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Another note on shoes and ankle problems (Read 27 times)

FTYC


Faster Than Your Couch!

    I just read an interesting article (in German) about running shoes and foot and ankle issues.

     

    The essence is: shoes with wider soles in the heel area may lead to a forced motion pattern in the ankle. If the heel area is too wide, the lever ratio affecting the lower ankle joints (Lisfranc) can exert excessively high forces, leading to excessive loads and thus more wear and tear (inflammation, arthritis) in these joints.

    If the heel drop is too high and/or the distance of the heel from the ground is too high, the loads on the upper ankle joints can become excessively high, again leading to joint problems.

     

    So if you have such ankle problems, check your shoes for those two features. Also, check your everyday shoes, not just the running shoes.

    I personally have found that wearing the wrong shoes on the job (for hours on end) can lead to ankle problems, whereas I have never had ankle problems from running in my usual running shoes.

     

    The article also stated that the runner can often "feel" if a shoe is right for him or not, just by running a short distance, like around the block, and that this "feeling" is just as effective and sound as a scientific bio-mechanical gait analysis carried out in a well-equipped laboratory under the supervision of a highly trained professional (and not just a shoe sales person who has gone through a weekend seminar on gait analysis).

     

    So, trailers, let's go for a run (in the right shoes!)!

    Run for fun.