RUNNING SHOES And Your Feet

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RUNNING SHOESAnd Your Feet

• David J. Sands, DPM
• 560 Northern Blvd./200 Lakeville Rd.
• Great Neck NY
• 516-482-8826
• footmail_at_sandspodiatry.com

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Program Overview

• Shoe design including lasts, soles, heels,
  materials, uppers and inners
• Orthotics
• Socks
• Running surfaces
• Warm ups and stretching

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Lasts/Shoe Shapes

• For Motion Control buy
• Straight Last
• Most Rigid
• Good for those with low arches and straight feet
• For Stability buy
• Shoes with a slight curve to the shape of the
  shoe
• Good for those with medium arches
• For Neutral Feet buy
• Curved Last
• Least Rigid
• Good for those with high
• arches

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Lasts/Shoe Shapes

• Foot shape and shoe need to match
• High arch
• Medium arch
• Low arch
• To determine foot shape,
• wet foot and step on
• a paper bag

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Soles

• Waffle Bottoms
• Small squares across the entire bottom of the
  shoe
• Provide excellent grip on dirt, grass, and road
  surfaces
• Not designed as road training shoes due to rapid
  wear, but can serve as racing shoes
• Road Trainers
• Broader, more diffuse patterned sole
• Provides excellent traction on roads/asphalt, but
  far less traction on dirt and grass
• Far more durable as a road training shoe
• Cross Trainers (not recommended)
• Often combines the waffle and broad
• banded road trainer sole
• Provides very good (not excellent)
• traction on all surfaces (roads, dirt, grass)
• Very durable, so better for gym
• workouts and aerobics

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Heels

• Height
• Standard heel height is approximately 1 ½ inches
• Can vary from as high as 3/4 inches to 1 inch for
  training shoes
• Higher heeled shoes accommodate runners with
  equinus, but can cause low back pain
• Higher heels shorten stride length and can cause
  knee and hip pain
• Lower heels increase the stride length with later
  heel contact and can induce Achilles tendonitis
• Minimizing heel heights between
• racing and training shoes can reduce
• the incidence of calf cramping and
• Achilles strain

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Heels

• Shape
• Rounded heel
• Provides a smoother transition from heel to
  forefoot
• Causes slightly later heel strike and slightly
  longer stride length, often causing Achilles
  tendonitis
• Vertical Heel
• Provides a stable heel strike
• Many training shoes are designing a lateral
  landing surface area to provide a more stable
  and even wear of the soles surface to
  accommodate the inverted heel contact with the
  ground
• Keeps the stride length stable
• Angulated Heel
• Makes the shoe a bit longer on the outside of the
  shoe
• Provides an earlier heel strike
• Shortens the stride length and can cause knee and
  
• low back pain, or Achilles tendon pain if there
  is com-
• pensation for the slightly longer shoe
• Increased Transverse Heel
• Wider heel designed to limit excessive pronation
  and supination
• Can cause lateral knee pain and hip pain by
  limiting the runners
• ability to pronate

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Heels

• Material
• High Density Rubber
• Provides good shock absorption with longer wear
  and durability of heel life
• Rubber/Foam Composite
• Provides better shock absorption with less wear
  and heel durability
• High Density Rubber and Foam Composite
• Provides better heel shock absorption and motion
  control to attempt to limit pronation
• Air (with encased vinyl)
• The heel provides a window to visualize the air
  in
• the heel
• Provides the subliminal thought of running on
  air
• Shocks/Springs
• Four pronged heel to lend the impression of
  springs
• providing a great reduction in shock at heel
  strike
• One brand of shoe has one large spring to provide
  
• cushion and shock absorption at heel strike

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Shoe Uppers

• Nylon
• Most common material
• Newer models are stretchable and accommodate more
  foot deformities
• Leather
• Still available in many models
• Can stretch to accommodate
• foot deformities
• Natural material (versus man-made)
• and permits foot to breathe

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Inner Soles

• Plastazote
• Most common inner sole
• Inexpensive and very light
• Provides great short-term comfort, but bottoms
  out very quickly
• Eventually causes greater friction and less shock
  absorption to the sole of the foot
• Foam Rubber
• Becoming more popular in better quality shoes
• Slightly more expensive for the shoe company to
• provide
• Better long-term memory (returning to shape
• between bouts of pressure) than plastazote

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Orthotics/Insoles

• Orthotics and Insoles are designed to improve
  foot function, balance and comfort
• Rigid
• Strong motion control in subtalar and midfoot
  joints
• Minimal shock absorption
• Examples Graphite, Polydur/Rhoadur
• Semi-Rigid
• Provides dynamic control of the foot
• Helps guide the foot, providing
  efficient/moderate control of the muscles and
  tendons
• Provides greater shock absorption while
  maintaining control
• Examples Polypropylene shell/sporthotic
• Flexible
• Primarily designed for shock absorption
• Provides less control of muscles and
• tendons
• Examples Leather, rubber butter

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Socks - Design

• Socks provide protection for the foot
  (bacterial/fungal)
• Can wick moisture away from the foot
• Reduces friction between the foot and the shoe
• Maintains warmer temperature during cold weather
  workouts
• Proper size is important to reduce
• bunching (which can cause in-
• creased friction and blisters)

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Socks - Materials

• Synthetic/Acrylic
• Man-made fabric
• Good comfort level
• Excellent wear durability
• Absorbs moisture well
• Best wicking of moisture from the foot
• Cotton/Polyester Blend
• Combines man-made and natural fabrics
• Good comfort level
• Excellent wear durability
• Absorbs moisture fairly
• Fair wicking of moisture of all socks
• Cotton or Wool (not for runners)
• Natural fabric
• Absorbs moisture
• Poor wicking of moisture from the foot

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Running Surfaces

• Concrete/Macadam/Roads
• Grass/Dirt
• Outdoor Track
• All Weather
• Cinder
• Indoor Track
• Treadmill
• Water
• Sand

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Warm-Up/Stretching

• Stretching is best done after a short jog to
  increase body core temperature
• Important for long, short, or middle distance
  running
• Important muscle groups to stretch include
• Gastroc/Soleal complex
• Hamstrings
• Quadriceps
• Low back muscles
• Arms/shoulders
• 15-18 second intervals of stretch with
• 5 seconds of rest between each stretch -
• repeated 10 times is ideal

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Get Out and Run

• David J. Sands, DPM
• 560 Northern Blvd./
• 200 Lakeville Rd.
• Great Neck, NY
• 516-482-8826
• www.sandspodiatry.com
• footmail_at_sandspodiatry.com

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Thank You

• Insurances Accepted 1199 National Benefit Fund,
  Atlantis, Aetna (PPO only), Americhoice,
  Amerigroup (formerly Careplus), Blue Cross/Blue
  Shield, Cigna, Elderplan, Empire New York State
  Government Plan, Fidelis, GHI, Healthcare
  Partners (through HIP), Healthnet, Healthplus,
  HIP, Humana, Magnacare, Medicare, Multiplan,
  Oxford, Railroad Medicare, United Healthcare,
  Vytra