ZERO VS TRADITIONAL

ZERO VS TRADITIONAL

This is a widely debated topic. Should I go with a zero heal drop on my running shoes or stick with the traditional 10-12 millimeter drop or offset?

When we talk about heal drop of offset we’re talking about the difference in cushion from the heal to the toe of the shoe. Most shoes will have more cushion in the heal and less in the front or forefoot.  As an example, if the heal of your running shoe has 24 millimeters of cushion and the front or forefoot has 12 millimeters, the difference or offset (heal drop) is 12 millimeters. So why would I want less of an offset? The idea came about with the minimalistic craze about 9 years ago when the book Born to Run came out.  It’s a great read so if you haven’t checked it out, do so. Here is a clip from Wikipedia about the book and author Christopher McDougall (http://www.chrismcdougall.com/).

In 2009's Born to Run, McDougall tracks down members of the reclusive Tarahumara Indian tribe in the Mexican Copper Canyons. After being repeatedly injured as a runner himself, McDougall marvels at the tribe's ability to run ultra distances (over 100 miles) at incredible speeds, without getting the routine injuries of most American runners. The book has received attention in the sporting world for McDougall's description of how he overcame injuries by modeling his running after the Tarahumara.^[6] He asserts that modern cushioned running shoes are a major cause of running injury, pointing to the thin sandals called huaraches worn by Tarahumara runners, and the explosion of running-related injuries since the introduction of modern running shoes in 1972.^[7]

So there you have it. That’s pretty much how the whole minimalist and barefoot movement started. This is also when Vibram introduced the 5 finger barefoot shoe. During this time frame, a lot of vendors felt the pressure to compete with the Vibram 5 finger shoe and introduce their own version of minimal. New Balance also teamed up with Vibram and introduced the M10 minimal shoe. Brooks Running introduced their Pure Project. The shoe company Altra Running (https://www.altrarunning.com) was born around the same time. They created a zero drop cushioned shoe shaped like your foot. If anyone remembers the Earth Shoe from the 70’s, that’s pretty much the look. Altra wanted to give you cushion though, so they put just as much cushion into the forefoot as they do the heel, creating a zero drop. Hoka One One (https://www.hokaoneone.com) was born at this time as well. Hoka believes in giving you what they call, max cushion from heel to toe. Where most shoes have 24 millimeters of cushions in the heal, Hoka can have as much as 33 millimeters of cushion in the heal and 31 in the forefoot, giving you a 4 millimeter offset known as drop.

Why would you want to lower the drop on the heel? In theory it gets the runner off of their heal and up on their forefoot. Again “in theory” it should take stress off of the knees and back. During this time when everyone wanted to go minimal or barefoot run, the Physical Therapist, Podiatrist and Orthopedist were doing really well. Most runners who tried to go minimal ended up with a bad case of achilles tendonitis, calf strains, stress fractures and plantar fasciitis. Very few made the transition successfully.

Why did this happen? Most of those tribes who run barefoot, grew up that way and running in a 3 dimensional environment, running on grass, dirt, sand etc. Our area is very 2 dimensional and most of us have grown up running on hard, flat surfaces with cushion under our feet. Take that away and you have the receipt for a stress fracture. If you start running on the balls of your feet when you’ve always run from heal to toe, you can easily strain your calf, achilles or plantar fascia. When you drop the heal, you lengthen the calf and achilles and really engage all of those muscles and tendons that aren’t used to being stretched that far for that long.

This is all my segway to my achillies tendonitis. I started running in Altra, the zero drop shoes, early last year, which I love. I took it slow and really eased into it. Everything was going along just fine. When I started training for my ultra marathon, I spent a lot of time in the sand and in the hills. As much as it strengthened my calves, quads and cardio, I hadn’t considered the fact that in the sand and hills, I was actually going below zero and negative, so really stretching everything. You would think this could be a good thing. It could have been good had I done a lot more stretching and rolling and taken better care of myself during training. During my training, I would feel it burning at the heal, I knew what it was but, I would run through the initial pain and it would warm up and feel fine. After the run when things would cool down is when the hobbling around would begin. Everything would just tighten back up and get painful.

Because of the achilles tendonitis, I have recently gone back to a higher drop shoe which relieved the pain and has helped with the healing. As I said, I love my Altra running shoes. The weight feels great, and I like the zero drop. This morning I decided to take them on my run. I put them on and immediately felt the achilles but headed out in them anyhow. As soon as I started running, the pain started so I turned around and changed my shoes to the 12 mm drop. It was an instant cure and I ended up having a great run. I think I will try the Altra again in the future. But I’ll make sure I’m 100% and ease into it.

A few lessons here; you can’t cheat the system, you have to stretch and roll after every run. You just have to commit the time. No one likes to do it, but if you don’t you will be sidelined eventually. If you want to go more minimal or lower drop, you need to do it slowly and gradually over many months. Switch back and forth to different shoes over those months. Slowly stretch those muscles and tendons. Because if you don’t something will blow up. Take time off from a big race to heal. This is something I don’t do and pay the price every time. Next time I’m taking 1-2 weeks off. If you want to run more forefoot, you can do that in any shoe no matter the drop. Just shorten your stride and get up on your toes. But again, take you time and slowly get your body used to it.

I read a study several years ago about a guy who traveled the world and studied other cultures running styles. He estimated about 80%, even running barefoot, ran heal to toe. Those that ran on the balls of their feet, it was more of a cultural thing. The kids would start off running heal to toe and as they grew older, would notice the other family members and friends running on the balls of their feet and would eventually change their running form.  He suggested that only about 10% of the population actually runs on the balls or their feet. He also noticed that they had a very high cadence or turnover. So their foot when it landed was always under the body. It wasn’t extended out in front of them. He speculated that it’s not whether you run heal to toe or up front, but do you over stride and put too much impact on the body? I personally like his theory.

After reading that, I focused more on my cadence and getting it higher (https://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/how-to-boost-your-cadence) I shortened my stride which also keeps my foot under my body when landing. As far as joint pain or knee pain, luckily (knocking on wood) I have not had any and feel very healthy in that regard.  Now if I can just keep up with this stretching and rolling routine, I should be back at 100% very soon. So it’s time to dust off those Trigger Point (https://www.tptherapy.com/category/grid_rollers) foam rollers and Addaday (http://www.addaday.com/rollers) rollers so you can feel great after every workout and stay injury free. Interestingly enough they call them injury prevention tools, but unfortunately most of us use them after we get injured.

We’ll see you out there. Stay safe, healthy and happy.

Edgar