The decision that a runner can make with what athletic shoes to run in can be important. Having the running shoe correct has implications for how quickly they run and might impact the probability for a running injury. You will find, however, people that do argue with this and there is definitely a lot of argument about the topic. There exists some facts to back up both position with this debate, and not a great deal of general opinion and it relies on the method that you wish to spin the science with regards to which side of the argument that you want to believe in. The podiatry linked live stream on Facebook, PodChatLive recently discussed this subject by talking to Dr Chris Napier, Physiotherapist and Associate Professor from the University of British Columbia (and 2:30 marathoner). PodChatLive is a monthly chat which goes out live on Facebook after which uploaded to YouTube following the livestream.
Within this episode on athletic shoes, Chris outlined his latest British Journal of Sports Medicine column that was on the logical misconceptions in the running shoe dialogue. The PodChatLive hosts and Chris spoke of how runners (both uninjured and injured) ought to decide shoes. They referred to exactly what the research really does actually tells us and just what it doesn’t yet show. In addition they outlined how much emphasis and attention running shoes has a tendency to get and questioned, could it be merely all about comfort? Chris Napier is a Clinical Assistant Professor within the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of British Columbia and an associate member of the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility. Chris first received his Master of Physiotherapy education in Perth in Australia, in 2003, and then his PhD at the UBC in 2018 on running biomechanics and injury. Since becoming a physiotherapist, Chris has specialized his education with postgraduate studies in manual therapy as well as sport physical therapy.