Running Shoe Selection
Proper running shoes can be your most important piece of equipment for running and distance walking. The right running or walking shoe can reduce the chance of injury by helping compensate for any biomechanical problems and providing shock absorption for the body.
Which shoe is right for you?
Know your running and biomechanical needs
Alignment problems are the rule rather than the exception. These problems usually don’t show up in everyday walking, but they do surface during long distance walking and running because the forces to the body are so much greater. When you combine excessive distance, speed or frequency with inherent misalignments, sooner or later the end result will be an injury unless the proper shoe or orthotics are used to compensate for the problem.
Foot-strike
A foot-strike describes the movement of the foot as it goes through the three phases of stance period.
Ideally a foot should contact the ground to the outside of the heel and roll slightly inward to a neutral position. Before the foot leaves the ground, it should roll slightly outward again resulting in a neutral foot-strike. This allows the foot to correctly absorb the shock on the body when the foot strikes the ground.
Too much or too little movement during the foot-strike usually leads to problems.