Science of Running_ the Sole of the Shoe_ Looking at Inside the Midsole

7/30/2019 Science of Running_ the Sole of the Shoe_ Looking at Inside the Midsole

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The sole of the shoe:

With this whole barefoot/minimalist/running mechanics thing exploding right now, one fo the more

productive outcomes in sc ience is the realization that the body is smarter than we give it credit for. All

those old biomechanical models that presented the body as rigid mechanical body dont quite

accurately reflect whats going on. Instead, the body works in a nicely complex way where stiffness,

tension, and muscle activity are adjusted on the fly based on feedback the body receives. So its

constantly calculating and preparing for whats going on. So that means adjusting for the ground

surface type, the position of the legs and feet throughout, and so on. Essentially, your body has an in

built cushioning system.

You might remember those Adidas shoes that had a computer chip in them that attempted to adjust the

cushioning every stride? Well, in this case, the body already does that and better than any technology

we have currently can do. (Which makes me wonder, if the shoes adjusting cushioning constantly for

the ground, and the body is adjusting the cushioning based on the shoe, among other things, that just

seems like a bad situation of constant adjustment going on that is fighting against each other.)

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/2015/adidas-updates-its-computer-controlled

A couple recent studies published in Footwear Science help illustrate this point even more so. First, a

study entitled Relationships between impact variables from running in 20 different footwear conditions

showed that the traditional mechanical tests used to measure cushioning do not translate over to what

actually happens cushioning wise when a person is running in those said shoes. While it might be

obvious, this is significant because thats how they classify the cushioning that a shoe has.And it

doesnt actually translate to real world application. So we have a situation where the classification

doesnt match what actually happens.

A second article, Impact characteristics in shod and barefoot running took several different customshoes with wide varying midsoles (from 4mm thickness of cushion to 20mm). The basic conclusion

was that in terms of impact forces and loading rates the amount of midsole thickness didnt matter (for

statis tical significance). And Barefoot running changed the impact charactistics largely through an

adjustment in foot strike and placement.

The point of the above is to reinforce the idea that the body is a complex dynamic system.

Which brings me to the point of this:

Cobbling shoes:

Recently, I decided to cut up a couple different pairs of shoes just to take a look at the insides. Its

rather interesting what certain shoes have in the midsole and the perceived reasoning behind them.

You always hear the fancy names thrown around for the technology, but its pretty interesting to see it

hands on. So that gets me to the point. If we assume that the following is true:

The Sole of the Shoe: Looking at inside the midsoleCompression Socks

How to Run: Runningwith proper

biomechanics

Thyroidmadness-Everythingyou needto know

WhyRunningshoes donot work:Looking at

Pronation, Cushioning,Motion Control andBarefoot running.

Crossfitendurance,Tabatasprints,and why

people just dont get it

Understanding StrideRate and Stride Length

Inflammation nat ion- Isinflammation good orbad?

Non-responders-WhyScience conforms to theaverage:

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-We know that the body adjusts stiffness and muscle tunes itself to the surrounding environment. So

it adjusts based on the surface the foot will hit.

-We know that shoe structure impacts proprioception which changes our in built cushioning.

THEN, it would make sense that sense our body adjusts for what it is going to hit that the midsole of the

shoe influences our bodies adjustment. Therefore if we look at the midsole of the foot, the fact that it Is

not uniform begs the question of how does the body adjust to it?

For instance, if we look at running on a soft/unstable surface versus a pretty stable surface like

concrete, then we see differences in muscle tuning and preactivation. So, if we have a midsole that

has a variety of stuff in it, what is the body adjusting for? I dont have the answer to this question but itseems interesting and plausible.

For example, if we take a look at the two shoes here. One has a firmer outer lining of the shoe with a

very soft midsole in the middle. So, does the body prep for the initial striking of the firmer outsole when

you either land on your heel or on the lateral edge of the fore/midfoot. Or do you prep for the super soft

middle of the midsole?

Similarly, if we look at one of the other examples here, if you are a heel striker, does the firm crashpad

get adjusted to, or the soft white midsole or the air pads underneath the forefoot and heel? It seems likethe constant change in cushioning would change how our body accurately adjusts or "tunes" to the

surface. It's akin to the story Biomechanist Benno Nigg tells about the Circus performers who install a

flexible shock absorbing floor and the injuries skyrocket. Why? Because the way the floor was made

you had sections near the "support" stiffer than the furthest points in between the support, which were

very pliable and responsive. So you created a situation where you had a way too soft area and then

firmer areas, so the body never knew what to prepare for. The injury rate decreased as soon as the

floor was changed by the way.

And finally, we get to another shoe design that puts gel basically along the center of pressure of where

a heel striker would travel. That seems like a great idea, but again, perhaps you create a level of

unstableness and mixed firmness that might create a bit of confussion.

The point of all of this is does the mixing of hardness in the shoe itself create a slightly unstable

situation, like if one were to step partially on sand and partially on hard dirt?

