners despite
advancements in running shoe
technology however a more successful
version of protection when it comes to
running is wearing less on your feet as
this creates a more stable landing
surface so you are less likely to suffer
a hyperextension injury and another very
common hyperextension injury is an
Achilles tendon injury so again if you
have pain on either sides of your
Achilles tendon, if your Achilles tendon
feels very tender you might want to
consider trying barefoot running and
also you might want to consider running
in a running shoe, going completely
minimalism so that you are
less inflicted with balance impairments
which could hurt the Achilles tendon so
this is one of the reasons why running
and very thick cushion running shoes is
risky business especially if you're
learning a new running technique such as
forefoot running. Remember when you're
learning forefoot running you essentially
want to have as much sensory input
available as possible so that you have
better balance control and of course we
all know that to achieve the highest
level of sensory input is by running
barefoot and I would strongly suggest
that you do a lot of your training runs
barefoot even if it's just running
barefoot five to ten minutes a day doing
this is a specialized building block for
better stability when you run
particularly at the ankle. Now there was
another study, which I'll linked below by
Meijer 2004 and they found that foam
materials under the foot decreased
proprioception which is your ability to
sense position & positional
information that your brain
receives from the peripheral nerves in
your joints and in this case we're
talking about the proprioception in the
foot. When proprioception is blocked or
significantly reduced, the ankles
have to work a little bit harder because
there was minimal ground feel within the
foot, this caused balance to be a little
bit impaired so this is why the ankles
increase in torqued in order to
compensate for the loss of balance in a
sense that occurred up a foot because as
the blocked proprioception due to the
thickly cushion running shoes so as I
always say the best way to get results is
to avoid running in shoes that cause
sensory information to be unreliable or
very difficult to be interpreted by the
brain and that the best balance control
must come from running on surfaces that
does not challenge the proprioceptive
system so what you want to do is you
want to run on a running surface that
makes sensory input fully available and
the best way to do that is to completely
avoid wearing running shoes with thick
insoles or inserts you want to try, like
I said, running barefoot or converting to
minimalist running especially in your
beginning stages of learning forefoot
running and this will help maximize your
balance control by reducing the amount
of body sway. For more information on
forefoot running tips and also for more
information on the dangers of heel
strike running please head on over to my
blog: RunForefoot.com, where you will
also find tips on barefoot running as
well as my reviews and recommendations
on the best running shoes for forefoot
running and have fun out there on the
roads and don't forget to subscribe to
my youtube channel to stay updated on
what the research is saying about
biomechanics of running. Bye for now