Rotating Activity And Footwear

Recently I read this abstract and discussed it with Dr Chris Bishop from ASICS, because frankly I struggled a little with some of the figures. Chris' clinical interpretation is rotating shoes decreased injury risk by 39% and mixing up training was even better.

What this means is the old idea of rotating shoes is very sound, as is participating in other forms of exercising. So this is not new, however it is good to be reminded and good that evidence is added to the discussion.

Customers are enjoying and responding to the conversation of doing a trail run once per week, doing a tempo run, riding a bike or going to the gym. Anything that mixes it up. As my gym trainers says "the best exercise for you Craig, is the exercise you have not done yet".

The aim of this study was to determine if runners who use concomitantly different pairs of running shoes are at a lower risk of running-related injury (RRI). Recreational runners (n = 264) participated in this 22-week prospective follow-up and reported all information about their running session characteristics, other sport participation and injuries on a dedicated Internet platform. A RRI was defined as a physical pain or complaint located at the lower limbs or lower back region, sustained during or as a result of running practice and impeding planned running activity for at least 1 day.

One-third of the participants (n = 87) experienced at least one RRI during the observation period. The adjusted Cox regression analysis revealed that the parallel use of more than one pair of running shoes was a protective factor [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.614; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.389-0.969], while previous injury was a risk factor (HR = 1.722; 95%CI = 1.114-2.661). Additionally, increased mean session distance (km; HR = 0.795; 95%CI = 0.725-0.872) and increased weekly volume of other sports (h/week; HR = 0.848; 95%CI = 0.732-0.982) were associated with lower RRI risk.

Multiple shoe use and participation in other sports are strategies potentially leading to a variation of the load applied to the musculoskeletal system. They could be advised to recreational runners to prevent RRI.

Everyone has a theory and reason for this practice, as people do. However, before we get into performance and injury prevention there is one aspect to this practice I personal like. Using two pairs of shoes and rotating them is a lot cleaner and hygienic. It just feels nice to put on shoes that are dry. Forcing my feet into shoes that are soaked from the previous day in a big Auckland down pour is just an ugly way to start a run.

"With 5,000 foot strikes on a 10km run the EVA gets a pounding. Letting it recover improves its shock attenuation properties."

So why do our staff and customers keep telling us this practice works and their legs and feet feel better for rotating shoes. A study by Malisoux in Luxembourg followed 264 recreational runners and found that runners who practiced "parallel use of different running shoes" incurred injuries at rate 40% less than the whole group.

By changing up the forces on your body even slightly by wearing a different pair of shoes, you give a stressed part of your feet or legs a chance to rest.

How about challenging yourself to explore Auckland's magnificent road and trail landscape to find a different path that will again just change up the stresses on feet, legs, muscles and tendons.