Picking running shoes for a first time flat footed runner

Thank you all for your responses. I read an article that talked about the pointlessness of gait analysis...here's a bit of it...sorry for the length. This is why I've gotten so confused about what to choose. Everything I read keeps creating contradictions! I will be heading into the US (I'm Canadian) to look for shoes on the weekend because they are a lot cheaper there. I'll search around to see if I can find a running shop there. I was originally going to go to ****'s sporting goods, but perhaps that's not a good idea.


Gait analysis rests on a number of false assumptions and an incomplete methodology. The first assumption being that your foot strike is somehow a natural unchangeable phenomenon that can be fixed by applying the correct shoe. This assumption is wrong: foot strike is a result of the hierarchy of movement – posture, rhythm and relaxation, or in other words – your technique. There’s nothing inherent, genetic or unchangeable about it. Can shoes fix it? A shoe can adapt to whatever striking pattern you see on the gait analysis “at that moment” but here’s the problem: most gait analysis is performed in shoes! Since it is becoming common knowledge again that shoes fundamentally change the foot-strike, because they alter your posture and your body’s ability to react to the ground, analysing someone in a pair of shoes cannot tell you “how they run”. It can only tell you “how they run in that specific pair of shoes.”

Gait analysis does not measure anything “natural”
This assumptions also undermines the statement that shoes are prescribed towards the “natural inward and outward roll” of the foot (pronation) recorded during gait analysis. Sadly, gait analysis cannot measure the natural roll of the feet because a) it is usually not conducted barefoot and b) the majority of runners tested are not adopting a natural running gait anyway.

Then there’s the methodology of gait analysis, which is flawed at its core. Gait analysis only video records your feet not the entire body. This is similar to recording a bowling ball striking the pins but not stance, steps and throw leading into that result. Would you feel confident telling someone how their throw is from just a recording of the end-result (how the ball hits the pins?). I would not.

We also need to accept the raw reality of the current injury crisis: gait analysis and running shoes matched to that gait have been around for a while. Yet the crisis remains and statistics continue to be depressing to read. No matter what your reasons, if you are doing something and it is not effective, it is time to consider a new approach:

Gait analysis out, running technique analysis in
So what to do? The real solution is very simple, and anyone with a portable camera supporting 60 frame per second slow-motion playback can execute the first part of it. You film someone outdoors or on a treadmill, from the side, and you film them both in their regular pair of shoes and barefoot. So why do not all running shops simply do this instead when it’s much less advanced technology than what is commonly set up for gait analysis? Because the second part of the solution is harder – interpreting what you see on the video and prescribing the right corrective actions.

Runner filmed on the uphill
CE Squad runner Amidou filmed on the uphill. Now cut away all but the feet and draw your conclusions.
This cannot be done in ten or twenty minutes, nor can it be done beyond the very basic intervention in an hour. It requires great skill and experience on part of the person looking at the video which includes a full understanding of biomechanics, the laws of motion and human movement. But this is the direction the running store industry needs to move towards. Traditional gait analysis has to disappear from running shops everywhere and be replaced by a full video assessment, a basic introductory session to get the runner on the right track straight out of the shop (or as close to it as possible) and then recommendation for follow-up work. Some people will require significant work, four hours or more, before they are technically at the level they need to be at to run enjoyably and injury free in their new footwear (or barefoot if they prefer). As an industry we have to start being honest about this and stop professing to provide magic bullet solutions. This is simply offering false hope. The plaster may be on the wound, and you may not see the bleeding, but it still leaks beneath.

But running shops will be driven out of business!
Enabling runners to run barefoot may seem like a pretty poor sales strategy for running stores out there until they consider that this will happen eventually anyway. But even if 100% of the running community adopts barefoot running styles, it does not have to mean the end of the running shoe industry nor does it have to mean a fatal blow to running stores, for whom shoes are a big money maker.

Given the variety of situations, weather conditions and terrains, there is likely to always be a demand for shoes. Promoting only the shoes we know have the correct attributes to enable optimal running form will be key: 3mm sole or less, wide toe-box, zero-drop profile and a sole that allows for necessary proprioceptive feedback and so on. All the major shoe brands are moving in this direction. Most are still very far away from where they need to be (Nike Frees being a particularly egregious example of misunderstood application of “natural running shoes”) but they will get there eventually and running stores need to be ahead of the game. It’ll be better for consumers, with less injuries and less expenses on shoes, and opens up new business opportunities for running store owners. Happy customers and happy consumers. Sounds perfect, right?

A road-map for a future without clunky shoes and gait analysis
As serious running professionals it is time to stop selling shoes in isolation as if they are a solution in themselves. They are not and, in the case of the majority of modern shoes, they are still a fundamental part of the problem. So, unfortunately, is gait analysis because it leaves a false impression with runners that they are buying shoes individually suited to them and their unique problem. The truth is that the shoes are only individually suited to the problem recorded for that runner in whatever they were wearing during the test. As for the unique problem – there is none! What the gait analysis measures is just a symptom of some fundamental technical errors, often caused by the very shoes being tested or being sold. These technical errors are the root cause that running store professionals need to hone in on in the future or refer on to specialists who can aid their customers with permanent solutions to the real problems. Rather than trying to rush sales staff through running technique courses, running store owners should form alliances with existing experts and use them as a resource to educate and protect their customers from injury.

I just found a store called Fleet Feet in Buffalo that had good reviews and they described how the staff has you walk barefoot etc. I'll give them a try.

We have Fleet Feet in Syracuse, and I LOVE them! They are the best! :happy: I go there for ALL my running needs (and even some of my triathlon needs, too)

That's great! Thank you for the feedback. I'm dreading the cost of good running shoes, but it's better than the cost of joint damage!!

Thank you all for your responses. I read an article that talked about the pointlessness of gait analysis..

hmm, one article, vs hundreds of articles concluding that shoe type can be a contributor to injury risk and running efficiency.

I skimmed the extract, but it would be more meaningful to know where it came from. The conclusion is in line with much other thinking, injury risk and running efficiency are affected by a wide range of different factors, including form, biomechanical characteristics, terrain, experience etc. Appropriate shoes can help, but they're not the be all and end all. Too often on here people do jump to shoes as the answer, sometimes it is, and sometimes it's not.

Having the right shoes can contribute to adopting the correct running form, but equally one needs to be conscious of he form and learn to run. I know that when I'm fatigued my pace lengthens, which can lead to pain. If I run in shoes that are too cushioned, ie designed for someone who under-pronates, they'll encourage a long stride length, which can give me knee pain and serious shin pain. If I run in support shoes I'll not need to focus on my form, so can think about other things.

They're certainly part of the answer.

Here's link to the article I read.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/fitness/debunking-the-myth-of-specialized-running-shoes/article4268207/