Landing the foot while running

One of the most natural activities for people is walking. The walking gait is extremely economical and has 2 distinct phases- the stance phase and the swing phase. The stance phase begins with the heel hitting the floor and ends when the toes leave the floor. The swing phase begins with the toes leaving the ground to the heel touching the ground. In walking at any point in the gait cycle, at least one foot is in contact with the ground.

On the other hand, when you run, at some point in the gait cycle both the feet are in the air. This is the flight phase and is what differentiates walking from running. Due to this flight phase, when the entire body is in the air, the impact of the heel hitting the ground is magnified as now the entire body weight is on the leg that is beginning the stance phase as compared to walking when the weight is distributed between the 2 feet. The pressure on the foot can be as high as 10 times the body weight. In order to take this huge increase in pressure the landing of the foot on the ground needs to change.

Hind foot landing:

Most people who are not used to running tend to adopt the walking gait into their running. Their stance phase in running, therefore, starts when the heel strikes the ground. This is called hind foot landing as seen in the video below.

This is not the best way to absorb the force (10 times your body weight) hitting the heel at the point of impact. There are 26 bones in your foot below the ankle and the joints between these bones form tiny shock absorbers. During hind foot landing, these bones don’t play a part in shock absorption. The ankle and the knee shock absorption is also limited. Running in this way will therefore increase the chances of impact injuries like Shin splints- pain in the front of the leg on the bone, patellar tendonitis- pain just below the knee cap, hip pain and back pain.

Mid-foot landing:

A more natural way of running is when the foot lands on the middle part of the sole as seen in the video below.

This form of foot strike uses the small joints in the foot for shock absorption, as well as the ankle, knee and spine. The impact forces are therefore significantly blunted and the chances of impact injuries are reduced. This form of running however increases the load on the muscles, mainly the calf and the quadriceps. These muscles therefore need to be strengthened to avoid overuse and fatigue.

In conclusion, your muscles can be strengthened at any age and can take the impact of running better than allowing the load to be taken up by bones and ligaments. Therefore the mid-foot landing gait should be ideally used by runners.