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Why Running

shoes do not work:

Looking at

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The Running Shoe

Industry Part 2:

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Measuring

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Response.say

what?

I really dont have the answers to these questions at all. It just strikes me as interesting and I wanted to

ask the question.

My gut feeling is that creating a highly non-uniform midsole would create a situation where the body

doesnt know exactly what to adjust for and it creates a situation where the foot functions artificially.

Because of the variance in hardness you influence the natural motion of the foot in the shoe itself. So it

might sink more in certain places or alter the loading in certain areas based on the variance in stability.

I could be off here, but if research from Irene Davis group shows that even socks influence the

proprioception of the foot, then a crash pad or gel and air insert at various places in the midsole could

certainly have an effect in what our body does to prepare for the ground.

Just something to think about..

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10 comments:

Montreal Endurance 7:37 AM

How might these thoughts translate to running surface? E.g. running on grass to pavement to

gravel within one run, or grass one day, pavement the next, track the next? I thought I read

somewhere (sorry no reference) that alternating the surface on which you run was good for injury

prevention because it helped to increase proprioception (assuming cushioning in the body is a

result of proprioception).

Reply

Smith Wilbanks 9:27 AM

Great research. It seems to suggest that minimalist shoes/barefoot would allow your body to react

more accurately to the ground, something I've been intuitively aware of since I started training in

the thinnest racing flats I could find. I encourage the runners I coach to try the same, if it suits

them. You can really tell the difference, it feels like you have more control over your stride.

Forget cutting up shoes, you need to make them!

Smith

Reply

RICK'S RUNNING 12:48 PM

Steve I wonder what you think about the 'ON' Running shoes.

They are soft on landing but as firm as a track spike on take-off ?

http://www.on-running.com/index.php?article_id=2

P.S. I think minimal shoes are not for everyone, someone like myself with a history of sciatic

problems needs more cushioning under the forefoot on long runs and races!

Reply

Anonymous 4:06 PM

Wow- great information. Please keep it up

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4/5

John Davis 9:30 AM

Hi Steve, two comments:

1) In this article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11176139 Benno Nigg talks about the foot

having a "preferred movement path." According to him, when confronted with a foot-ground

interface, like a custom orthotic, the body does its best to keep the foot on its preferred path of

motion. If the orthotic inhibits this path of motion (say by trying to prevent pronation), muscle

activity in the lower leg increases to counter this effect. If it encourages the preferred path of

motion, muscle activity decreases. And it seems that different people have different preferred

paths of motion! I imagine the situation is quite the same for a shoe that has varying cushioning,

either heel-to-toe or medial-to-lateral: the body will increase or decrease muscle activity in an

effort to stay as close to the preferred path of motion. However, I suspect there is some "limit" as to

how much disruption the body can counteractI'm trying to imagine the effects of varying degreesof varus or valgus wedge, or maybe medial posts of various stiffnesses. There's got to be a

breaking point, right?

2) Are you familiar with the idea of the body having a "zone of optimal stiffness"? You alluded to

the body's automatic cushioning effect, where the body tunes the leg muscles' stiffness to the

surface that it expects to impact, but some of the guys over at Podiatry Arena argue that this

capacity only works well within a certain "window" of stiffnesses: http://www.podiatry-

arena.com/podiatry-forum/showthread.php?t=47277 To me this makes a lot of sense: you can't

sprint flat-out barefoot on concrete, because your legs can't be "loose" enough to absorb the

impact. Likewise, you can't sprint flat-out on a mattress either, since your legs can't be "stiff"

enough to spring off the ground. Any thoughts on this?

Reply

coach dion 1:04 AM

This so-called swing back to minimalist running is a funny thing, because when I started running

back in the 80's we all ran in racing flats and spikes. But then as the years ticked by running

stopped been competitive and turned into a social thing, so people started to think those shoes

were only good for 'fast' people...

Reply

Anonymous 11:06 PM

If you are saying that the foot is having a hard time adjusting to the uneven sole of the shoe

because that is the first thing it hits, would this be fixed by orthotics that are even across the entire

shoe?

Reply

Jarrett 8:06 PM

Interesting article. I have been running minimalist for about a year now and have noticed a

difference in how my foot lands on the ground. It feels a lot more natural to land on the middle of

your foot if you are running minimalist rather than running with a shoe with a huge sole.

It's nice to know that your body has the capability to adjust to almost any environment it is

introduced to.

Thanks!

Reply

Costa Rica Running 8:49 AM

Hi Steve, I read about a running gait analysis at running specialty stores but here in Costa Rica I

have never find them. My problem is my lower back and sometimes I suffer sciatic pain so he toldme he switched over to running in FiveFingers and he run pain free now. What do you think?

Reply

Arthur Smith 8:08 AM

That got me thinking. I've been trying to get myself into running for the past year, and it's that

midsole thing that's been popping up frequently (mostly from posts by foot doctors who come up

frequently in my resource searches). Guess it has that high of an impact to a runner's foot.

Reply
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