07/04/2022 Kevin A. Kirby, DPM
Rearfoot Striking in Running is Not Over-striding
Rearfoot Striking in Running is Not Over-striding
While lecturing at a podiatry conference, one of the other podiatrists lecturing on running made a claim about running that I need to address, since I have seen this type of
misinformation being also spread on the Internet.
What this lecturer stated was that if a runner has
posterior heel wear on their running shoes, that
this means they are a rearfoot-striking runner and
are, therefore, also “over-striding”. While I
certainly agree that posterior heel wear at the
heel of the running shoe outersole indicates a
rearfoot-striking style of running gait, his
further claim that a rearfoot-striking pattern in
running gait also indicates “over-striding” is
simply not true.
Unfortunately, many of the barefoot running and
minimalist running shoe zealots that were quite
vocal on the Internet during the ill-fated barefoot
running and minimalist running shoe fads of a
decade ago, also wrongly proclaimed that rearfoot-
striking running is somehow an incorrect way to
run, leading to injuries, and is not “natural”.
They made unsupported statements about rearfoot-
striking running that revolved around their odd
concept that it is more “healthy” to run with a
midfoot-striking or forefoot-striking gait pattern.
There is not a shred of research evidence that
states that rearfoot-striking running causes more
injury or indicates “over-striding” in the runner.
In fact, out of 8 scientific research studies that
analyzed the footstrike patterns in over 5,900
runners during races, 90.7% of those runners were
rearfoot strikers. In addition, a computer
simulation study from 2009 investigated if heel-
striking or midfoot-striking was the most efficient
method to run at 4.0 m/sec (6:42 min/mile). The
results from this research showed that the most
energy efficient running form was heel-striking
(15.9 W/kg) compared to midfoot striking (16.9
W/kg), or a 6.3% difference in metabolic efficiency
(Miller RH, Russell EM, Gruber AH, Hamill J. Foot-
strike pattern selection to minimize muscle energy
expenditure during running: a computer simulation
study. Proc ASB. State College, PA, 2009).
While over-striding can obviously occur, many elite
and sub-elite runners have a rearfoot-striking gait
pattern and certainly these very experienced
athletes would not be considered to be “over-
striding” just because they elected, like 90%+ of
other runners, to run with a rearfoot-striking
pattern. In fact, one of the fastest US
marathoners of all time, Meb Keflezighi, with a
marathon best of 2:08:37, has a classic rearfoot-
striking gait pattern, which never seemed to slow
down his running speed or performance level over
his 20-year racing career.
Therefore, the idea that rearfoot-striking running
is an inferior form of running, is “unnatural” or
leads to more injuries than other running foot
strike patterns is patently false. In addition,
just because runners choose to be rearfoot-
strikers, doesn’t also mean that they are “over-
striding”. Hopefully, in another few years, this
odd notion that the barefoot/minimalist running
shoe zealots tried to promote a decade ago, with no
research evidence to support their claims, will
eventually go away. But, until that time,
podiatrists should be skeptical of such unusual
claims, even when coming from their own podiatric
colleagues.
Kevin A. Kirby, DPM, Sacramento, CA
