Stability vs Neutral Shoes (Read 2106 times)

The Pronation Control Paradigm is Starting to Crumble: Review of a Study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine

It looks like there have been some recent studies that can contribute to this discussion (found in our BF forum),

 

and this column in the NY Times which references larger studies by the US military; Phys Ed: Do Certain Types of Sneakers Prevent Injuries?

 

One can make their own conclusions. Being a sample size of one does not lend itself to generalizing so my own experiences are anecdotal. I started running in cheap neutral shoes. Developed some issues, had gait observed and video'd and went with mild stability shoes, which helped a lot. Over time tho, as I learned more about form and gait I have been migrating to minimalist shoes and minimal stability shoes (love the environment friendly END OTG's - but they are not being mfg anymore) and even experimented successfully with a pair of old Crocs that I cut slits in to make more toe room. When running in thicker shoes the rt rear corner of the rt shoe takes the most impact and wears rapidly with any stability shoe. Have 170 mi on the END OTG's and 60 on the old Croc's and their wear patterns are different than my other stability shoes. Some rear corner wear, and some ball of foot wear, no where near the heavy rear corner wear.I have some new Vibram Bilkil's which haven't gone far enough to show wear yet. I do rotate thru about 5 pair of shoes testing to see how I react. I guess my point is as stated in the above articles - listen to your own body and adjust accordingly.

My experience is very similar.  Starting running knowing NOTHING about it.  I ran in cheap trainers and suffered greatly.  I'm still amazed that I didn't just give up.   Instead I did some research and realized that I was, at the time, seriously over-pronating.  I picked up some Brooks Adrenaline's and, like magic, the pain was gone.  I ran in Adrenalines for two years, constantly refining my stride the whole time.   There came a point where I started to develop some ankle pain and I realized that I probably didn't need the stability any more so I switch to the Glycerins, a neutral shoe.  Ran those for two years as well and loved them at first.  With each new model, however, they became less and less what I wanted so I switched to Asics, but stayed in neutral shoes.