All Feet Aren’t Created Equal

The best running shoe is the one that best suits how your body, especially your feet, adapts to the stress of running. You want a shoe that best complements how you move through the gait cycle (what running geeks call biomechanics).
Running shoes are constructed to address what happens when your feet hit the ground. Ideally, your foot lands on the outside heel, rolls in until your heel is aligned under your lower leg, then becomes rigid as it propels you forward. About half of all runners are blessed with something close to this kind of biomechanics. But many runners’ feet roll in too far or continue to roll in as the foot prepares to push off; this type of footstrike is called overpronation. And a small minority of runners’ feet don’t roll in enough; this type of footstrike is called supination. The following figures illustrate these three types of running biomechanics.