Comfort might be king when it comes to finding running shoes.
In a recent Danish study, researchers categorized new runners by their foot-landing pattern: supinated (landing on the outside of your foot), neutral, or pronated (landing on the inside of your foot). Surprisingly, there was no difference in injury rate among the different foot postures.
The theory goes that runners who pronate too much hold a higher injury risk, and thus should wear shoes with motion-control technology to help with stability. But while an experienced runner who pronates knows he needs a certain shoe to prevent injury, newbies don’t have that experience yet and should go with what feels right to begin.
“People tend to gravitate toward what’s right for them,” says Budd Coates, M.S., and author of Running on Air. “Wear something until you find it might not quite work for you. Then you can go into a specialty running store and say what’s going on with your foot.”
If you’re buying running shoes for the first time, the researchers suggest focusing on how comfortable a shoe is for you—whether you prefer things like more room around the toes or a cushy heel. That way you can concentrate on other factors that keep you injury-free like finding the right form, properly logging your miles, and working on your stride.
And if you’re at a loss for where to start in a maze of shoes, our friends at Runner’s World have you covered with their shoe finder tool.
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