What Are Your Feet Up Too?
Over the past year a lot of Lazy Runners have had questions about their feet! Either it be regarding shoes, blisters, sore feet, or foot strike. Here are some things you might like to know about feet!

Are you a Supinator? If your foot doesn't roll inward before your toes, and it rolls to the outside, then you supinate when you land. If this is the case your shoes usually wear more on the outer side. Often people with higher arches tend to supinate.

Are you Neutral? This is the good one!! If you land on your foot evenly, and your shoes wear evenly then you are landing correctly and you shouldn't have any problems with shoes. Remember it's ideal to land on the widest part of your foot, then your heel strikes the ground lightly and then you roll back up onto your toes..this is the ideal foot strike when running.

Are you a Pronator? Over pronating is very common and can cause problems if not remedied. This is when your foot and ankle roll inwards each time your foot strikes the ground. Often both feet pronate and sometimes one can over pronate more than the other, this style puts a lot of pressure on your lower leg and joints.

Luckily there is a lot that can be done for foot problems. There are running shoes designed for the above foot conditions, you just need to be properly fitted by a shoes salesperson who knows what they are doing. Other options for having your feet assessed are Podiatrists. These foot doctors treat all problems associated with anything below the knee. Quite often they will fit orthotics for your shoes, these are specially designed inserts fitted into you shoes, the idea is that they will support your feet and try to prevent them from behaving improperly. Orthotic inserts for your shoes need to be designed and fitted and worn in slowly, they can feel awkward and hard to adjust to initially, but in the long run they correct the the biodynamics of your foot strike, making running pain free and you less prone to injury.

More Foot Stuff
Arches- There are three types of arches..Neutral, High and Low

Neutral- is normal!! When you have a neutral arch the biomechanics of your foot strike should be just right, meaning that when you strike the ground you have the right degree of supination and pronation happening and therefore you are not putting any undue pressure on the other muscles, joints and tendons of the lower leg. If you have a neutral arch you shouldn't have problems with the fitting of shoes but you still require running shoes with good support.

The ideal way for a foot to strike is, it will hit the ground in a supinated position and then it rolls into a pronated position by mid stance, and that is the point where the foot should be directly under the body and taking the full impact.

High- If you have a high arch you tend to supinate more or under pronate. Because of this a high arch does not absorb shock very well through the foot, which causes the impact to run up the lateral (outer) side of the leg causing pressure to be placed on the lower leg and outer knee, another problem caused buy high arches are lateral shin splints. The right shoe for a high arch should provide the utmost in cushioning and shock absorbance, and you should be fitted correctly.

Low- This is common in flat feet and is the major cause of over pronation, because most of the foot lands on impact, and absorbs all of the shock. The foot doesn't supinate the way it should and over pronates and causes too much mobility, the impact runs up the medial (inner side) of the leg, causing problems there. As I mentioned above, over pronators usually need more than just a good over pronating fitted shoe they also tend to require orthotics to be fitted to the shoes to prevent the pronation from occuring.