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From Fellrnr.com, Running tips
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* A study of 10 experienced rear foot runners were tested with shoes of varying heel flare<ref name="Clarke-1983"/>. This heel flare is how much wider the heel is at the bottom than the top, and the flared heels reduced pronation from 12.6 to 11.1 degrees (1.5 degree decrease) when compared with any heel without any flare. In practice, it's rare for a shoe to be this narrow at its base, and other studies have not shown this effect<ref name="Nigg-1987"/><ref name="Stacoff-2001"/>. [[File:Clarke-1983-Heel-Flare.jpg|none|thumb|200px]]
* A study of 7 people compared pronation when stepping down from a platform in shoes and when barefoot<ref name="FukanoFukubayashi2014"/>. The shoe was the Adidas Response Cushion and the platform was 4 inches/10 cm high. Pronation with shoes was less (17.9 degrees) than when barefoot (20.5 degrees). However, because the reduction was so small, the study concluded that it was impractical to alter pronation with this type of footwear.
=Running Shoes & Achilles Strain =
Studies have consistently shown that heavier shoes reduce running economy<ref name="LussianaFabre2013"/><ref name="Burkett-1985"/><ref name="Sobhani-2014"/><ref name="Wierzbinski-2011"/>. Each 100g/3.5oz added to the weight of each shoe reduces running economy by about 1%<ref name="Franz-2012"/><ref name="Wierzbinski-2011"/><ref name="Frederick 1985"/><ref name="Frederick-1984"/>. Studies of cushioning and Running Economy have provided conflicting information. I believe this conflict is due to some studies using a cushioned treadmill to compare barefoot and shod conditions. Not surprisingly, if a study uses a cushioned treadmill, the cushioning provided by the shoe does not confer any additional advantage over the barefoot condition. Analyzing the research, I conclude that a well cushioned running shoe can improve Running Economy by an estimated 2-3.5% compared with a weight matched un-cushioned shoe<ref name="Franz-2012"/><ref name="Wierzbinski-2011"/><ref name="Tung-2014"/>. Note that running shoes provide less cushioning in colder temperatures<ref name="DibSmith2005"/>.
=Heel Counters=
The [[Heel Counter]] is intended to link the heel of the foot to the shoe,
* A study found that a rigid heel counter did not prevent slippage within the shoe any better than a flexible heel counter<ref name="Gheluwe-1995"/>.
* A source of confusion in biomechanical studies is that it is much easier to measure the movement of a heel counter than the foot within. Studies can assume that changes in the movement of the heel counter reflect the equivalent changes at the foot. One study found the pronation of the foot can be twice as large as the pronation when measured on the shoe<ref name="Stacoff-2001"/>, and another found there were significant differences between the movement of the heel and the movement of the heel counter<ref name="Stacoff-1992"/>.
* One study found that cutting the bottom of the heel counter away reduced [[Running Economy]] by 2.4%<ref name="Jorgensen1990"/>, a relatively large change. Personally, I suspect this reduction in economy is due to the discomfort of the modified shoe, but the results are intriguing. [[File:HeelCounterRemoved.jpg|right|thumb|500px|The removed heel counter.]]
* Some runners are concerned that a rigid heel counter may irritate the Achilles tendon. I found no research to support or refute this concern, but personally I see it as relatively unlikely. I suspect that irritation of the Achilles tendon by a shoe is more likely to be due to the extreme rear of the upper coming up to high, or curving inwards to cup around the heel too far. Note that pain in this area could also be due to the irritation of the bursa, rather than the tendon (retrocalcaneal bursitis).
=Minimalist & Barefoot Running=
Most research looks at factors that might be related to injury risk, rather than injury rates directly. I found no studies that evaluated barefoot or minimalist running and injury rates. So while barefoot and minimalist running tends to have lower impact, it's unclear if this will have any bearing on injury rates. Of greater concern is some compelling evidence that the transition to barefoot or minimalist footwear is correlated with higher injury rates, especially stress fractures in the foot.
<ref name="Stacoff-2001">A. Stacoff, C. Reinschmidt, BM. Nigg, AJ. Van Den Bogert, A. Lundberg, J. Denoth, E. Stüssi, Effects of shoe sole construction on skeletal motion during running., Med Sci Sports Exerc, volume 33, issue 2, pages 311-9, Feb 2001, PMID [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11224823 11224823]</ref>
<ref name="Gheluwe-1995">Van Gheluwe, Bart, Rudi Tielemans, and Philip Roosen. "The influence of heel counter rigidity on rearfoot motion during running." Sort 100 (1995): 250.</ref>
<ref name="Stacoff-1992">A. Stacoff, C. Reinschmidt, E. Stüssi, The movement of the heel within a running shoe., Med Sci Sports Exerc, volume 24, issue 6, pages 695-701, Jun 1992, PMID [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1602942 1602942]</ref>
<ref name="FukanoFukubayashi2014">Mako Fukano, Toru Fukubayashi, Changes in talocrural and subtalar joint kinematics of barefoot versus shod forefoot landing, Journal of Foot and Ankle Research, volume 7, issue 1, 2014, pages 42, ISSN [http://www.worldcat.org/issn/1757-1146 1757-1146], doi [http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13047-014-0042-9 10.1186/s13047-014-0042-9]</ref>
<ref name="ChambonDelattre2013">N. Chambon, N. Delattre, E. Berton, N. Guéguen, G. Rao, The effect of shoe drop on running pattern, Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, volume 16, issue sup1, 2013, pages 97–98, ISSN [http://www.worldcat.org/issn/1025-5842 1025-5842], doi [http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10255842.2013.815919 10.1080/10255842.2013.815919]</ref>
<ref name="Bredeweg-2013">SW. Bredeweg, I. Buist, B. Kluitenberg, Differences in kinetic asymmetry between injured and noninjured novice runners: a prospective cohort study., Gait Posture, volume 38, issue 4, pages 847-52, Sep 2013, doi [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2013.04.014 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2013.04.014], PMID [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23673088 23673088]</ref>
<ref name="Fredericson-2006">M. Fredericson, F. Jennings, C. Beaulieu, GO. Matheson, Stress fractures in athletes., Top Magn Reson Imaging, volume 17, issue 5, pages 309-25, Oct 2006, doi [http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/RMR.0b013e3180421c8c 10.1097/RMR.0b013e3180421c8c], PMID [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17414993 17414993]</ref>
<ref name="Jorgensen1990">U. Jorgensen, Body load in heel-strike running: The effect of a firm heel counter, The American Journal of Sports Medicine, volume 18, issue 2, 1990, pages 177–181, ISSN [http://www.worldcat.org/issn/0363-5465 0363-5465], doi [http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/036354659001800211 10.1177/036354659001800211]</ref>
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[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Injury]]
