Do expensive trainers cause injuries?

[another_dave_b]

Interesting article in The Mail:

Runners wearing top-of-the-line trainers are 123 per cent more likely to get injured than runners in cheap ones. This was discovered as far back as 1989, according to a study led by Dr Bernard Marti, the leading preventative-medicine specialist at Switzerland's University of Bern.

 

[andrew-the-tortoise]

Quite an interesting article for the M*ail.

So should runners start to wear Dunlop Green flash trainers from an early age [or bare feet]?

Must admit - I did running a few years ago, wearing £100 Asics and had to pack it in due to feet problems - think I am better suited to cycling than running.

 

[Crackle]

'Tis a good article that. I always wondered why fell running shoes were quite thin.

If you've ever bought new shoes in the middle of any kind of distance training, you soon realize from the bloody socks and sore feet that running shoes need breaking in as well.

 

[PaulB]

'Tis a good article that. I always wondered why fell running shoes were quite thin.

The main reason is that you've got nature's cushion under your feet in fell running/racing but a hard pavement when you are off the fell or country.

I love articles like this that challenge the conventional viewpoint but can't agree with some of it. I think the reason people with more expensive trainers appeared to suffer more injuries is that the people who spent most were probably more serious and invested more in their shoes as they ran further and therefore suffered a greater number of injuries. They could also have been suffering "over-use" injuries rather than impact-related ones and the nature of the injury wasn't made clear. I also think it was a mistake not to have made the point that impact-reducing materials such as the brilliant Sorbothane definitely DO have a positive effect on injury reduction.

 

[MacB]

That is a truly fascinating article, I take your point PaulB, and would have reservations myself. Though the idea that a top university team trains barefoot, or with cheapo trainers, to avoid injury is telling.

Unless going somewhere I spend most of my time barefoot, this has always been my preference.

 

[Fiona N]

Frankly I'm astonished that people are only just realising this now. Even back in 1990 or so when I used to run (fell and orienteering) often and had ankle injuries (acute and not helped by my extreme flexibility which makes my joints more vulnerable to 'going over' injuries), The physio I saw was a guy called Neil Black who encouraged me to get back running ASAP in light fell shoes on rough ground to strengthen feet and ankles. Neil never suggested going to more padded 'supportive' shoes and also recommended hiking in shoes as light as possible, not boots, as the support is illusory and all you do is prevent your ankles and feet from developing the strength they need to work properly.
Nowadays, I walk and run barefoot as much (Vibram Fivefingers are recommended if you don't have safe ground for barefoot going - they are basically a tough rubber skin for the soles of your feet to prevent cuts - there's no cushioing) to keep my feet and ankles strong.
The increasingly well-known POSE running technique is going back to the old 'forefoot' running, using your feet for shock absorbing, not a load of rubber cushioning. On the POSE courses, you're expected to come with suitable shoes (i.e. minimal padding, no built up heel) or run barefoot as the usual overstuffed trainers mean that you can't get your forefoot to the floor without the heel hitting too.
I reckon the makers of fell shoes, Vibram and the POSE people don't have the same sort of clout as Nike/Adidas/ NB/Saucony etc. to get their different message out there.

 

[Eat MY Dust]

I'm sure I read somewhere recently that the armed forces were having huge problems with new recruits due to modern running shoes. They (armed forces) were blaming new "soft" running shoes for the amount of injuries that recruits were having when switching to running in standard issue trainers and boots.

 

[02GF74]

when I was much younger than today, I ran in dunlop greenflash and for a short while in barefoot !

I am pretty sure it is a bad idea to do that on road, but on ground, whcih is a lot softer - like what the geezer in the article is rtunnong on, then see no reason why not. After all we humans had millions of years to eveolve for running on ground, tarmac, paved and concrete srufaces have been round with us for only a few hundred years (ignoring the roman roads ofcourse).

 

[montage]

think the reason people with more expensive trainers appeared to suffer more injuries is that the people who spent most were probably more serious and invested more in their shoes as they ran further and therefore suffered a greater number of injuries

This is the answer.

 

[ASC1951]

Nowadays, I walk and run barefoot as much (Vibram Fivefingers are recommended if you don't have safe ground for barefoot going - they are basically a tough rubber skin for the soles of your feet to prevent cuts - there's no cushioing) to keep my feet and ankles strong.

Ah - I saw those advertised in a Colour Supplement a few weeks ago and assumed they were just a gimmick for jogging round Hampstead Heath. Do they actually work?

 

[Fiona N]

I can't recommend them strongly enough. I was told about them a couple of years ago by a fell runner who'd been having achilles tendon problems and had first been told to get more 'supportive' shoes (i.e. more conventionally padded ones that fell guys usually use). But after the problem went from niggle to pain, he tried another physio who recommended the opposite - barefoot running. Mike built up gradually from just walking about barefoot and then using the Vibram Fivefingers (which he'd had to order from the States) on short jogs. He's now regularly running 20 miles or more in them. I haven't run that far but I did walk the 14 miles of the Kentmere circuit in the Lake District in them without a single blister This for me is a triumph as any other footware blisters me somewhere on a walk of any distance.

Building up slowly is the key as the first time you walk off road, especially uphill, you notice how much more strenuous it is for your feet - your toes actually ache with the unaccustomed effort. Your achilles/calfs work harder keeping your heels up and your ankles strengthen and improve balance as you're usually putting less of your foot on the floor. There's less pronation as you don't roll from heel to toe and I've noticed that my arches have improved in strength and flexibility - getting back to what they were when I did ballet as a youngster - which improves their shock absorbing function when running.

I'm on my second pair now with the first pair relegated to about the house when my feet are cold. But they must have done a fair amount of mileage and they're still great for yoga - if you don't have a sticky mat to hand, they give great grip on any surface without spoiling the ability to use your feet properly in the poses.

All in all, I tell everyone with feet/ankle/knee problems to try a pair but start gently. And if you're a heel-striking runner, check out POSE running as you'll need to learn to run properly.

I guess you could say I'm a fan

I could also add that my sister is doing the Nice Ironman in June and is seriously considering using Fivefingers instead of running shoes in the marathon section - she's a POSE runner too, as are many of the top triathletes as it's more efficient and involves less hammering of the body than conventional running.

 

[MacB]

Very interesting Fiona, thanks for posting that, I must look into further now

 

[ASC1951]

I can't recommend [Vibram Fivefingers] strongly enough.

I shall give them a look, too. As a purely recreational runner - well, waddler these days - I never get blisters or have any knee/ankle issues, but I can see they might have some advantages.

 

[Crackle]

I shall give them a look, too. As a purely recreational runner - well, waddler these days - I never get blisters or have any knee/ankle issues, but I can see they might have some advantages.

For another view, Noodley reviewed his in the Reviews section.

 

[ASC1951]

Can't find it, Crackle

I must admit the bullshit on the makers' website makes me suspicious. "...your movements become the movements of a child—playful and sensitive, yet purposeful and confident. You experience the unbound joy of stepping, hopping, and running across any surface on earth, simply to get from here to there..."

Also recommended for ChiRunning, which I guess is ordinary running with added pretension.