Running Mechanics Series - Foot strike
Ahh the old foot strike, a controversial topic amongst the running & biomechanic elite, generally leaving the rest of us mere mortals confused, concerned and potentially even disheartened!
“So, are you doing it all wrong!?!?”
Good news - you are probably not!
The long and the short of it is there is no definitive foot strike pattern that is considered “ideal”.
So what exactly is foot strike?
Put simply, foot strike is the pattern in which your foot hits the ground, in particular which part hits the ground first when running. What’s more, is it can include detail into the entire pattern in which your foot lands and leaves the ground.
There are three common definitions of foot strike:
Forefoot - landing on the ball of your foot (think how your foot lands when running up a steep hill).
Midfoot - landing on the mid part of your foot, appears as though your whole foot lands on the ground at one time.
Heel - Landing on your heel (typically promoted by padded/cushioned shoes.
The real question is - which one is most suitable?
Some arguments you might have heard include:
“Forefoot because that’s how we land when we’re barefoot”
“Midfoot because that's most appropriate from a weight distribution standpoint”
There’s many more.
As a matter of fact, I was in the “forefoot strike is best” camp for a very long time.
My logic was based on the fact that we have a multitude of joints, bones, muscles and tissues in our forefoot to absorb and release forces minimising impact and maximising propulsion?
I like to consider things from a longevity/evolutionary lens and it’s quite logical to me that footwear has not been a big part of our evolutionary process and therefore these muscles, joints and bones are designed for this…?
Wrong.
Whilst I still stand behind some of the evolutionary logic, I have had to eat humble pie when it comes to foot strike patterns.
A quick glance at the literature reviews on the subject sum up how definitive we can be.
This article states: “There was low evidence to suggest a relationship between Foot Strike Technique (FST) (or its subcategories of categorical FSP and continuous measures) and running related injuries (RRIs).
This article states: “The modification of strike techniques may affect the specific biomechanical loads experienced on relevant structures or tissues during running.”
This article states: “The relationship between strike pattern and injury risk could not be determined, as current evidence is limited to retrospective findings.
Considering the lack of evidence to support any improvements in running economy, combined with the associated shift in loading profile (i.e., greater ankle and plantarflexor loading) found in this review, changing strike pattern cannot be recommended for an uninjured RFS runner.”
If someone were to ask me what is most ideal, the honest answer I can give is… it depends.
And truthfully, it does.
Dependable elements include:
Speed/velocity that you are running
Shoes that you are wearing
Distance/intensity you are aiming to achieve
Strength of your entire running system
And many more.
So instead of trying to unpack all of that, think of and ideal foot strike in the following context:
It doesn't cause you injury.
It maximises your efficiency.
We’ll unpack each of those instead.
It does not cause injury
The way your foot lands can determine the “impact” in which your body has to endure during each stride when running.
People that regularly deal with impact related running injuries tend to land with their foot in front of their centre of mass. This is generally what drives the bastardisation of “heel strike” landing patterns (note, it feels ridiculous landing in front of your body on your forefoot).
However, it is not the heel strike that drives the evils of impact, but rather the landing in reference to your centre of mass.
If you consider Newton's 3rd law of motion:
“Every action has an equal and opposite reaction” and apply it to running a few logical things sink in.
If I land with my foot way out in front of me, the ground is going to provide an opposing force straight back through that limb. If that force is coming from in front of me, it is going to 1. Slow me down and 2. Increase the impact of said step.
Regardless of what part of your foot you land on, if you’re landing in front of yourself both the braking and the impact force is going to be higher.
If however, you land directly under your centre of mass, the same rules of physics apply but instead of said forces pushing back against where they came from, they end up being propulsive in pushing you forward (as your momentum passes over your foot landing). This inturn reduces the impact on the lower limb and also improves efficiency… which brings us to the second point.
It maximises efficiency
The explanation above gives you a decent understanding of what occurs when you get your landing mechanics right. It both addresses impact related issues (that could be contributing to injury) as well as promotes a more efficient running gait (reducing the braking forces on the body).
So what else determines our efficiency?
Efficiency in running (particularly relating to the physics, ignoring the biology in this case) should be considered as horizontal velocity - ie. moving forward and nothing else.
We want to mitigate for two things to maximise efficiency:
Breaking forces (thanks to the ground), as discussed applying Newton's 3rd Law of motion.
Oscillation (wasting energy by moving up and down instead of “just” forward). This occurs most when we land on our forefoot or even mid foot when compared to the heel, seriously challenging the “forefoot” landing advocates out there.
Dr. Matt Minard does a great job at explaining this concept on this podcast episode.
He refers to “The marathon mortgage” when explaining running efficiency and I bloody love it.
In summary there are 3 things to think about when considering running efficiency:
Principal = moving forward, paying down the distance just like paying down your mortgage. This is the priority when it comes to covering distance efficiently in your run.
Tax = ground reaction forces are inevitably going to have a breaking effect when we run. The aim, just like taxes, is to reduce said effect on efficiency so we can pay down the principle more aggressively.
Interest = oscillation. The natural up down movement of running. Oscillation, just like interest, is inevitable when trying to generate forward velocity. Again, just like tax, the aim is to minimise your interest so you can maximise your payment of principal (forward velocity).
So instead of getting too caught up in your foot strike, to improve your running efficiency, think primarily of your centre of mass.
An effective forward lean is going to transfer your mass forward automatically influencing where your foot lands in relation to your body/trunk - mitigating for all the points above.
You can even try this right now by standing up and leaning forward so you feel the weight distribute to the front of your feet. Leaning forward at your ankle (not hip), forcing your centre of mass “forward” naturally activates the muscles in your feet and lower limb gives you a good idea of where you should be leaning when running.
Leaning too far back is going to force your stride in front of you causing braking forces, increasing impact and we know how detrimental that can be when it comes to both injury & efficiency.
In summary, spend less time worrying about “which part of your foot” and more time worrying about “how you are leaning” which will influence how you’re landing.
You can trust your body to do the rest.
#teamSOF