Running shoes favor heel-striking

There are many reasons to run barefoot, but a popular one for amateur runners is that it promotes good technique.  The underlying cause of most running injuries is poor technique.  Running shoes actually encourage bad habits in technique.  Above all, the worst running habit is heel-striking.  You have been told by running shoe companies that landing on your heels is a proper way of running.  To understand their claims we have to look back to the 1970s at the start of "jogging."  Back then the founder of Nike, Bill Bowerman, had the idea that if he put cushioning under the heel, a jogger could take longer strides since the jogger could now land on their heels.  He imagined that longer strides would correlate to faster times which also turns out not to be true. 

Today, if you ask any educated running coach if heel-striking is an acceptable running technique their answer is "absolutely not."  Because heel-striking is like putting on the brakes with each step, which results in not only slower times but causes running injuries such as plantar fasciitis, shin splints, knee pain and much more.  What most of these great running coaches don't understand is that when wearing running shoes heel-striking is inevitable.  The ankle needs to land with the foot at a 90 degree angle to the body.  For that to be possible with running shoes, you would be leaning so far forward that you would trip over your feet.  To adjust for this you have to land on your heels with your foot angled upward.  So why do we continue wearing running shoes with heel cushioning?  Maybe because your favorite running shoe brand tells you to?  Or maybe you're under a false impression that something soft under your heel absorbs shock?  The good news is that we are finally at a time of a mass awakening, when we are going to see running shoes regress back to a simpler more primitive design so they can once again be healthy to run in.

"Take your shoes off and run... 99.9% of people will immediately run on any other part of their foot, but the heel. If you're a member of the 0.01% group insisting on "heel first" approach while doing it barefoot, then I'd like to see what you have to say after, say, mile 10... don't forget to pick up a first aid kit to clean up your bloody tortured heels. The fact is, human heel is not meant to bear such beating."                 -Dr. Romanov  Pose Tech