Fleetfeet?

Question

does anyone have any idea how much a pair of tennis shoes are @ fleetfeet? I am going to start running cross country and i was thinking i might need a new pair of shoes because in track i would always get shin splints and i think it was because of my shoes -- thanks

Answer 1

So there are several scenerios that can cause shin splints or pain the in shin area. The two most common are that it is a stress fracture and the other is that there is inflammation of the connective tissue. You may be in the early stages of one of these 2 items. You may want to take some time off and ice a bit and do some stretches.

Now let's take a step back for a moment and look at the cause. Think about your legs and how much work they are being put through. You are putting your entire body weight on one leg for multiple miles. Not only that, but because you are moving, you are now increasing that body weight. World class sprinters put between 2-3 their body weight worth of power into the ground per stride. Because many of us have not been properly taught how to run, non trained athletes actually increase that level to 4-6 their body weight. For a distance runner the individual step will not generate those types of forces but even at 1-2x the body weight per step for multiple miles, you are in trouble if you form is not perfect.

Many runners tend to plantarflex our ankles when we run (i.e. point them). This means that the upper ball and toes of the foot lands first and their is a few inches of space between the ground and our heel. In order for the foot to do this, it lands out in front of us thereby acting as a brake and then we "pull" our body forward. The other incorrect form that is exhibited is a dominant heel strike. You are less likely to "pull" the body forward, but you are now increasing the braking forces into the ground. Instead of allowing your muscles to absorb the impact of your stride, you are now allowing the ankle, shins, knees, etc to take all the forces. You should be working your glutes, hamstrings and to a lesser extent, calves when you run. Most people tend to use their quads. The quads should act more as a shock absorber and helping the leg get back into position for the next stride. Anything else and you are risking injury.

Some running advice is to land on the balls of the feet with the heel slightly grazing the ground or a credit card worth of space between. You head/shoulders should be even to the ground (no bouncing movement) and the foot should strike just in front of the body. If you start moving towards longer distances such as marathon, you may need to have a little more heel strike as to limit the amount of stress on the calves.

Typically, I spend around $30 for a pair of shoes.  If I was going to spend more it would be to get a lighter pair, versus trying to prevent shin splints. I used to get shin splints in high school but my coach did not know the root cause and I did they ice and Ibuprophen route.  Now that I have more education and work on form, I have not have shin splints for a while.  Currently I am wearing indoor soccer cleats for my distance runs and have not had any issues with shins, ankles or knees. I personally would not recommend them for others, but I can say they have very little arch support but are very light.

Here is a interesting article about shoes and feet:  

http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/

let's move on to a different example. You hurt your knee, so you wear a knee brace as you come back from your rehab. If you wear it too long, your body will start using it because your body is extremely efficient. If it does not need to do work, it is not going to. Over time, your knee will be weakened because of the brace. This goes for ankle braces etc. I work with a lot of athletes, and for some we strike a balance. In more controlled situations (practice, etc) we get rid of the brace, and in competition wear the brace. This is in extreme conditions where the athlete has a lack of miniscus in the knee etc.

The shoe acts a brace. Our bodies will react to it accordingly. I work with some athletes including professionals in which we remove the shoes for some of our warmups. The feet take the brunt of any land workout so if we work on strengthening that, we are laying the foundation for a strong body.  

Good luck!