Benefits of Running Shoes
Running shoes are designed for providing the best protection for your feet, legs, and other body parts against the stress of countless foot landings. Wearing these shoe cushions directs your ankle and feet movements, prevents injuries, and improves running performances.
Unlike other sports, running involves the repeated impact on your foot every time you take a stride forward and then land your foot. Running shoes with their in-built features allow you to run comfortably while absorbing stress equivalent to 2 to 3 times your body weight.
This article explores why it’s essential to wear running shoes and discuss numerous advantages offered by running shoes.
Benefits of Running Shoes
While comparing running barefoot, running with running shoes, running with regular shoes, the running shoes emerge as the clear winner as these offer numerous advantages.
Prevents Injuries
Running shoes are primarily designed for preventing injuries during running. Using these shoes help you to avoid overuse injuries such as joint pain, stress fractures, tendonitis, etc.
These shoes ensure that you don’t get any cuts and scrapes while running on rough surfaces.
As compared to running barefoot, these shoes provide outsole protection and reduce foot injuries.
Running shoes offer a significant advantage and competitive edge over regular shoes by providing more protection. As you run over the hard objects, the running shoes’ midsole provides protection and absorbs maximum impact during each step taken.
Provides Arch Support
Running shoes offer excellent arch support that comes in handy, especially for individuals with flat feet. The arch supported by running shoes works great for athletes and other persons who do regular running as a part of their exercise routine.
If you are an avid exerciser, you stand to gain a lot from the arch support offered by running shoes. The arch stability helps the runners with flat feet to keep running comfortably. Moreover, it also benefits runners with high arches by providing the necessary support.
Boosts Athletic Performance
Running shoes are a must for athletes or professional runners for ensuring improved athletic or running performances. The right kind of running shoes provides greater comfort and enhanced running capacity.
All competitive runners invest in a pair of high-quality running shoes for improving their running and reaping their maximum benefits. However, even if you are not a competitive runner, you still need running shoes for ensuring superior athletic performances.
Some runners choose specialized light running shoes that help achieve greater running efficiency. You can get the necessary support for achieving your running goals by wearing running shoes.
Provides Midsole Foot Cushioning
Midsole foot cushioning is considered one of the significant advantages offered by running shoes. The foot cushioning between the heel and the foot reduces stress on the toes, ankles, and heel during running.
Running shoes impart comfortable and safer running for long periods by providing the required cushioning. Moreover, it helps in improving body mechanics and preventing pain in the knees, hips and back.
Some running shoes come with a softer midsole for ensuring greater protection and enhanced cushioning.
Fixes Overpronation
When you roll your foot too far inside during running, you are overpronation. This condition of overpronation results in misalignment of your knees and inward tilting of lower legs.
Overpronation during running puts you at high risks of developing medical conditions like bunions, plantar fasciitis, shin splints, and other foot problems. However, you can overcome these issues by wearing running shoes designed for fixing the overpronation.
The inside of the midsole of the running shoes, meant for fixing overpronation, is prepared from tougher material to prevent the foot from rolling inward and provide additional support.
Fixes Supination
When you roll your foot too far outward during running, you are supinating. During supination, the bones and ligaments on the outside of the foot experience high stress and get exposed to risks of injury.
Moreover, it also results in knee pain due to the reduced efficiency of the foot to absorb the impact from the steps. You can wear running shoes designed for fixing supination to overcome these medical issues.
These shoes feature soft midsoles and provide improved cushioning in the heel and front area of the foot. This results in the enhanced flexibility as compared to the rigid foot.
Improves Motion Control and Traction
A high-quality pair of running shoes are designed to provide improved stability and motion control. When you put on your running shoes and run, these offer enhanced traction on the road or trails for ensuring safe running.
Running shoes offer tortional stability and get stiff where you need them during running. These provide comfortable running even on trails as they give the required flexibility in the right places.
Offers Breathability
As running shoes are made of breathable material, these ensure enhanced breathability for your foot and sole while running long distances.
Provides Night-Time Reflectivity
Running shoes are designed to provide night-time reflectivity so that you can run even in the night and stay visible. It ensures your safety and keeps you away from worries while running.
Why Is It Important to Wear Running Shoes?
Any kind of sports workout, including gymming, walking, and running, requires you to put on your running shoes. This helps you avoid injuries caused by wearing inappropriate shoes and focus on your fitness workouts.
Wearing running shoes provides for comfortable and pleasurable workout experiences. Putting on a pair of running shoes helps a runner maintain a proper running gait and specific biomechanics of running. It also prevents damage to the foot and ankles.
When you wear improper workout footwear rather than running shoes for your workouts, you are at high risk of various injuries like fractures, corns, bunions, ankle strains, and other foot injuries. Moreover, wearing improper shoes can worsen the symptoms of Metatarsalgia.
Thus, it’s essential to wear proper running shoes for avoiding common foot injuries while doing workouts. Running shoes provide an excellent cushion for the foot against heavy landings and significantly reduce your steps’ impact.
Won’t you love to improve your athletic or running performances? There is no better way than investing in a pair of high-quality running shoes. It keeps you going and gives an extra edge during running by providing quick direction changes.
Are Running Shoes Good for Everyday Use?
Being smitten by the benefits of running shoes, you may be tempted to wear them for your daily usage. However, your running shoes are not designed for wearing while performing daily activities.
There is no harm in wearing them if you need to move out of your home for a few minutes. But, you should avoid wearing them daily for extended hours. This is because; running shoes wear out quickly if they are worn for daily activities.
Running shoes don’t go well with your attire apart from your tracks. For example, if you wear them on your jeans, it may ruin your looks. Strictly speaking, running shoes are meant for running only.
As running and walking involve different footfall patterns, walking in running shoes creates irregular wear patterns. If you walk casually by wearing these shoes, you only wear them out faster than usual.
Moreover, if you put on your running shoes all the time, you may lose the ritualistic aspect of wearing your designated running shoes whenever you step out to run.
Is It OK to Wear Trainers All Day?
The trainers are designed for absorbing the heavy impacts during endless foot landings.
Even though the trainers bring a world of comfort and convenience to your feet with their advanced cushioning systems, they are not suitable for wearing throughout the day.
Our feet and the rest of the body can tolerate impacts and need such impacts for optimal functioning, promoting the interaction of muscles and tendons and maintaining healthy joints.
A softly sprung trainer relaxes and over-relieves the feet and thereby works against the natural suspension system of the body. This causes weakening of tendons and leads to muscle loss in the foot. In some extreme cases, it may also cause osteoporosis (brittle bone disease).
Wearing trainers all day leads to overstimulation of the metatarsal nerves and causes overstretching in the forefoot area. This condition is more common in taller or overweight individuals. It also results in flattening of feet in youngsters used to wearing trainers heavily.
Unlike normal shoes for daily wear, the trainers are specifically designed to account for stress points. If you wear trainers that are too wide for extended periods daily, it can lead to poor foot posture or widening feet. Unfortunately, this condition is hard to fix.
Thus, you should wear trainers only in moderation because wearing them predominantly can be harmful. Moreover, your healthy feet don’t require the extreme cushioning offered by these trainers.
