Footwear

Correct and appropriate footwear is extremely important and is often over looked and neglected in all forms and level of athletes. Footwear needs to be correct for the person, the activity, the surface and type of motions involved. Footwear can be used as part of a treatment plan.

There is some speculation surrounding running shoes claiming that a certain type of running shoe, stability, motion control and cushioning is needed for a certain foot type. It has been claimed that a ‘pronated foot type’ needs a motion controlled shoe, a ‘neutral foot type’ needs a stability shoe and a ‘supinated foot type’ needs a cushioned shoe. However there is no evidence to back up these claims.

There is no evidence to to say that a certain foot type wearing the shoe ‘suited’ to it, will decrease the risk of injury occurring. Unfortunately this system of matching a shoe to ‘foot type’ is still heavily embedded in the running community.

Our current advice is to wear what you find comfortable regardless of ‘foot type’.

It is often thought as a general guide that running shoes need to be replaced every 300 – 500 miles, however this is dependant on the type of running, weight and surface.

It is important to wear the correct shoe for the correct sport.

It is important to buy correct fitting footwear, they should offer plenty of width and approximately 1cm room from the hallux to the end of the shoe.

Please check your footwear it may be too small.