When was the last time you had a good hard look at your Running Shoes? Research suggests that our shoes need to be changed over every 480km to 800km so approximately every 5 to 6 months. Most running shoes are developed to be protective, add traction and incorporate lightweight materials that cushion the foot from the trauma of running, with most of the cushioning coming from EVA foam, a lightweight material injected with air cells designed to absorb impact. But like all good things, the foam eventually loses its magic and you need to simply throw this old running shoes out and make way for the new as once the foam wears out, and your soles of your shoes have worn away if you continue to wear them you are at risk of overuse injuries increases, because the material has lost its ability to absorb shock and the other use injuries range from:
Shin splints
Heel spurs and plantar fasciitis
Iliotibial band syndrome
Stress fractures
So How Do you Know if your Shoes Are Worn Out?
Sole Tread Pattern is Worn Down
Heel Worn More on One Side than the other, to the point of leaning
Wrinkles in the side or bottom of the sole from breakdown of the support and cushioning
Uppers broken down around the ankle
They just don’t feel right and like you have enough support or padding
You bend them in half and the soles of your shoes start to crack
You are starting to have more and more niggling injuries
The Soles of your own feet hurt when you wake up in the morning and get up to walk
If you are unsure of what shoes you should be wearing for the type of exercise you do than make sure you ask an expert and even take your old shoes in with you. If you are having problems with your feet then see a medical professional first before buying your next pair of running shoes as you really want the right shoes for the exercise you are going to be doing.
I wanted to also personally thank one of our Spa it Girl Blog Readers {Nadine} who shared with me her personal experience of getting a serious foot injury from wearing the wrong shoes while working out. Nadine is still recovering from her serious foot injury so I wanted to wish her all the best in her recovering but love how reached out to me and shared her story as that has now prompted me to share this blog post also because Nadine too wanted to get the message out about the importance of checking your shoes, wearing the right shoes, and buying brand new shoes when you really need to, to help other’s from getting serious foot injuries. Your the best Nadine as it prompted me to check out my own running shoes today and I discovered I actually need a new pair of running shoes asap so I got them today – Thanks again.
I think when you do buy your brand new pair of running shoes that it’s also a good idea also to make a note in your diary of when you bought them and then put a reminder in your diary 6 months from that date because that is likely when you might need a new pair. We can tend to get so busy that when the alarm goes off first thing in the morning we might just grab our running shoes and put them on but not spend any time checking the soles out, the tread of the shoes, or the state of our shoes. If you are training for a half or full marathon you may find it’s great to rotate your shoes regularly and that you may need to turn your shoes over a lot quicker than the rest of us but that’s ok as long as we all keep on top of our shoes we will prevent injuries and that’s the main reason for this.
My #SPAITGIRL Running Shoe Shopping Tip: chose the pair of running shoes out of all of them you try on that feels the best on, gives you the support you need, make sure they feel comfortable so you don’t even feel like you are wearing shoes once you can feel that you know you have found the right ones buy them but don’t rush into it if you are unsure walk away have a think and come back to them again or do what I did today try another shop till you find the right ones.
Spa it girl xoxo
source: [very well]
pics: (style runner)