From New Sports, 2014 April issue, P44-46
Dictated by Bob Chen, written by Bai Qiang
Sport is a fashion of modern people, and their athletic shoes are often the measure of their modernity. Nowadays, a wide variety of athletic shoes can be seen everywhere, but people get confused, and lost among so many choices.
Many people like to go with the flow. Some people like to wear those good looking and nicely designed shoes to participate in any kind of sports; the more bizarre, the better they like them. Some people want to be “stylish,” and they wear leather shoes to the playground. Most people either do not pay attention or do not know better, so they run while wearing a pair of basketball shoes, or vice versa.
I want to tell everyone here that these seemingly small matters cannot be ignored. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” If the shoes do not fit well, it will cause chain of bad reactions from feet to knees, waist to torso, and the “journey” could be destroyed with the single step.
Be careful choosing shoes
Generally speaking, a pair of athletic shoes consists of three main components. The part that touches the ground is called outsole. It is mostly made of wear-resistant material that can produce good friction with the ground, prevent slipping, and at the same time, it provides some buffering function. The part between outsole and insole is called the midsole. As the core of the shoe, it is generally made of special material that has elastic and damping qualities. For example, Nike shoes use an air cushion for the midsole, while Li Ning brand shoes use the so-called “Li Ning Cloud” special material for the midsole. The third part is called the insole, which is the part that touches the foot, and can distribute pressure to the whole foot, playing a stabilizing role. Shoes usually come with basic insoles. In addition, athletic shoes also have other parts, including the upper, shoelaces, and so on.
In addition to the basic elements of the above, different sports have different special requirements for shoes, and their designs and materials can also vary.
For example, running shoes are designed for linear movement. For most people, when they run, their heels touch the ground first, then their arches, and finally their soles. During this process, the subtalar joints of the feet would turn outward, which makes the subtalar joints and tibia of the shanks rotate inward, causing the knee joints to buckle. Also, excessive eversion of the feet causes the femora to rotate outward when the thighs exert force, which forms twists in the opposite direction of the knee joints, and injury thus occurs. For this reason, these days, the outer heels of running shoes use a special damping material that has soft texture, can absorb energy, and reduces the impact force of the feet with the ground. The material for the inner heels is, however, much harder, and this is to strengthen the stability of the heel, and prevent excessive eversion of the ankles when landing, so as to reduce and avoid some strain of the feet, knees or waist.
Basketball shoes are generally suitable for indoor wooden floors. The wooden floor has a certain buffering effect; therefore, the heels of basketball shoes are generally made of the same material uniformly. Also, basketball requires movements such as jumping, sudden leaps and stops, and sudden changes of direction, and the players often use their forefoot and midfoot. Therefore, basketball shoes place more emphasis on having excellent non-slip soles and braking function, and their damping system is generally distributed in the forefoot and midfoot. At the same time, they also take into account stability in all directions.
In fact, even for the same sports, athletic shoes vary in design and production according to season, venue, and especially the characteristics of each individual athlete. Therefore, some professional athletes have their shoes custom made.
Feet are not the only ones who know if the shoe fits
The old saying “Whether the shoes fit, only the feet know” actually is only half right. In many cases, feet are not the only ones who know whether or not the shoe fits; other parts of the body also “know.”
The Chinese women’s basketball team once carried out altitude training in Kunming, and the main event was frequent running during the first two weeks. But shortly after it started, knee strain and pain started to occur in the team, and the incidence rate was much higher than when they were on the plains. Most people thought the culprits were the thin oxygen of the plateau, which caused the players’ physical decline, and the harder floor of the local basketball court, which increased the force of impact on players’ knees. But after my careful observation, I found the principal cause to be this: many players were accustomed to wearing their basketball shoes to perform track and field events. If you think about it, wearing these weakly damping outer shoes to run, during landing it would make the feet turn outward faster, which is bound to cause internal shank rotation, increasing the load on the knees, and the probability of injury will naturally increase greatly. Especially for those players who previously had knee injuries, the longer they ran, the more significant the symptoms were.
In many cases, even when wearing special athletic shoes for certain sporting events, failure to note the details in the shoes could lead to problems in certain parts of the body.
