Forefoot or heel, outside or inside striking for runners

There is a lot of debate about heel-striking versus forefoot striking. There are excellent articles that explain the difference in impact and concludes that it is probably better to strike the ground with your forefoot than otherwise. (Like this one.) But not everyone agrees. Some say that front-foot striking may cause all kinds of problems with your feet if you do longer distances like that. (Like these guys) After a lot of reading, I concluded that mid-foot striking is probably the best way to run, and I hope that I am doing it consistently.

A few years ago, I had an interesting variation of this. I have been plagued with pain in my left ITB (Illiotibial Band that runs on the outside of the knee). It would be okay for a while, but it would become so intense after some distance that I had to stop. One day it looked like the same thing was going to happen since around 8k, I had to stop and stretch. As is my habit (a good one, I think), I also asked my Friend to help.

And I believe He did.

I experimented with different ways to place my foot and found that the pain became manageable and did not worsen if I put more weight on the inside of my foot as it lands. Just to be sure, I switched back to my usual way, and sure enough, the pain returned very quickly.

To understand what happened and why it helped, I need to explain two terms: supination and pronation.

Runner’s World defined supination like this in a recent article:

“Supination, also known as underpronation, is the insufficient inward roll of the foot while standing or after landing during a run.”

Asics defines pronation like this:

“Pronation refers to the way your foot rolls inward for impact distribution upon landing. It’s part of the natural movement of the human body but it differs from person to person.”

Pronation is good, but too much of it, called overpronation, can cause many injuries. Wearing stability shoes can counter that effect. However, my problem was supination. Changing the way I landed on my foot caused it to pronate more, and the pain went away.

My legs still got sore, but I suppose it is what you would call “normal” pain. I enjoyed the rest of my run and went on to do a 24-hour stadium run soon after that.

It is interesting that such a small adjustment could have such a profound influence on my running. Whether you overpronate or supinate is often a function of your foot physiology and needs to be corrected by the type of shoes you wear or orthotic inserts. Or you may need to strengthen specific muscles while stretching others. But sometimes, you can get lucky, and your problems will go away with a slight change in running style.

Keep running

Stephan