Influence Of Maximalist Running Shoes On Biomechanics

My patient's new running shoes

I had a runner come in to our clinic today. After finishing the Boston marathon in April recently, he had been taking it easy. But since his next race is the New York marathon later on 4th November this year, he started training again just this past week.

After asking the necessary questions regarding his training, I then noticed he was wearing a new pair of maximalist  running shoes. He'd bought it after running Boston as it was a lot cheaper there than in Singapore.

My patient thought that the mega cushioned maximalist shoes would help protect him from the pounding that comes with the running (since he's in excess of 6 feet). 

It was then really fortunate that I'd recently just read an article on the influence of maximalist running shoes on running biomechanics.

Women's NB 880

In that study, researchers had 15 female runners tested by running 5 km on two occasions on a treadmill. Each time, their running biomechanics were analysed before and after running in a pair of "traditional" New Balance (NB) 880 which had a heel height of 33.3 millimetres and forefoot height of 23.2 mm versus a Hoka One One Bondi 4 (41.6 mm heel, 34.7 mm forefoot height). 

Hoka One One Bondi 4

It is important to note here that the runners were more accustomed to shoes like the NB than the Hokas.

Before reading the article, it seemed logical to me to expect the plush mega cushioned shoes would be more supportive for the tested runners.

However, runners in that study had greater vertical loading rates (the speed at which impact forces affect the body) and peak impact forces (maximum amount of force incurred at one time) in the Hokas than the NB shoes. Meaning, when the runners wore the more cushioned Hokas, the bodies absorbed more of the impact forces of running and in less time. While wearing the regular NB shoes, the impact forces of each step were lower and more evenly spread over time.

The authors noted that even though all the tested runners were assessed to be heel strikers, the higher impact forces while wearing the Hokas cannot be totally attributed to a change in foot strike pattern. In other studies, running in mega cushioned shoes result in runners landing with stiffer knees, resulting in higher impact forces.

Another point to note is that the runners in this study were new to maximalist shoes. I don't know about you, for me, if I get a new shoe to run in (or new tennis racket or any new equipment), my body takes a while to get used to it and run efficiently with it. (Note: even my wife who got a new iPhone X previously took a while before she liked it).

Previously, when minimalist running shoes were more popular caution was advised when trying those shoes. This study suggest such caution if your new running shoes have significantly more cushioning than your previous.

It will be interesting to note what happens to the impact forces when you get used to the maximalist running shoes. The authors of this study are now conducting follow up research on the same runners. The runners are monitored by starting with 20 percent of the weekly mileage in the Hokas, and adding 20 percent the next week and so on.

As I've suggested before, it's probably wiser if you have a few different pair of running shoes so that you can rotate your running shoes to minimize your risk of injury. Now, which runner can resist getting another pair of running shoes to run in?


Reference

Pollard CD, Ter Har JA et al (2018). Influence Of Maximal Running Shoes On Biomechanics Before And After A 5k Run. Orth J Sp Med. 6(6): 2325967118775720. DOI: 10.1177/2325967118775720.

Running Form (And Heel Strike) Of The Tamahumara Indians

Picture from http://www.chrismcdougall.com/

Last week's Sunday Times article discussed whether runners were still in favour of Vibrams. Here's a related topic this week after I chanced upon another article by Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman. He had published a landmark article reviewing whether landing patterns (of Kenyan runners) while running barefoot or running with shoes produced more forces.

Lieberman is now studying the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico's Copper Canyon. The Tarahumara Indians and Copper Canyon where they live form the framework of Chris McDougall's best-selling book Born To Run - the book that launch barefoot and minimalist shoe running.

Lieberman compares the running style of the hurache wearing Tarahumara men/ women who wore huraches (leather or car-tyre soled sandals) with the slightly younger Tarahumara Indians who have grown up wearing mostly western styled shoes. 

Hurache - picture from http://www.chrismcdougall.com/

Both groups of runners did not differ in height, body weight or leg length, although the Western style shoes (WS) Tarahumara were on average eight years younger. 75 % of WS runners landed on their heels while only 30 % of the hurache (HS) shod runners did so. 

HS runners were also less likely to over stride compared to the WS runners, i.e. less likely to have their foot in front of the knee while the foot contacts the ground despite no significant difference between the 2 groups when comparing stride frequency. 

HS runners also had flexed knees and hips while their ankles seemed to point down more. (All these are clues to using the bigger hip muscles and less of the smaller leg muscles while running - my personal opinion and not Lieberman's).

Lieberman also found evidence to suggest that HS runners seemed to have stiffer arches- suggesting they had stronger intrinsic foot muscles which may mean fewer injuries.

Perhaps weary and wary of how runners interpret his research, Lieberman took the effort to say that "there is much more to running form than heel strike type," and "many limitations caution against over-interpreting the results of this study." 

He went on to say that for the majority of us runners (you and I) who grew up wearing conventional shoes rarely run ultramarathons anyway, so his research paper on hurache wearing Tarahumara Indians who mostly avoid heel landing is not justification for anyone to switch to minimal shoes to stop heel striking.

