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Might seem a daft question...
If a shop did you a fitting for shoes but then sold you a pair that did not suit your gait, leading to injury and losing pretty much a whole summers running and costing you a few hundred in physio - what would you do?
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Wouldn't happen. I wouldn't lose a whole summers running from wearing "the wrong shoes", if they hurt i'd get some others, no way i'd go to a physio, especially if it cost "a few hundred"...more money than sense.
Re costing a few hundred in physio - I assume you're considering the possibility of some sort of compensation claim. If so, i would think you need to prove that the shoes were ill-fitting and definitely lead to injury
Re 'losing pretty much a whole summer of running, that's of little consequence here
Might seem like another daft question but WTF did you keep running in the shoes if they didn't feel right?
You took the advice of the sales assistant and made the choice to buy the shoes
I also agree with the others that if I was getting enough injuries to cost hundreds in physio bills I think this would have stopped me running sooner rather than later
Are you sure the shoes are the problem rather than a general overuse?
and we have only had about a week of summer
I'd not go back to that shop for advice. That's pretty much it.
I once bought a pair of shoes from a local shop, and developed shin splints after using them for a few weeks. I complained to the shop, and after a bit of argument from both sides they refunded my money without rancor.
So, that's what I would do!
Let's face it, most gait analysis is bollocks, five different shops will sell you five different shoes, and then some guru will come along and take your money for advising you not to wear shoes at all.
It's buyer beware with buying shoes unfortunately. Only way to be safe is to go to a shop with proper technology and cameras and get an experienced manager to do the analysis.
Otherwise like a few have said you could get different advice from all comers.
I remember going to Run and Become in London once, and being told by the most senior staff member that the shoes I'd always worn were a size too big, and then promptly kitted me out in pronation shoes.
Week later I went to a proper video analysis clinic, who put me back in the original size shoes, and told me that if I'd worn those shoes for long I'd have developed major knee issues.
Can you expand - I'm struggling a bit with the causation of this? What was wrong with the shoes, what injury do you claim they caused, and why did you have to spend a few hundred on physio?
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IMO, I would
(a) make sure that I looked at the gait anaylsis screen as well, so that I could verify their claims and make an informed choice (it really isn't rocket science to learn what you are looking for on the screen). And make sure that they saw me run with no shoes at all - not just in my old shoes.
(b) As soon as it became a problem, but before it became an injury, go to a physio who also does gait checks and ask them to verify.
(c) Not trust any physio who claimed I needed umpteen follow-up appointments at vast expense. I've never had an injury from my usual physio that required more than one to be advised about, and then be able to follow up by phone, and with any that required repeats he offers a reduced rate.
I once went to a physio who I had 3 appointments with and still hadn't been able to diagnose whether it was a hard or soft tissue injury but persisted to do deep massage on what they still thought could have been a fracture, made no referral for MRI and was not seeing any improvement, after which I decided they were just interested in money and not on diagnosing or treating my injury.
Unless the shop had sold me a faulty pair of trainers, then I would just chalk it up to experience and would probably be annoyed at myself for not looking around more at first. Its hard to find the right trainers without putting them through their paces in your normal running environment. Something might seem perfect when during a gait analysis session on the treadmill but turn out to be useless the first time you decide to run off-road or on a hillier route than normal.
I do find that I'm much pickier when buying a different brand/model of trainer now, when buying my last pair I went to four different running shops for gait analysis and tried on about 16 different styles (then not counting trying on different sizes in those styles) so I could find the ones I liked the fit and feel of best, instead of the ones the first shop assistant recommended.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locus_of_control