Fixing the foot strike

So, One of the things I began to work on when I switched to minimalist shoes, was my foot strike.  My goal was to move from being a heel striker, to a fore-foot striker as many of the websites I read, assured me that this would reduce injury and they can't put anything on the internet that isn't true.

[caption id="attachment_2547" align="aligncenter" width="490"] Look at that heel hit the ground![/caption]

Now, if you change HOW you run, you aren't going to change the amount of force that your body receives - so the reality is that you just change the sorts of injuries that you are risking.  This is a topic that Craig Payne, a podiatrist from the land down under, wrote about on his site "Running Research Junkie".  His writings are an interesting change from most running sites, as he relies on (gasp!) facts.  (as a side note, I can totally support his "Calf-Strain" on the forefoot running, as I went through several of those as I transitioned!)

Plantar Fasciitis Treatment - an excerpt from Craig Payne posted on the Podiatry Arena

This is an excerpt from a posting by Craig Payne - Senior Lecturer at La Trobe University in Australia from the Podiatry-Arena forum.  It is reposted with his permission.  Special thanks to Peter Bird for bringing this forum posting to my attention.  Pictures were added by me, to help illustrate.  The original posting had no photos or illustrations.


Ok, Mr Runner, you have got plantar fasciitis. Plantar fasciitis occurs when the load in the plantar fascia exceeds what the tissue can take, so we have only two things we can do. One is reduce the load and the other is increase the ability of the tissues to take the load. Reducing the load is easy and is something we can do today. Increasing the ability of the tissue to take the load is more difficult, takes time and is not something we can do in the short term.

[caption id="attachment_2329" align="alignright" width="300"] Low Dye Strapping -  photo from http://conejofeet.com/patients-guide-heel-pain/[/caption]

I know you have a marathon to run in 4 weeks. Is the plantar fasciitis interfering with your preparation for that? If it is, then we will use low dye strapping today to get a more acute effect of reducing the load. At least that will help the symptoms and start the healing process while we keep an eye on that marathon preparation.