Reference

Liberman DE (2014). Strike Type Variation Among Tarahumara Indians In Minimal Sandals Versus Conventional Running Shoes. J Sport and Health Science. 

Mother and son in Copper Canyon (by glasspondstudio fr Flikr)

Rotate Your Running Shoes To Minimise Injury

Picture by Tomas Kalina from Flickr.com

I started running when I was twelve. I ran mostly cross country and track races (as there were definitely a lot less road races then compared to now). Since those early running days, I began rotating all my running shoes.

My mum would nag at me for having so many pairs of running shoes and wanted to throw away the older pairs. I would simply tell her I'd throw them out but secretly kept them in another place or brought them to school to keep in my locker.

After getting good enough results to be sponsored, my shoe rotating "habit" got worse I guess.

Back then, I simply felt that using different shoes each time I ran would stress different parts of my foot and legs and hopefully less chance of me getting injured.

Turns out I was right. A recently published study suggests that runners who rotate more than one pair of running shoes are significantly less likely to get injured compared to those who wear the same pair of shoes each time they ran.

The researchers studied 264 runners over 22 weeks. Information on training volume, injury rate, cross training, shoe usage and other variables were obtained. 116 runners in the study used a single pair of running shoes, with 91% of their running done in that same shoe. The other 148 runners used multiple pairs of running shoes. They had a main pair which they ran in (an average of 58% of their runs) while also using another 3.6 pairs (on average) for their other runs during the study period.

The researchers found that those who rotated their running shoes had 39% lower risk of getting injured during the study period compared to those who ran mainly in one pair of running shoes. The researchers suggested that different shoes distributed impact forces from running differently, lessening repetitive strain on the legs during running.

Depending on the shoe's midsole height and firmness, a person's stride length and ground reaction time also changes, affecting running gait although these factors (midsole densities, structure and geometry) need further research. Also in support of reducing injury due to varying loads, the researchers found that the runners who also cross trained had lower incidences of injury.

Well, all you shoe geeks can rejoice now that you have an excellent reason to convince your significant other, wife, husband or mum that you need another pair of running shoes.

Reference

Malisoux L, Ramesh J et al (2015). Can Parallel Use Of Different Running Shoes Decrease Running-related Injury Risk? Scand J Med Sci Sports. 25(1): 110-115. DOI: 1111/sms.12154.

*Picture by Ian Dennoir of shop window @ Carnaby Street Soho London from Flickr.com

I like!

Minimalist Running Shoe Fad Over? Or Not Quite...

Minimalist running shoes from Runnersworld.com

Headlines for the running community that you runners may want to know. Despite running shoes sales growing 8 % for the first quarter of 2013, sales of minimalist shoes declined more than 10 % during the same period.

This is in contrast to past few years' quarterly reports where the minimalist shoe category had the highest growth while sales in the motion control and stability segment stagnated or fell.

What drove sales of running shoes this past quarter surprisingly was motion control and stability shoes which grew > 25 % and 10 % respectively. A real reversal of sorts it seems.

An running shoe industry observer even commented that the "minimalist shoe fad is pretty much over."

So, do we take the report as the headlines suggest? That there are decreasing number of runners buying and wearing minimalist running shoes and perhaps even reverting back to the more chunky counterparts?

Well, my personal take on this is, hold your horses. A line from the running report said that "Lightweight, which remains the largest sub category, grew in the low teens." This minimalist (or barefoot) trend has definitely influenced and even resulted in running shoes becoming lighter across the board. Other design elements like low or zero drop midsoles, wide toeboxes etc have been transferred to other shoe categories. The whole running shoe market has shifted toward lighter, simpler shoes to give you, the runner a much wider choice than before.

If you recall, it wasn't that long ago when you went to a running shoe store and your options were pretty much limited to relatively heavy and chunky (> 12mm drop) shoes from brands that was classified as neutral, stability or motion control. Those days are long gone (although many medical professionals here in Singapore who have not kept in touch still insist on those categories) and the market has shifted and studies have shown that the previous model of fitting shoes were not effective.

Probably the most important issue now is how to choose your running shoes given the wide variety you now have.

By the way, I just got a minimalist/ barefoot running inspired shoe for my wife. She loves her new running shoes. A clue that "the fad" is not quite dead yet perhaps?

A pair of Merrell's for my wife

Those of you who work in the Singapore running shoe retail stores may have the latest trends probably, some comments here would be appreciated.

 * Footnote - Nike Free running shoes were not included in the minimalist shoe category as SportsOneSource (the company doing the statistics, SportsOneSource) felt that a lot of people buying Nike Free shoes are not real runners.

* Some numbers for those of you keen on statistics, most of the core running brands all had strong sales increases. Brooks and Mizuno improved about 40 %, Asics about 25 %, Saucony in the low teens and Nike in the high teens.  Under Armour running (not common here in Singapore) doubled for the year so far.

 To buck the trend, both Adidas and Reebok declined sharply in their share of running shoe sales.