Your Running Shoes Are Hurting You

The latest running shoe model is out. The price tag is $150. Professional athletes around the world say it's like running on air. It's a bestseller. With tag lines like, Just Do It and Evolve from the Inside Out, they promote better performance, better materials and better style. What they don't tell you, is that this shoe is precisely what's hurting your ability to run. Seriously. Despite billion-dollar revenues and decades of industry leadership, the athletic footwear giants--Nike, Adidas, Reebok and all the rest -- haven't publicized conclusive, independent evidence that their running shoes provide any form of injury reduction. Meanwhile, these shoes force us to walk and run on top of two separate, inclined planes that do real damage to our muscles and tendons. Consider this: nearly 70 percent of all runners will end up experiencing some sort of injury while running. It's time to look at this problem from a different perspective. Many don't know this, but our feet represent the perfect tools for distance running. The arched sole and Achilles tendon combine to provide nature's greatest suspension system. But athletic shoe design ignores this. Most athletic footwear was designed to introduce a forward-rocking movement, with their high, cushioned heels and upward-arched toes. Designers thought this would make the human gait more energy efficient. But this shifts the point of impact to the heel, bypassing the natural shock absorption provided by the foot arch and Achilles...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news