New Shoes

I have persuaded a friend to start running and she has embraced it but she is running in old trainers and is now experiencing a few niggles, mostly ankles, knees and achilles.

She has been reading into barefoot runnning and is thinking of giving that a go, I'm ambivalent about barefoot running to be honest.  She has high arches but has not had any gait analysis.

I told her to get gait analysis to see what her feet are up to when she is running and decide on a shoe from there, does anyone have additional advice?

Comments

  • stutyrstutyr ✭✭✭

    I guess it might be easier to get into minimalist shoes from the start as theres no "bad" habits that have to be changed.

    I'd still think its worth going to a proper running shop and finding a pair of shoes that are comfortable, as at the moment she wont know what brands suit her foot shape.

  • I think your advice is right and I'd agree with stutyr about minimalist shoes and going to a 'proper' running shop. My tip, if doing that, would be to get them to recommend and shoe and then ask them why they are recommending it. Based on their answer you then know exactly what they think you need which is useful in the future.

    My first pair of shoes came from 'runandbecome' in London, they cost £120 and they caused me loads of problems, being new to running though I didn't realise it was my shoes for about 4 months at which point I changed to some minimal £40 nikes off Amazon and like magic my injuries vanished! It was amazing. I guess my point is that even the 'experts' can get it wrong.

    I wrote a really basic artical on choosing running shoes here, would be really interested to hear what anyone thinks:

    http://takeitinyourstride.co.uk/guides/buying-running-shoes/

  • Thanks guys, pretty much what I thought.  She has gone ahead and bought a pair of asics with cushioning (she has decided she under-pronates because she has high arches! and she likes Asics!) and some barefoot running shoes and she is going to work with both.  I will still be encouraging her to get some gait analysis to see what is really going on but also encouraged her to get a couple of opinions or at least dig in to the detail.

    Simon - really enjoyed your article and will send her the link.  I'm not convinced that the running shoes I got after gait analysis were necessarily the best for me either (and yes they were expensive);  I might get a second opinion just to see if it differs.  This is all definitely making me think about my own running shoes more and I think I am going to invest in some trail shoes!  

  • Thanks Momma cub! I am a big fan of trail running and I find that trail shoes give me far less problems than 'normal' running shoes. My favourites are these, which are listed as a road shoe, but for some reason I just find they are perfect off road (and being made with the army I guess they should be) they are also quite cheap:

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0015S63RU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B0015S63RU&linkCode=as2&tag=takeitinyours-21 

     

  • HA!  I am in the Army and I have never seen these before, guess I am not in an active enough role to merit getting issued a pair.  Maybe I will wander into stores and see if I can get some for free!!!  image

  • Any luck with that? I just bought a new pair of them. Can't get enough.

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