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Created page with "A Heel Counter is the part of a running shoe that is frequently added in an attempt to bind the heel of the foot to the shoe. The Science of Running Shoes indicates that t..."
A Heel Counter is the part of a running shoe that is frequently added in an attempt to bind the heel of the foot to the shoe. [[The Science of Running Shoes]] indicates that this approach is futile, but I'd suggest that a little common sense shows how ridiculous this idea is. Just consider the forces involved when your foot is in contact with the ground and how much pressure a Heel Counter would have to apply to the side of your heel to affect its motion. Thankfully, Heel Counters are generally a harmless waste of effort, though they do needlessly increase the weight of the shoe. Occasionally a shoe will have a Heel Counter that can dig in a little, but that's fairly rare in my experience. Heel Counters can vary from the hard plastic insert shown below, down to a tiny tab of additional fabric that simply prevents the shoe flopping around when it's sitting on the shelf.
[[File:HeelCounter2.JPG|none|thumb|500px| This is a dissected running shoe; it's been cut in half, and had all of the fabric upper removed. You can see the hard plastic Heel Counter sticking up at the back of the shoe.]]
[[File:HeelCounter2.JPG|none|thumb|500px| This is a dissected running shoe; it's been cut in half, and had all of the fabric upper removed. You can see the hard plastic Heel Counter sticking up at the back of the shoe.]]