Motion Control Shoes Prevent Running Injuries

Runners who have low arches, flat feet, or whose feet tend to roll inward should consider getting shoes with motion control, according to a study conducted by the Luxembourg Institute of Health. Researchers had randomly assigned 386 recreational runners between the ages of 18 and 65 to wear either normal running shoes or the same shoes with motion control for up to six months. Motion control limits the foot’s natural roll when it strikes the ground. The technical term for that roll is “pronation.”

The lead author of the study was Laurent Malisoux, Ph.D., who said, “Our study is the first to compare shoe models with and without a motion control system in regular runners with the aim to investigate their impact on injury risk.” The shoes with motion control contained a rigid piece of plastic near the middle and a harder piece of foam on the inward side of the sole.

Between June and December 2014, the runners completed 12, 558 runs and covered approximately 72, 528 miles. One fourth of the runners had an injury during the study. About 32% of participants with regular shoes were injured, compared to 18% of those who wore the motion control shoes.

When the researchers looked at the data by foot type, they found the benefit was limited to those whose feet rolled too far inward. These were also the runners who were most likely to be injured when wearing normal running shoes. “This seems to indicate that, in general, a minimal amount of motion control is better than no motion control at all in our modern cushioned shoes, ” said Malisoux

Rahul Kapur, M.D., CAQSM, an expert in sports medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, differed. He said of the study, “If you don’t fall into that category (of low arches or flat feet), you likely won’t benefit and you don’t need motion control shoes.”

The study was reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.