If you are going to go out and try a test run after you have been injured, what kind of shoes should you wear? Cushioning shoes or stability shoes? Well, that is a great question and that is what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
I was just on a call with an injured runner who is doing pretty well, and she is about to go out for a test run. She is very excited about this because she is going to get either a yes or a no on deciding if the tissue in her foot that is been healing is strong enough to withstand a little bit of running at a medium pace for a short distance. This is an important test because if it hurts, obviously no running, right? You got to wait some more.
But because you want to get a yes, you want to make sure that your chances of getting the yes are as high as possible. The way that you do that is you protect the foot as much as possible. So, the shoes you should use for your test run really do matter a lot and the goal of the test run is to start moving and figure out whether or not you can run. Simple as that, and the type of shoes that you use will make a big difference.
So, deciding whether you need more cushioning or more stability or something different, there’s a couple of different ways that I think about that when I have these discussions with runners. And so hopefully this episode will help you understand my thought process when I’m trying to help a runner make the decision between stability versus cushioning during that very first crucial test run.
What I say is what are your most protective shoes? And most people will instinctively know what they think of as being their most protective shoes. Maybe it’s a pair of Hoka Trail shoes. Maybe it’s the Asics Gel Nimbus that you think really protect you because they’re cushy and you have high arches, and you have had a stress fracture before. Maybe it’s the Brooks Beast because you have flat feet, and you had posterior tibial tendonitis before, and you know they stop all that pronation. Those are different things, right?
The Asics Gel Nimbus is basically a cushioning shoe for somebody with a neutral foot type. The Brooks Beast is a protective pronation control shoe that has a high level of stability for somebody that has an unstable flat foot. Complete opposites of the same spectrum. But when I say you are trying to use the shoes that you think are most protective, most people know what that is. But if you don’t know, remember, you are trying to protect that one injured part, whether it’s the tendon that was torn, the ligament that was sprained, or the metatarsal that has the stress fracture, and you are just trying to start running sooner.
So, if you have a stress-induced injury that resulted from pounding from the forces of gravity, vertical loading, like a tibial stress fracture or a metatarsal stress fracture, a calcaneal stress fracture, something that you believe is primarily from axial loading, from landing on the ground over and over, you are probably better off with more cushion and leaning toward cushioning type shoes instead of using stability type motion control shoes. That probably makes sense to you.
But just because you have a stress fracture, don’t think it’s axial loading. Sometimes you get a tibial stress fracture not because of axial loading, but because the muscles that attach to the bone and stabilize your foot are pulling repeatedly so much that it causes a stress-induced injury that really and truly resulted from too much motion in your foot. And if that is the case, if you got an injury that was related to too much motion, whether it’s posterior tibial tendinitis or a tibial stress fracture or some other thing like that, well, you might want to consider using some running shoes that have more stability than they do cushioning.
If you are a neutral foot type, then maybe structured cushioning would be good for you. If you are normally using something like the Asics Gel Kayano, which is a structured cushioning type shoe, maybe you’d be better off with something that is a little more true pronation control shoe to hold you still during this time. So, you have got to think about what it is. If it’s a perineal tendon or if it’s a posterior tibial tendon, if it’s a tendon that you know got stressed because it’s moving way too much, maybe you don’t want to move it so much. And some shoes that provide more stability for you might help that problem. Even adding shoes that have a little bit more heel lift, supinate the foot, it decreases some of that motion, even if it’s not a motion control shoe.
But you have to just be thoughtful about the actual cause of the injury. If it’s from pounding and axial loading, then have more cushioning. And if it’s from too much motion and things getting overstretched and strained, then you probably want more structure and more motion control in your shoes. These are totally opposed different kinds of shoes, but one of them is going to be more helpful for you than the other.
The other way, which I would not recommend, but it would work, is that if you were to put on one type of shoe and you go run a mile and it immediately starts to hurt, it’s probably no good. So, then you try the other ones and go run a mile. If it doesn’t hurt at all, that is probably the right one for you.
Again, that is not really a safe or thoughtful way to go about picking your shoes, but I’ve had runners who have done that. Not that I came up with that idea. Can’t take credit for it. But you don’t want to go get a different pair of shoes. This is the thing that most runners do wrong. As I’m on calls with runners, I explain all this stuff to them and then they just say, well, I’m going to go buy some new shoes. What should I get? Don’t ever add another variable. You already have too much going on if you are injured.
Do not get a new pair of shoes. Do not shift from one type of shoe to a different type of shoe because you just read some article about those shoes, and they sound awesome. Don’t do that. You do not want any more pieces of the puzzle to try to figure out when you are going to do your test run. Remember, it’s a hard yes or a hard no. Either you don’t have pain, and it goes okay, or you had pain and you are just not prepared for it given the way that you are going about it.
If you want to learn the other steps that I use, with runners who have these kinds of injuries and are trying to get back to running, trying to speed things up, I put it all together in this presentation about the 12 steps any injured runner can use to get back to running as quickly as possible. You can get that for free at www.docontherun.com/12steps. Go check it out and I’ll see you in the training.
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