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A frequent question I get from runners is “What is the best foot strike?” Or, I hear things like “Well, I heel strike and I know I shouldn’t.” (Poor heel striking, it’s gotten a bad rep.) The short answer: there’s not one foot strike pattern that is better than another, just different. Usually the foot strike that comes naturally to you is better than forcing a different one, and in reality, when running longer distances, you're probably doing some of each type of foot strike.
Different foot strike patterns are associated with increased risk of different types of injuries. However, each strike pattern has some increased injury type risk – it’s more of a “pick your poison” situation. Heel striking is associated with injuries higher up the chain such as knee and hip or IT band type injuries. Forefoot and midfoot striking are associated with more lower leg injuries and soft tissue injuries, such as Achilles and posterior tibialis tendinopathies, plantar fascia pain, and calf injuries. (Notice the use of the word associated vs caused - you can have various injuries with any type of foot strike!)
While where on your foot you land is less important, where you land relative to your body IS important. Ideally, you should land with your foot as close to your center of mass as possible. This means that your foot is landing underneath your body, not out in front of you. If you land too far out in front of your body, we call this overstriding. Overstriding increases braking forces that the body produces as you land, and increases ground reaction forces, all which lead to increased risk for injury. Overstriding can happen with any type of foot strike!
If you are overstriding, you might be wondering how you can improve this to reduce your injury risk and become a more efficient runner. There are several strategies to optimize your stride length. Here are three that you could try:
Manipulate Cadence: Cadence is the number of steps that you take per minute. If you take more steps per minute, your turnover will increase and your stride will naturally shorten. If you decide to change your cadence, only do so by 5-10% at a time, as doing more than this can cause injury. I usually recommend starting with a 5% increase and going from there.
Increase Posterior Chain Strength: Improving the strength of your posterior chain, especially the hamstrings and glutes, will help with the eccentric (muscle contraction while lengthening) control of your leg as it swings forward before making contact with the ground. Posterior chain strength will help the strength and control of your turnover. You can try Romanian Deadlifts (single legs are great for also incorporating a balance and stability challenge!) or hamstring curls on a ball.
Visualization Cue: Simply giving yourself the cue of landing beneath your body can improve your stride length! You can visualize your foot making contact underneath your body, instead of out in front of you.
Finally, I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the importance of strength training. No matter where you land on your foot, you need to have strong bones, muscles, ligaments, and tendons to manage the load of running. Hip, quad, hamstring, and calf exercises are key to every runner’s program. Additionally, plyometrics (jumping exercises) help to improve tendons’ ability to absorb force and act like a spring.
TL;DR: Heel striking isn’t inherently bad! Overstriding + heel striking can increase injury risk, but you can also overstride with a forefoot strike, and that is also problematic! Instead of trying to change your foot strike (which often leads to more issues), see if you need to work on improving your initial contact point.
Thanks for reading and Happy Running!
Dr. Elizabeth Karr PT, DPT
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