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Should you land on your heels or midfoot/forefoot when running? This is something we have talked about with a lot of athletes recently either wanting to run faster or avoid injury.
Well this is a big topic, and the short answer is each runner requires a different strike based on their biomechanics. I’ll keep this short and to the point as it can be a deep dive.
What is proven though is that if you heel is landing out in front of you instead of under your hips then that is off to a bad start.
If you look at elite and efficient runners they all have one thing in common, when their front foot lands their knee is above that and their hip is above the knee. This is a natural shock absorption when the run, which means less impact, less injuries and more time to run.
The actual placement of their foot in that case doesn’t really matter as they are running efficiently and safely.
Now, on the other hand, if people land their front foot way out in front of them and their heel strikes the ground first, they are doing two main things that cause alarm bells.
Firstly, there is huge shock running up the leg, into the shin and the rest of the body. Secondly, the strike in that manner actually puts the brake on! Which means you have to accelerate and decelerate each strike which is super slow.
My own research and trial and error lead me to this and if I can save even one person from the dramas I had then this article is a success. I used to be a heel striker, way out in front, I could run ok, but I was always prone to shin splints. Id then favour the shins and that would cause other injuries. I was constantly going to the physio and podiatrist, they would make a new orthotic and the physio would do some treatment. Id rest and eventually return to running slowly.
(Now I need to point out this physiotherapist is not in the North Island and although she was doing her best, she was way out dated) in New Plymouth we are lucky as we have some excellent therapists here.
Id then be prescribed a new model of shoe with the latest gel in the heel to ‘absorb shock” and “prevent injuries”. None of these things worked and no one offered at any point to look at my running style to see if that was the problem.
I read a few books, basically did a degrees worth of research on the subject and what I found out was pretty simple yet scary at the same time.
The scary part was that a number of shoe companies made stupid amounts of money from people just like me, yet they knew better. I wont name them or go into this right now as there’s a chance they may send a ninja through the roof to keep me quite! Haha
The simple part of the fix was to re-train myself to run properly! Easier than it sounds and it was a 3-6 month process but the end result was fantastic.
At the time I was in the Police, going to the gym a lot and was and still am a bigger framed guy, so I was not and never have been a natural built runner.
I went from running a 4min40sec km at my race pace at the time to 4min 10 sec, virtually overnight, the best part was? No more injuries, at all, no shin splints, no horrible orthotics, and I could run whenever I feltlike it.
I don’t want to jinx myself here but this is worth knowing and people need to here it.
How did I do it?
Firstly, I literally through my running shoes in the bin, and I started running on the sand barefoot. Barefoot running is great if done safely as you just cant heelstrike, try and go run down the concrete foot path now with now socks and shoes on, you can land on your heels as the feedback is instant and horrible.
I then got a shoe that suited midfoot running and started watching and learning from countless videos on how to run with the “pose technique” or just midfoot running, it took a while, felt awful at the start but was well worth it.
So, for anyone out there who wants to run faster, or is a bigger build and worried about running, or is constantly getting shin splints then it is time to make a change.
Talk to your shoe store about this, if they don’t know what you mean and try to sell you the latest model of huge heel padded show, go to the next store! You have nothing to loose and everything to gain on this one.
If you're in the Triathlon scene look at how Cameron Brown runs, it is efficient and very safe, there are other amazing examples to but he is one of the best.
How am I going now? I love running, I truly do, in my head I think I look like Cameron but externally it may look more like a cross between that and an Ironman shuffle, but I am ok with that!
John
