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Tangent. People are still getting conned when it comes to shoes. Custom designed soles, with padding in the "right" places based on the shape of your foot, in o
by elric 6y ago
Tangent. People are still getting conned when it comes to shoes. Custom designed soles, with padding in the "right" places based on the shape of your foot, in order to "absorb impact" or "correct overpronation". Which is nonsense and unnecessary unless you have foot deformities. Your foot is perfectly capable of absorbing impact and whatnot. This is all marketing aimed at gullible new runners who want to go from couch to marathon without taking the time to learn proper running technique and without giving their bodies time to adapt to running. All the while ingraining and reinforcing bad running habits. But at least we're no longer xraying people's feet for no apparent reason, so that's a start.
- eganist 6y agoI'd be interested in reading deeper. Do you have references countering the marketing claims?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- thesumofall 6y agoOne of the best resources in the net. It won’t give clear cut answers but plenty of good starters to make up your own mind: https://fellrnr.com/wiki/The_Science_of_Running_Shoes https://fellrnr.com/wiki/The_Science_of_Running_Shoes
- cbanek 6y agoI don't remember where I saw this, but I thought I saw a display that you could step on and it would try to convince you to buy custom designed insoles? It used some kind of pressure sensor that would map your foot or something. I feel like shoes are kind of like mattresses are marketed the same way - mostly talking about pressure points, that and memory foam.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- 3JPLW 6y agoThe proper shoe shouldn't reinforce bad running habits. If you got pushed that way by a one-on-one shoe fitting, you certainly did get "conned." As someone who has had only one professional running shoe fitting in my life, I found it invaluable. They were able to immediately identify where my stride was going wrong. They advised me not just on the shoe, but on improving my gait. I bought one full-price shoe once, then was able to buy similar shoes on sale/clearance. Following the fitting (and guidance), I've not had the same knee pain since. YMMV, but it's not all cons. It's a middle-ground between nothing and a full-fledged sports therapy.
- amanaplanacanal 6y agoExactly. People ran barefoot, then with a thin piece of leather strapped to their feet for hundreds of thousands of years. All this arch and ankle support of the last few decades has done nothing except cause injuries.
- dantillberg 6y agoWhat about all the concrete and asphalt we run on now? Doesn't that make a difference?
- citiguy 6y agoHarder surfaces are actually easier to run on than dirt trails. You get much more of the energy you put down with each footfall back. This is important because your foot is basically a spring and designed to recover some of the energy put into making each step.
- i_am_andy 6y agoHarder surfaces are a mixed bag. Yes you run faster but your feet, ankles and knees take more impact and damage.
- amanaplanacanal 6y agoNot if you strike with your forefoot. If you are landing on your heels, then yes. Don’t do that.
- foobiekr 6y agoHuman bipedalism evolved in places like the East African Rift Valley which is rocky, hard packed ground and not at all the soft grasses people imagine. If you've ever hiked in Pennsylvania, it's a bit like that.
- nkrisc 6y agoAnd people also only lived to be 40 (if they were lucky) for hundreds of thousands of years. Just because ancient people did something doesn't somehow make it better for that reason alone.
- rootusrootus 6y agoI've had foot problems for a while, and I went to a podiatrist who suggested I wear crocs. Said that shoes were a modern creation and that our feet weren't designed to need them. It was an unmitigated disaster. So I went to a different podiatrist. She said "let me guess, you went to Dr. So-and-so?" and I replied yes, she said "Yeah, I don't agree with him. Shoes are modern, but so are floors." My feet are much happier now. Properly designed insoles make pretty much any shoe comfortable for me (notably, the insoles aren't really padded, they're pretty hard). Walking around on hardwood floors barefoot makes my feet hurt.
- HeWhoLurksLate 6y agoI put running insoles in a pair of really cheap steel-toes that I have to wear at work, and it made all the difference in how my legs and feet felt at the end of a shift.
- TheGallopedHigh 6y agoSimilar to an old trick for gastro workers. Take two pairs to work and swap them half way. Your feet will feel a lot better at the end of the day.
- Scoundreller 6y agoGastro workers = restaurant staff?
- TheGallopedHigh 6y agoYep
- benesch 6y agoI’ve never understood the argument that floors and pavement are the cause of modern foot problems due to their hardness. It just doesn’t add up. Sure, running barefoot through a well-maintained soccer field is going to be lower impact than running on pavement. But ancient humans didn’t evolve on soccer fields. If you ever try running through unmaintained land barefoot, it’s terrible on your feet! Uneven terrain, branches and rocks everywhere... you wind up putting a ton of stress on your feet, far more than you do walking around a house barefoot. I think it’s far more likely that a) modern life causes children not to develop strong feet from an early age, or b) that evolutionary pressures for well-functioning feet have disappeared. In any case, I’m glad the insoles solved your problems. I just wish the field of podiatry did a better job of root cause analysis.
- fiftyacorn 6y agoI've stuck with one type of running shoe all the way thru running. I just get the new version each time, and when I have changed style or brand I've got injured
- blevin 6y agoA good pod episode on this: https://peterattiamd.com/irenedavis/ https://peterattiamd.com/irenedavis/
- foobiekr 6y agoI agree with this. Due to youthful stupidity I've probably had at least a dozen severe sprains and so I am now very prone to them (rolling an ankle at least once a year until I made a change). I switched to five fingers, which I acknowledge are full of hype and woo on the marketing side, and have never rolled an ankle since. It's been 13 years or so..