migo wrote:
My guess is the shins will be the first to go if you are overworking your calves, just to strike on the forefoot.
Point taken, I thought that was not a given.
What isn't known, is if there is any increased rotational forces due to over pronation, weak arches, etc.
i would have to say to look at the african american sprinters and the kenyans.
those of african decent tend to me more predominatly flat-footed and most strike mid-forefoot. seems to work fine for them.
when heel striking the velocity of pronation in the foot is greater and this is a factor leading to many injuries. also, landing heel first sends the impact up the leg through the bones/joints. landing mid/fore puts more of the impact absorbtion duties on the muscles and tendons. this muscularly supported position loads the joints with tension which is then used to accelerate the joint into motion.
i grew up heel striking (started running at 7. ran a half marathon at 9 along with a 20min 5k/ 42min 10k). then in 10th grade switched to midfoot and ended up running D1. when heel striking i could run forever without getting tired but i didnt have that great of footspeed. my speed and my calfs developed after switching to midfoot striking. this changed happened over the course of my soph xc season with just short strides of midfoot striking thrown into runs untill it came natural.
migo wrote:
This is coming from my biomechanics professor, along with my own experience:
Running barefoot, heel strike is a no-no. Way too much force to be concentrated on one spot. The foot is designed to have force distributed evenly over the whole foot, so strike would be mostly midfoot. The case would be the same for running in spikes, as this is basically barefoot.
In running shoes, it's a different story. Most shoes have a pretty built up heel, with some nifty technologies to absorb shock, among other things. Unless you are running pretty quickly, your heel is going to hit first.
Also, the faster you go, the more forward you will strike. This utilizes more and more of the elasticity of the achilles tendon, which is more efficient for running quickly. However, like I think the podiatrist said, your calves are pretty small compared to glutes and quads for supporting your weight over the course of a whole run.
Your biomechanics professor is wrong.
I am generally a forefoot striker, but when running downhill on grass, my heel touches the ground first, even at very high speed.
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