Heel strike or toe strike?

The testing showed that 19 of the women and four of the men struck first with their forefeet while striding.

How a runners foot should strike the ground incites passionate debate among athletes and coaches,despite scant persuasive evidence to support either position. But a noteworthy new study may help to quell the squabbling,by suggesting that each style of running has advantages and drawbacks,and the right way to run almost certainly depends on what kind of runner you already are.

For the new study,published in June in Medicine amp; Science in Sports amp; Exercise,researchers at the Tampere Research Center of Sports Medicine in Tampere,Finland,began by using motion capture technology to determine the running form of 286 young adults from the area who played team sports. None competed in distance running. All wore their normal running shoes during testing. The testing showed that 19 of the women and four of the men struck first with their forefeet while striding.

Similarly,when researchers in New Hampshire studied middle-of-the-pack runners during a marathon there,they found that almost 90 per cent were heel-strikers according to filming conducted six miles into the event. Interestingly,of the remaining 10 per cent,most had shifted to a heel-strike form when filmed again near the races end,as they tired.

Regardless,some running coaches and other experts question the wisdom of heel striking,noting that when runners dont wear shoes,presumably the most natural way for humans to run,many,although not all,adopt a forefoot-strike running style. This suggests,enthusiasts say,that forefoot striking is the inherently right way for humans to run.

If so,however,forefoot striking should lessen the odds of a running-related injury. And it was that possibility that the Finnish researchers hoped to explore.

So they next matched the 19 forefoot-striking female runners with an equal number of female heel strikers of similar age,height,weight,and running pace. The researchers determined just how much force the women were creating with each stride and,of greater interest,where that force was hitting hardest.

In general,the knees,ankles and Achilles tendons are the sites of most running-related injuries,previous studies have found. And in this experiment,many of the women runners jarred their knees,especially when they landed on their heels. That running form resulted in about 16 per cent more force moving through the knee joint than when women landed near their forefeet.

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But the forefoot strikers legs were not immune from force. They simply absorbed it differently,with almost 20 per cent more force moving through their ankles and Achilles tendons.

In essence,the findings show that you cant escape the cumulative impact of running,however you stride,said Juha-Pekka Kulmala,a PhD student,now at the University of Jyvaskyla,who led the study. Hit with your heels and you stress your knee,possibly leading to conditions such as patellofemoral stress syndrome. Strike near the ball of your foot and youll jolt your ankle and Achilles tendon,potentially increasing the risk of such injuries as Achilles tendinopathy,plantar fasciitis,and stress fractures of the foot.

There is,in other words,no one invariably right and painless way to run.

However,Kulmala said,the results also indicate that strategically altering how you land could be advisable for some runners.

GRETCHEN REYNOLDS