Fitting the foot

Ok now lets discuss about the last of the shoe. What is a last.....here's what i found out. The last of a shoe refers to the shape of the shoe sole. When we flip the shoe over to the other side (the sole of the shoe face towards us we could observe the shape of the sole.Usually it has 3 possibilities

• Straight
• Semi-curved
• Curved

So whats a straight last...?

A straight last is a last that is wide in the midfoot area. Usually the shoe looks like a chunk of bulky shoe. Some people describe the shoe as (boat shaped) thats a pretty funny description don't you think so! To check whether if its a straight lasted shoe bisect the rear-end of the shoe with an imaginary line all the way up to the front edge of the shoe. If the bisection line runs through your 2nd/3rd toes its a straight lasted shoe

So why straight lasted shoe exist?

Generally straight lasted shoe caters for the so called 'flatfooted" foot type. This usually means if a runner were to stand up (weight-bearing) the medial longitudinal arch would not be visible. Hence the mid-foot area is wide and it fits well in a straight lasted shoe. Since a person with 'flatfoot'/'weakfoot' always pronate excessively these shoes are often in the motion control range offering maximal support. However I notice that Brooks-Dyad is a predominant straight lasted shoe but it caters for neutral runners....interesting. This might tells us that appearance of the foot may not always be functionally the same during running. So I guess we should always conclude after looking at a person run althought he might have a 'flatfooted' appearance but may not pronate excessively during functional movement. (Thats just my speculation-need to find a confirmation).

We now will look at the semi-curved lasted shoe.

A semi-curve lasted shoe typically fits the majority of runners. To determine whether a shoe is semi-curved or not, do the same imaginary bisection line in your head. Ok, if the line progress through the 3rd/4th toes (more towards the 3rd toe) then its a semi-curved lasted shoe. Generally many models are categorized under semi-curved last. these includes

• Asics-2100, 1100
• Mizuno-Rider, Maverick
• Nike-Pegasus, Zoom Air

To cut the long story short, an individual with a normal foot appearance (what constitute normal-who knows) i.e.(have a more narrow midfoot than the rearfoot & forefoot) would fit in well in these shoes.

Ok finally we have the curved lasted shoe. Usually a curve lasted shoe is designed to fit like a glove. What does that tells us? I would conclude that it is design to fit very well on a person's foot with a fairly narrow mid-foot and I notice curve lasted shoe are usually found in racing shoe-why is that so? I could think of a reason which is racers are designed to be wore by biomechanically efficient runners who would like to run well i guess about a pace of 5:00 or less per km. They fit very well and are usually lightweight. I shall do more research on racing shoes and will attempt to do a separate posting on racing shoes. However in my own humble experience i felt a curved lasted shoe holds my foot in a more supinated (locked/rigid) position. I need to confirm that further- just my subjective feeling!

Some shoe models with curve last would be

Asics-Tiger paw (I think) one of them!

To determine a curved lasted shoe do the same imaginary bisection line. if the bisection line runs through the 4th toe then it would be considered a curved lasted shoe.

I guess i have covered thoroughly on the topic of determining you foot type and the last of the shoe. Its the second important factor to get a proper fit.

I shall attempt to discuss more on other fundamentals of fitting the foot with proper running footwear...so stay in touched!

Some other interesting points are if a person have a very narrow mid-foot, Adidas running footwear range generally are designed for the narrow mid foot person in mind as compared to other companies. And of course, women's foot are generally narrower than men's foot.

Disclaimer:Harydial suggest using an imaginary bisection line in your head to prevent any unforseen confrontation with the shoestore keeper as compared to using a real marker pen to get a visual bisection line which might be easier to observe but may cost you being kick out from the shoestore!

Footwear Therapy

I feel like talking about footwear....well lets start
Every runner considers the foot as one of the most valuable aspect for a runner...and man the foot is really a God created machine that brings us from place to place. So you may wonder how does shoes come into the picture...I guess human need shoes because:

development and modernization (as we called it) I prefer to call it (destruction & pollution) causes us to walk less (more sedentary) and through time the human foot became weak to a certain extent. Hence footwear was created to protect out foot.

But hey I guess in our society going barefoot is an odd thing but I actually believe if a child walk barefoot most of the time and run barefooted he/she will be least likely to develop foot problem as an adult and can continue to be barefooted whenever the person goes.

Ok lets get back to the point. yes I was one of those people who did not go barefooted (only at home though) and been wearing shoes ever since so I need shoes....like the majority of runners

So how do you choose a good running shoe
First consider what type of runner you are
Neutral (The lucky ones!)
Supinator
Pronator

Neutral is a runner that does not have biomechanical abnormalities this means when the person runs there isn't excessive motion e.g side-side wobbling of the foot, loud slapping noise

Supinator-Basically this runner has a rigid foot throughout the running phase. i would put it as this foot type does not absorb shock well (lack of pronation)

Pronator-A person that pronates excessively,wrong timing, has a hypermobile foot, roll inwards excessively-loose bag of bones

So a neutral shoe basically only provides cushioning and protection from the daily trauma as we run. A neutral shoe does not modify or attempt to control any abnormal motion of the foot. A biomechanically efficient runner is suited to this shoe type.Some models I could think of are like Asics-Nimbus, Mizuno-Wave Rider, Brooks-Epiphany

Supinator shoes need to be very well cushioned why? because these foot type does not absorb GRF well hence it needs heaps of cushioning. Then it got to be flexible. So what does it mean by flexible. A running shoe should be flexible if it could bend (flex) easily at the ball of the shoe i.e. the widest part of the shoe. So a flexible shoe would not attempt to 'fight' with the rigid foot type and allow a certain degree of motion.

