Posted on August 17, 2020
Why the choice of running footwear is so important?
The decision that a runner may make with what athletic shoes to wear could possibly be important. Having the running shoe right has ramifications for how quickly the athlete runs and might impact the risk for a running injury. You can find, however, experts who do disagree with this and there is certainly plenty of controversy concerning the concerns. There is some data to support each position of this debate, and not a lot of middle ground and it depends on how you just want to spin the evidence regarding which side of the debate you want to believe in. The podiatry connected live talk via Facebook, PodChatLive recently talked over this topic by interviewing Dr Chris Napier, Physiotherapist and Associate Professor from the University of British Columbia (and 2:30 marathoner). PodChatLive is a monthly stream that goes out live on Facebook and after that published to YouTube right after the live broadcast.
During this episode on athletic shoes, Chris outlined his latest British Journal of Sports Medicine article which was about the logical misconceptions in the running footwear controversy. The hosts and Chris pointed out just how runners (both uninjured and injured) ought to choose shoes. They referred to what the research does actually informs us and just what it doesn’t yet show us. They also outlined just how much emphasis and attention athletic shoes has a tendency to receive and asked, can it be simply just about comfort? Chris Napier is a Clinical Assistant Professor from the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of British Columbia as well as an associate member of the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility. He initially received his Master of Physiotherapy education in Perth in Australia, in 2003, and then his PhD at the University of British Columbia in 2018 on running biomechanics and injury. Since being a physical therapist, Chris has specialised his education with postgraduate research in manual therapy as well as sport physical therapy.