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Last Updated: December 18th, 2024 at 3:27 pm
| #1 on my top 5 list of How to Run and Not Get Hurt is Don’t Heel Strike You’ve heard me say it a million times and you’ve probably heard other people talk about the hazards associated with heel striking But have you heard of rearfoot striking? Do you know what it means to rearfoot strike? Both the heel strike and rearfoot strike have 1 thing in common: the back part of your foot is the first thing to contact the ground The difference between the two is the angle of inclination of the foot on initial contact A heel strike has an angle of inclination of the foot of > 10 degrees (see image above) A rearfoot strike is when the back part of your foot contacts the ground first but your foot’s angle of inclination is < 10 degrees (a flatter foot) Heel striking is problematic not just because of what’s happening at the ankle, but more importantly what’s happening at the knee With heel striking, the knee stays relatively straight on initial contact See image below of a heel strike ( > 160 degrees at the knee is not good) |
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| With rearfoot striking, the back part of your foot can hit the ground first (same as heel striking) but your knee can be sufficiently bent A sufficient knee bend is key in absorbing the shock of impact See image below of a rearfoot strike (< 160 is ideal) |
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| When your foot contacts the ground and your knee is not sufficiently bent, the shock of impact goes right through the bones, up to the knee, and up to the hip When the knee is bent on initial contact, the shock is better distributed through the leg and goes more towards the muscles. So even though both the heel strike and rearfoot strike share the similarity of the back part of your foot hitting the ground first… The heel strike poorly absorbs the shock of impact because of what it forces the knee to do Whereas the rearfoot strike allows sufficient knee bend to better absorb the shock of impact Making the rearfoot strike, an acceptable strike pattern in my book. Happy runnin Michael |
