Running is basically a movement where two elements play an important role, impact force and proprioception starting from the feet. These two are essential and a running shoe should enable both to its max.

As soon as your foot lands on the surface information, should be picked up by the nerve system in your feet. These signals are to be used in your overall movement pattern by activating the optimal anatomic muscle chains. A running shoe should give as much input to your feet as possible. Running barefoot is the way to optimize this.

On the other hand we have the impact forces when landing on your feet that are around 5 times your bodyweight. Your body has to be able to handle this impact. Not as easy as it sounds. And with age, training, technique, the capacity of handling these impact force change. For most runners the impact on bare feet is much to heavy and a kind of cushioning is necessary. Although we can use the impact energy in our propulsion phase when pushing of, too much impact is just too much and our injury risk is higher.

A good running shoe is a mix of both features. It should enable a max of information on your feet but avoid to much impact force on your body.

As long as I’m a runner, I have be aware of the two elements in my search for the best running shoe to meet my needs. A few brands have running shoes in their collection that will do just fine. Brands like #newtonrunning and #active88 are a perfect mix of both features along with other brands like altra running or saucony.

They both optimize your running information transfer from the feet up in combination with just the impact energy your body can handle.

If you want more insight in running technique, natural running training schedules, … please join my footrooms entry running community. For more information, just react on this post or drop my a line to john@footrooms.be