Matt Parker, director of running specialist retailer Advance Performance, asks: what’s the right running shoe for you?
Running can place a lot of strain on the body. You are almost jumping from one foot to the other. This means that there can be about four times your body weight going through your shoes on each stride. Cushioning is therefore very important and running shoes all have extra cushioning built in to them to help reduce this impact on your body.
Unfortunately, it is not quite as simple as just running in a cushioned shoe. When running, your foot will land on its outer edge and then roll inward until it is flat on the floor. This movement is known as pronation. Pronation forms part of the body’s natural shock absorption system, so is a good thing. However, most people over pronate, this is where the arch of the foot rolls too far over on each stride, causing the lower leg to rotate in too far and potentially leading to various injuries. Different running shoe styles have different amounts of “stability” built in to them to help slow down the speed the arch collapses and reduce the amount of pronation and therefore the excessive twisting of the lower leg.
So how do you know how much your feet pronate, and therefore which style of running shoe is good for you? The easiest way is to visit your local running Store – Advance Performance – and let us take the guesswork out of it for you.
We will ask you about your current running – how far, how often, what surfaces and what shoes you are using currently – and if you are experiencing any aches, pains or injuries currently, or in the recent past.
Then we will give your feet a quick once over, to see how much movement there is in your arches. Then we bring you out some cushioned running shoes, with minimal added support, and ask you jog on one of our in-store treadmills, which has a video camera behind it. After about 40 seconds running we will show you how you run, frame by frame on the video or computer. This will show us how much you pronate. From there we will build up the level of support in the shoes till we have found the right amount for you. You may well try up to 10 or 12 different styles until we get the right blend of cushioning and support for you. Ideally we will give you two or three choices we then allow you to “road test” the shoes round the car park, so you can try the shoes in the real world and decide which is the most comfortable for you.
The whole process takes around 40 minutes; we pride ourselves on spending as much time with you as you need.
family-owned and award-winning specialist running store
As an independent, family-owned and award-winning specialist running store, we feel that it is more important to prescribe the correct running shoe rather than one of a certain brand, colour or price (within reason.) The shoes should be chosen that will help to minimise the risk of injury by having the optimum levels of support and cushioning for the customers unique running style. This is a complimentary service with every pair of running shoes we sell; however, if a customer chooses not to purchase the shoes after a gait analysis, Advance Performance reserves the right to charge them up to £25 (which is then redeemable against any future running shoe purchase).
