I went to see an orthopedist last week to see if he could help me with my plantar fasciitis so that I can hit the pavement again. He informed me that I was in the wrong shoes. I have been running in Brooks Adrenalines every year. I wear one pair out and replace them with a new one.
He compared my shoes to a cast. When you have to wear a cast, your muscles start to atrophy. My shoes were like casts for my feet. To make matters even worse, I had supportive inserts in an already too supportive shoe. My feet didn't have to do any work in my shoes. They weren't doing any work. When I changed to a less supportive shoe (on the advice of a man at the running store), my foot got "angry" because it had to work now. Therefore, I developed the plantar fasciitis.
This made perfect sense once he explained it all to me. Why hadn't anyone told me this before? I am now supposed to gradually work my way down to much less supportive shoes. My progression was to first remove the supportive inserts in the Adrenalines for a few weeks. Then, put those inserts in my Ravennas for a couple of weeks. Next, remove the inserts from the Ravennas. The goal is to work my way down to a pair of Pure Cadence shoes that have minimal support.
In case you are wondering, the orthopedist I saw specializes in running and running injuries. He gives lectures around the country about both topics. He is also a runner himself.
Do you have any running injuries? Could the wrong shoes be part of your problem also?
Here is a link from the American College of Sports Medicine about selecting running shoes.
https://www.acsm.org/docs/brochures/running-shoes.pdf
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| Here is a list of recommended shoes that I received. |
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