Minimal Running (Zero Drop Shoes) - Avoiding Calcaneus Stress Fracture

Try Hoka

Take 6 months and make your feet and related anterior and posterior chain super strong and strong at running ROM. It starts at the feet though.

https://www.correcttoes.com/foot-help/3-effective-foot-exercises-build-foot-strength

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9chuIPm8bY

look at some of her other videos.

How will this help exactly?

I think my main concern is achilles pull with using zero drops. Should I be fine now that I'm using Altra's and no longer a pure barefoot shoe? If not, how do you guys using a zero drop avoid achilles pull or stress fracture in the heel?

If I don't wear zero drop shoes, my achilles starts hurting. I've been wearing the various Merrell trail gloves. I've used the vapor glove and they aren't good. I started using Altras because they more padding.

ToddZ wrote:

How will this help exactly?

I think my main concern is achilles pull with using zero drops. Should I be fine now that I'm using Altra's and no longer a pure barefoot shoe? If not, how do you guys using a zero drop avoid achilles pull or stress fracture in the heel?

Well, based on your post , shoes are not going to stop you from having problems, You are basically just guessing. That said , I think you could be going in the right direction with the Altras. I am going to guess that you will fail until you quit hoping that shoes are going to fix you/keep you from getting trashed.

The way to quit moving your problems around your lower extremities is to be patient(or wherever they are showing up). Go back to zero if you have to and start by walking with adding running very slowly. As new pains develop. Back off until you are sure you have built up your resistance to the new thing (soft sand running and new shoes for hard surfaces for instance). Make adjustments along the way. Maybe patiently start over with a completely different angle/strategy.

Then you may get many many years before you are dealing with problems big enough to have to start over again.

Maybe you don't need to do what I suggest. Something similar probably. Look at how long many elite runners are out for at times.

They also have to go back to the drawing board , even with all the professional help and great running bodies they have.

Again, It takes about 6 months to accommodate a big change. When you make a big change, some of your muscles and tendons are basically on day one, even if you have been running for years. even if the change is right they need time, especially the tendons. Time to adjust to new ROM and get stronger.

While I am on my soapbox.

Extension through the gait depends on the feet working right. Toe flexion ankle extension , power and range of motion in the lower extremities all allow good knee and hip extension which are crucial to good running. Anything less than that is tending towards shuffling. Unless you are ready to go in that direction, rending towards a lousy gait , you have nothing to lose by checking into the ideas that I have proposed. Be careful that just escaping one injury doesn't have you developing bad gait patterns and new injuries.

You can escape your injury symptoms , get poor mechanics, lower leg dysfunction, and lost the extension I am talking about. Something else will get bad in any shoe if your foot isn't acting properly as a lever and muscle stabilization is not good. Look up anchor windlass mechanism of the foot if you don't understand it. Try to stay on track with good mechanics while you avoid these injuries. Again, all the shoe companies make promises that appeal to wishful thinking( running with less injuries) for every single product they carry.

Sorry about the lecturing tone... and I hope this helps you (or other lurkers).

I wear the Altra Escalante Racers 6-7 days a week and am so glad I found them.

For me they're my everyday trainer... shoe .. whatever you want to call it. I switched from New balance series as well.

There was no breaking in for me. I wear them on daily runs from concrete to asphalt to grass to dirt.

There is no switching in and out for me. It's these all the time. My feet hate anything with much of a heel drop and I prefer flats over anything else, even on trails.

There is plenty of cushioning. Why don't you extend your time on softer terrain? It really does in several aspects and softens the impact.

Good luck with yours. Enjoy!

Similar boat to you. I actually ended up with the same stress fracture when I switched to zero drop as well a few years ago - stress fracture from the traction on the achilles. I continued to run in zero drops since and haven't had an issue. What I needed to be more diligent about was calf/achilles/foot strengthening and big toe mobility. Also, work on your ankle ROM. I actually am hyper-mobile in the ankle that got the stress fracture - hence, my heel was hitting the ground harder because I had the extra ROM. I had to work on the other ankle to even it out. I don't want to switch out of Altra because I get massive sesamoiditis issues with any type of smaller toe box and higher drop.

I do sometimes wear the gel heel cups (just the Dr Scholls - my sports podiatrist actually says those are the best, and he operates on all the big running folks). They squish down to about a 3mm drop and I don't notice much of a difference.

Did an actual doctor tell you the stress fracture was from the achilles pulling on the calcaneous? That sounds pretty far fetched...

Sorry just getting back and reading through these. I will read through and reply.

But to the one question, yes, my Doctor made the determination it was from achilles pull. Might sound far fetched, but I was not landing on my heel at all. The area of the stress fracture seemed to relate fairly well with it being from this as well. I've heard of this happening before to others...just not much.

Drainthefecesswamp wrote:

Did an actual doctor tell you the stress fracture was from the achilles pulling on the calcaneous? That sounds pretty far fetched...

Actually not far-fetched at all. Stress fractures can definitely be traction injuries - happens in the femur at the distal psoas attachment, for example.

For the calcaneus, if the fracture happens at the upper part of the posterior calcaneus (at the top, basically), then it's usually from traction on the achilles, not from pure impact (though clearly there has to be impact as well). If it's at the bottom of the calcaneus, mainly caused by impact..

Mine was at the top part, and impact never hurt. I could hop on it just fine as well. Just a weird injury. Luckily, the traction ones tends to heal much quicker - quicker stress fracture recovery time I've had.

Exactly where mine was and exactly what was explained to me back when it happened.

Made me sick actually thinking that I had a stress fracture from the achilles pull.

To some of the other posters, you have to understand that I have actually spent alot of time progressively working into running after massive shin issues. I tried everything in the world to discover my main issues. At the end of the day, when I switched to zero drops, it just seemed to be the ticket on avoiding tibial stress fractures and shin splints. I actually did exactly as one poster says...walking/running and working into a slow increase of actual training.

My plan is most likely to try a mix of zero drops and 4-5mm drop shoe. Something that might let me train with little shin shin pain, but also avoid stressing the achilles too much. I'm just surprised others can wear zero drops completely while avoiding an issue like this. Of course, back when I had the calcaneus fracture, maybe I jumped into things too quick.

BUMP

Bringing back up. Any minimal/zero drops guys and gals out there that know best out to avoid any issues like this? I might be worried for no reason, but nervous I could get something like this again just running in zero drops.