Is your running shoe ‘Tuned’ to your unique running gait?

Finding your perfect running shoe is a top mission for every runner. 

There are so many considerations when choosing your perfect running shoe; comfort, fit, race vs recovery shoe, running surface, pronation vs supination, body weight, and many more. Now we also have to consider how the trainer is ‘tuned’ for our running gait. 

What do we mean by ‘tuned’? Just like tuning the engine of a racing car can improve performance and longevity of the engine for the individual driver or circuit, tuning your running shoe can improve your performance and reduce your risk of picking up an injury from your sport. 

Tuning your running shoe involves fine-tuning the shoe’s components to fit your individual running style, mechanics, and goals. Runners often seek professional advice, such as gait analysis or custom orthotic solutions, to help them optimise their shoe setup. This process helps improve comfort, performance, and injury prevention.

Tuning your running shoe has become more obviously important since the arrival of the ‘supper shoe’. These shoes are optimised for the running gait of the professional athlete they were designed for. This may explain why us ordinary mortals fail to get the same benefits as an elite athlete when we don a supper shoe for our race! 

While running on a treadmill for a gait analysis can help choose the type of ‘ride’ your training shoe will give you it does not allow us to take account of your individual joint and muscle capacity while running. And the ‘off the peg’ running shoe is built with the same ‘tuning’ for both the left and right shoe. This means they can never account for your unique variation in left and right leg. 

Using expert clinical assessment of your leg joints and muscles along with state of the art pressure assessment of your entire running (and walking) step allows us to understand your individual needs. Often an orthotic insole can be used to account for your unique running characteristics to tune your running shoe and keep you in the game, reducing your risk of injury and getting maximum power for your push.

If you are keen to tune your running shoe to your running gait head to our Gait and Motion Gait Analysis page and book your appointment.

Bibliography and further reading

Paquette, M.R. and Martinez, E., 2024. “SUPER-SHOES” IN DISTANCE RUNNING: IS THERE A POSSIBLE DOWNSIDE IN TRAINED WOMEN?. ISBS Proceedings Archive42(1), p.728. 

Joubert, D.P. and Jones, G.P., 2022. A comparison of running economy across seven highly cushioned racing shoes with carbon-fibre plates. Footwear Science14(2), pp.71-83.

Hébert-Losier, K. and Pamment, M., 2023. Advancements in running shoe technology and their effects on running economy and performance–a current concepts overview. Sports Biomechanics22(3), pp.335-350.

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