Custom shoes may be not all they are supposed to be.

In an article that is surely going to have many cross country and track coaches scratching their heads (and probably a few shoe manufacturers and salespeople screaming its illegitimacy,) the author shows some recent research that demonstrates custom shoes may have no real benefit.  It may be a little counter-intuitive, and certainly requires a few more trials of the study to be certain, but it looks like the very expensive running shoes may not actually help reduce injury.  For about 20 years now, there have been three kinds of shoes on the market for every kind of runner and their foot type.  Even more recently, there are now over the counter orthodics with a computerized foot measuring device that determines what kind of orthodic you should buy.  The shoes go by different names based on the manufacturer, but the premise is the same.  They are either extra soft, or cushioned, for people with very high arches, extra rigid (supportive) for those who have flat feet and pronate excessively, and a mid-range shoe for those with relatively normal feet.  The interesting part of this study is that there was no significant change in the injury rate for from those people who ran with a shoe that was custom versus those that ran with another shoe.  The study was performed about 1400 Marines during 12 weeks of their training.  It certainly flies in the face of what runners have been taught to look for in a shoe for quite some time.  In the end, it should probably just come down to what feels comfortable and "run with it."



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