Super shoes and injury
Super shoes and injury
By Steve Manning – Podiatrist BPod (Hons), Level 4 Coach
Super shoes with their soft 4cm thick midsoles, carbon plates and rocker soles have been proven to significantly improve race times and have less Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness after long races.
This has led many people to use Super shoes for all of their training and racing. While anecdotally, these shoes may reduce post-training pain, the question is whether they reduce or increase injury risk.
There has not yet been any definitive research about training in super shoes. The main question you need to know is if you are someone who might benefit from them or someone who may get injured from using them too much.
Key Considerations:
1. Biomechanics: Super shoes change your running form. The inflexible soles and high stack height facilitate a rocking action rather than flexion at the forefoot. This shifts stress to other joints up the kinetic chain, like the hip and knee. Cadence is decreased, and stride length is increased. Changes in running form can stress certain muscles and joints differently, which might lead to injuries.
2. Training Progression: The factor with the most risk of injury is overtraining. Running in super shoes might make it easier to run faster or longer without delayed onset muscle soreness. Overuse Injury risk can then increase as runners are tempted to run harder and longer without a gradual adjustment to the increased training load.
3. Individual differences: Research on the effectiveness of super shoes identified responders and non-responders. Some runners had up to a 8% improvement in performance while others had no improvement in the same shoes. Everyone’s biomechanics and foot structure are unique; what works for one person might not work for another. One of the key factors is to do with vector forces, which is the direction of impact and propulsion forces. The soft midsoles and high distance between your foot and the ground allow a greater range of motion if your foot is not straight during foot strike or toe off. While this can result in a loss of power and performance it may also increase the risk of injury as the ankle and knee are stressed while at a poor mechanical advantage. You may have to run regularly in these shoes and experiment in racing and training to find out if you are a responder or non-responder.
4. Gradual transition: When switching to super shoes you should ease into them to allow the body to adapt. Semi-super shoes are a great transition into using supershoes. They offer some of the key components of a supershoes with extra stability, support and durability. Asics Glideride, Saucony Speed and the New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Trainer are examples of Semi-super shoes.
Steve was interviewed this week on ABC Radio about the impact of super shoes on running records set in the last few years. The segment starts at 25:15. Listen here!
Steve Manning Podiatrist BPod (Hons), Level 4 Coach
Steve Manning works from the iHealth Centre Indooroopilly as a Podiatrist specialising in running injuries of the lower limb. He is also available for footwear consultations on Thursday evenings at Athlete’s Foot Indooroopilly. Steve is the Coaching Director for the intraining Running and Triathlon Club. If you’re looking for tips and advice on super shoes, injury or an individualised running program, Steve can help with that too!