At one time, the main player of the Chinese women’s basketball team, Miao Lijie, often had back and leg pain, and after a period of investigation, they found that one of the culprit was the pair of basketball shoes she was wearing. At that time, all team members received men’s style shoes to wear, but Miao’s feet were slender, and even with tightened shoelaces, she could not fit her feet into the shoes snugly, so she had to double the layers of her socks. However, when her feet got sweaty, they started to slip around inside the shoes, causing the feet to exert uneven force. Over time, it tensed up the muscles of the body, and especially her lower back experienced apparent discomfort. Moreover, the bending point of the soles is usually at the forefoot, but Miao’s was in the midfoot, and this abnormal force had made her feet suffer first from discomfort, and later foot fascitis.
There are many kinds of injuries caused by wearing improper shoes, and commonly seen ones are foot sprain, foot fascitis, “runner’s knee,” “jumper’s knee,” pulled or torn ligaments, back pain, and so on.
We suggest that whether choosing athletic shoes to purchase, or wearing them, one should have not only a scientific attitude, but also scientific methods.
Seven elements for choosing the right athletic shoes
First, one must figure out what the purpose is when choosing the shoes. For example, what kind of sports are the shoes for, in what season, on what kind of ground surface and environment? One’s exercise habits and enjoyment, the length of one’s exercise time and breaks, and so on also much be considered. Nowadays, many middle-aged and old folks enjoy doing tai chi, and there are special tai chi shoes in our country. These shoes are made according to the demands of this sport, such as leg kicking, leg hooking, and flexible ankle and steps. The upper is designed to be soft, and the bottom is designed to be low and stable, suitable for the ages of tai chi lovers.
The worst thing when choosing athletic shoes is to “put Zhang’s hat on Li’s head.” For example, nowadays, ultra-light running shoes are very popular in the market, and many people wear them either for exercise or daily life. These shoes look beautiful, but they are too light, and they lack multi-directional motion stability. If wearing these shoes to play basketball, during sudden stops or changes of direction, the feet would shift inside the shoes, which not only can easily lead to injuries, but also can increase the extent of damage to the shoes. We recommend that people use care in selecting their shoes for exercise purposes.
Some people believe that as long as they wear specific athletic shoes for the sport, everything is okay. That is actually a mistake. For instance, running shoes are broken down into several types: racing shoes, which are relatively lightweight; shock absorbing shoes, mainly for more heavily-built people; and stability-focused shoes, suitable for people who have unstable joints when landing. This is the same for basketball shoes. High top and heavy shoes are suitable for the center and the power forward; low-cut and lightweight shoes are suitable for the quick and flexible guard. Therefore, when selecting shoes, one needs to explain clearly to the sales person for what purposes he wants these shoes.
Second, do not pay too much attention to the price when selecting shoes. Today, many athletic shoes use high-tech carbon plate material for stability purposes, instead of the popular TBU material. They are powerful, and yet lightweight, but quite expensive. Some people think that the higher the price, the better quality the shoes are. We really should focus more on whether or not the actual function of the shoes suits our needs. We should weigh all sides and get the right shoes, but not necessarily the most expensive ones.
Third, before getting the shoes, one needs to understand fully the shape of his own feet, the structure of his ankle and knees, and especially, his injuries. If possible, one can do some simple foot shape tests and technical analysis of movements, and take these into consideration when determining what kind of athletic shoes to purchase.
Fourth, there is an adjusting period for all new shoes or new insoles, and there is also a break-in period between shoes and insoles. Thus, do not wear new shoes to participate in competitions, especially marathons; otherwise, it could easily lead to discomfort and bodily injuries.
Fifth, for long-term athletes, it is better to have more than two pairs of different styles of specialty shoes. These shoes can be used alternately, so as to disperse the load borne by the foot, and to avoid constant focus on one point of the shoe, which causes strain. This also has the benefit of protecting the shoes.
Sixth, the shock absorption material of the sole has a certain life span and retention time. After a long period, the material of the sole hardens, and the elasticity and the protective effect decrease correspondingly. Therefore, we should pay attention to the time limit of the shoes, and not put on shoes that have been neglected for a long time.
Seventh, because the insoles of the shoes are usually made out of the same uniform mold, they cannot be completely matched with everyone’s sole. People who have normal arches can wear them, but they are not suitable for athletes with high arches or flat feet. We suggest that those individuals should have insoles specially made. Finally, there is something that is worth mentioning here: socks and shoes should be matched reasonably. During motion, there is also movement between the feet and shoes. Especially during running and jumping, the impact between the feet and ground is great. Socks should be non-slippery, and they must be able to provide additional stability. Thus, one should choose breathable, absorbent socks, with shock absorption efficacy. It is best for athletes to use cotton socks, and avoid nylon socks, which generate great amounts of friction to the feet when getting wet, causing the soles of the feet to blister.
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