This is how you determine your gait when running - and why it matters

This is how you determine your gait when running - and why it matters

In theory, running seems like the easiest form of exercise: you lace up your shoes and hit the sidewalk (or treadmill). But without a proper understanding of your own running mechanics, you may be doing your body a disservice—and potentially setting yourself up for injury.

“It's really common for runners to not know exactly how their body is moving and where their body is landing,” says Claire Wood, who specializes in global performance running shoes at New Balance. This is where the issue of walking comes into play.

So what is running gait anyway?

Essentially, your gait is your way of moving around on foot. While everyone gets from point A to point B a little differently (think of how you can recognize a friend from a distance by the way she walks), understanding your gait—which only develops, crazy enough, when you learn to crawl like a baby—and where you fall on the scale can be a useful tool in helping you walk more skillfully.

“Everyone has their own gait that allows them to have an efficient ground movement pattern,” says Mark Cucuzzella, MD, who developed running programs for the U.S. Air Force and author of Run for Your Life: How to run, walk and move without pain or injury and achieve a sense of well-being and joy. "Your posture as well as the contact area of ​​your foot with the ground are two critical factors that enable normal gait; if either is suboptimal, you will make compensations that can cause long-term stress and strain on tissues not designed to handle these stressors." (See: How weak ankles and poor ankle mobility can wreak havoc on your body)

The running gait is divided into three types of pronation, or how your foot contacts the ground.

• Neutrale/normale Pronation ist, wenn Ihr Fuß den Boden vollständig berührt und etwa 15 Prozent nach innen rollt, um Stöße zu absorbieren.
• Unterpronation bzw Vermutung ist, wenn der äußere Teil Ihrer Ferse zuerst den Boden berührt und Ihr Fuß mit weniger als 15 Prozent nach innen rollt.
• Überpronation tritt auf, wenn Ihr Fuß um mehr als 15 Prozent nach innen rollt, was zu Stabilitätsproblemen mit Fuß und Knöchel führen kann.

So why should you even care? When shopping for running shoes, it's helpful to understand your gait, as this will influence which shoes will improve your performance - rather than hinder it.

How to check your walking gait

If you're really serious about running, the best way to assess your gait is to visit a running specialty store where an expert can analyze your form while you run on a treadmill. However, for beginners, home is a great place to start.

Recruit a friend:The easiest way to determine your gait is to have a friend watch you run from behind, says Wood. If your knees come inward, you overpronate; If they turn outward slightly, you are underpronating. (Here are 10 things everyone can do to improve their running technique.)

Keep track of your pain:It also helps to write down your running history. Write down when you ran and how you felt afterwards: Did you have pain on the inside of your shins or knees? If so, you could be overpronating. Pain in the ankles may indicate underpronation.

Check your soles:Also pay attention to the wear pattern of your current running shoes. Does the inner toe of the shoe look worn? If so, that's a sign that you're overpronating. Underpronators will notice more wear on the outer edges of their shoes. You can also align your worn kicks and look at them from behind - do they appear to be tilting outward or inward or sitting flat?

Try the wet foot method:The wet foot method involves leaving a wet footprint on a paper grocery bag or piece of thick paper—but there is a caveat. Although this is an effective method for determining the shape of your arch, it doesn't tell you everything about your gait. "People think a high arch means a natural gait and a low arch means an overpronated gait, but that's not always true," says Wood. For the wet foot method to work, you must bend your knees significantly to see the results of the weight on your arch.

Fortunately, you don't have to change your gait

Now that you know a little more about how you run, you can use this information to your advantage. Understanding your gait will help you run longer, stronger, and injury-free. Regardless of what you learn, there's really no reason to try to correct your gait; Science says that the best stride when running is the one that comes to you naturally. While podiatrists have historically pushed for orthotics to control pronation, a 2015 study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found no evidence that foot pronation is a variable in running injuries. Both Wood and Dr. However, Cucuzzella say they've seen runners experience pain in their shins, knees, hamstrings and lower back that came with wearing the wrong shoes for their gait.

When choosing a running shoe, "the principles of a shoe should be that your foot can behave like a foot under the conditions in which you use it," advises Dr. Cucuzzella. In his opinion, this means wide at the toes, no raised heel and not super soft, which allows the foot to make contact with the ground and achieve optimal balance. "If you don't think that's true, try a flat, wide shoe for a few weeks and see how you feel."

Another thing to keep in mind, Wood says, is that you're not the same size in running shoes as you are in a heel or slip-on shoe. “It’s not uncommon, especially for women, for running shoes to be too small,” she says. A helpful tip: When trying on shoes, make sure you have a thumb's width of space from your longest toe to the top of the shoe. (Caution: There are a number of other things to consider when purchasing sneakers if you have flat feet.)