Shin Splints and Shoes

[Guest guest]

Wilbanks wrote:

<Previously, I had eschewed shoes with any supportive properties for exactly

the reasons you provided. Finally, I was faced with a choice between letting

my injury advance to the point of effecting my running gait, or spending $100

on the proper shoes. The shoes did the trick. In fact, for most people,

running shoe choice is the easiest and most effective way to treat chronic

running injuries. Given the surfaces available for most Americans to run on,

well-designed running shoes are the only reason most of us are able to

regularly run at all. Eventually, I would like to be free from the need for

specific supportive properties in my running shoes (I don't

need them in my walking/standing shoes). I think yoga and other exercises

can help achieve this, but I question whether it can be done so easily in

such a short time. I am eager to see the quick exercise regimen that will

liberate us all.

*** Interestingly, several researchers, such as Nigg and Robbins, have found

that all shoes tend to increase

the transmission of shock to the legs, as well as the tendency to pronate

(e.g., see the section

on shoes in " Supertraining " and Nigg, " The Biomechanics of Running Shoes " ).

In my own force plate research I found that the least shock impact was

created during barefoot running and greatest in running with shoes fitted

with inserted orthotics (which seem to diminish the ability of the foot to

'spread' and 'sag' in efforts to dissipate shock). It seems be that

inappropriate running mechanics may be a very important factor in causing

lower extremity injuries during running, so that choosing appropriate

footwear is only a small part of the solution.

It is apparent that one has to learn the optimal running skills associated

with using any given pair of shoes, just as you have to subtly change your

skills in using different baseball bats, cricket bats and tennis racquets. A

shoe might not automatically correct physical problems, though the

appropriate use of a shoe to suit a given individual might. But it would be

foolhardy to imagine that shoes will resolve a specific problem like 'shin

splints' which, as you correctly point out, include a series of different leg

syndromes, not just a single type of injury. The use of the term 'shin

splints' is like using the term 'backache' and using a single set of

convenient simplistic set of guidelines to 'cure' herniated discs,

spondylolysis, spondolysthesis, and overtraining injuries of multifidus, for

example.

With reference to your comment that " Given the surfaces available for most

Americans to run on, well-designed running shoes are the only reason most of

us are able to regularly run at all " , other research carried out in Third

World settings as in India showed that folk who spend a great deal of their

lives not wearing shoes do not experience the plethora of lower extremity

injuries experienced by their expensive footwear shodden Western colleagues

(one of you might be able to locate that reference rapidly) - and the

surfaces on which they walk and run are a lot less comfortable than what we

run on.

Just as it is easy to injure the knees or back in the snatch or clean and

blame this on poor shoes or belts, it is easy to blame running injuries on

footwear. You might recall the South African running prodigy, Zola Budd, who

won numerous international events running barefooted, like the great Abebe

Bikila of Ethiopia (who also never experienced leg injuries). For commercial

and misguided coaching reasons, she started wearing shoes and it was not

long thereafter that she started experiencing injuries of the lower

extremities. How much time have you spent using methods such as high speed

video and force plate analysis to help you correct possible running skill

problems?

Dr Mel C Siff

Denver, USA

Supertraining/