Finally most people fall into the pronator category. In this category some may classifiy it as moderate, over pronator. I guess all this just means some individual abnormally pronate a bit but others have major pronatory dramas such as excessive pronation. Basically stability shoes and motion control shoes are suited for this foot type.

A stability shoe affer a small degree of support I could think of Asics 2100/1100, Mizuno Wave Maverick among others. Motion control shoes are designed for the over/severe pronator... I could think of shoes such as Brooks-Beast. The shoes have a medially built up posting from a high density EVA (a material made from polymers)....for example they call it Duomax (Asics). They are function to prevent the foot from excessively rolling in too much hence they modify a person's running gait.

So first determine what type of runner you are. We shall continue talking about the last of the shoe in the next posting...Stay tuned!

Note:To be able to accurately diagnosed what type of runner you are usually requires a qualified gait analysist, biomechanist or a podiatrist to observe, record your running gait in a 30metre runway or treadmill.

Whats the fuss about Pronation!-A biomechanical prespective

Ok...lets talk about pronation...If you're a runner questions like

Oh do you pronate....?
Is this an anti-pronation footwear...?
I pronate excessively according to my health practitoner

So whats pronation....well as a pod student indeed pronation always crop up whether in the lecture hall,discussions or case studies and clinic situations so lets find out whats pronation of the human foot...

Alright after a couple of semesters here's what pronation is pretty much all about...
Its quite a complex movement of the rearfoot (rearfoot pronation) rolling inwards towards the mid-line of the human body.
Its made up of 3 different individual movement which is eversion,abduction,dorsiflexion
The predominant boney joint that is responsible for rearfoot pronation is the subtalar joint (made up of talus-calcaneus) the joint just below the ankle joint
Occurs during terminal of heel strike and mid-stance
People pronates during walking and even more as we run
And pronation is a sign thats visible through the eye one can observe pronation when we stand behind someone and observe the movement of the rearfoot

So is pronation any good to us ?
Yes it does benefit us and we need pronation in our gait and running....this is because pronation...

Transforns the human foot to an efficient shock absorber-that mean s to dampen the Ground Reaction Forces (GRF)

Tranforms the human foot to a mobile adaptor so what does it mean...
ok...this basically tells us that as the rearfoot pronates it unlocks the forefoot and allow the forefoot to move in the frontal plane to adapt to uneven terrain in other words when the rearfoot pronates its a hypermobile/Flexible foot can move around a lot

It also causes internal rotation and flexion of the knee joint again to absorb GRF during midstance

Pronation also causes
Deflection of the medial longitudinal arch (MLA) thats our plantar fascia segment of the foot
This tells us that as the foot pronates energy is also stored in the anatomical structure of the Plantar fascia, short/long plantar ligament and provides energy return through elastic recoil. Hence this mechanism is an advantage in running.

And yes..with pronation Big footwear companies that creates running footwear makes tonnes of cash from us thats a big advantage to them don't you think so! Through their stability-motion control Range

So why is pronation usually associated with the (negative) been protrayed like a bad guy!
Usually pronation starts giving problem when it occurs at a wrong time during the human gait cycle. It could occur too late, early, prolonged..when these sequence happens it gives us all sorts of problems.

We shall discuss more about the problems created by rearfoot pronation on the next posting...

Warning:Harydial is a foot apprentice who is in his 3rd year of pursuing a pod degree. The information listed above is from harydial's compilation of lectures, books, experience as a runner and a bit of everything. Information is deemed correct however there are no guarantee of anything as he continue to strive to improve his understanding of the human foot.

Post Goldie

Wow it was a blast on sunday...I totally enjoyed myself at the end of the day i manage to crack 3:14:30 I am deeply satisfied and please...all glory goes to God!
Throughout the race the hems really started to get sore at about the 18km mark....at the 28km mark as they say the race started...The quads was starting to scream and the ITB's they were really starting to crack as well....but well just got to keep on going....manage to run without stopping to stretch and making sure i drank at every water markers and consume 5 packs of fuel at the 10km,20km,25km,30km,35km mark....that pretty much does the job.

Anyhow I may consider a sub3:00 next year but for this year there might not be any 42.195 klicks....!

Pre Goldie Marathon

Oh its the year 2005 time to update again.....where I left OK Goldie is just 2 days away all the hard work has been done and i can say i left no stones unturned.
First time in my life I had trained to an extent huge mileage not super huge just huge for my standard.
What i learnt from the 3 months of training was I pretty got all sorts of pain from the knees, fascia, 1st MP joint....

But hey I thank God i manage to finish off the training block and ready to start to run Goldie my aim to run Sub3:30-3:20 who knows what will happen but i shall update once its done.
Well this would be the race of the year for me and I hope to do well.

42.195km here I come with respect!

River Run

The long awaited run after Goldie which sort of depleted a part of my life! It was a good hitout anyway for this 10km run. Major goal for this race was to break 40minutes along the Brisbane river route. Well came out short with a time of 41min 02mins =70th

Should have sprinted all out until vomit the last 100metres to dip below 41 minutes!

Anyway was a good race at the River City and most of all a pleasant adrenaline boost for a sunny Sunday Morning!