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Omer & Bob’s is home to a great selection of running shoes from Asics, New Balance, Brooks, Merrell and Keen, so whether you like pounding the pavement or jumping streams on the trail, we’ve got you covered.
The normal running gait strikes heel first, rolls to the arch, and then pushes off with the ball of the foot. This is the result of the combined efforts of several bones, joints, ligaments and tendons. But not everyone has the same biomechanical "footprint"; you’ve probably heard terms like "high arch" and "flat-footed" before, perhaps without knowing exactly what they describe. Pronation is defined as the inward rolling motion of the foot after initial contact to disperse shock. It is necessary for the normal foot to pronate for this reason. Those who over-pronate roll inward too much, while under-pronators don’t roll inward enough after contact with the ground; each extreme puts additional stress on muscle groups and can increase the chances of overuse injuries.
Luckily, running shoes are designed to work with these particular feet and even correct pronation and gait problems resulting in a more efficient and heathy stride. The running shoe is comprised of three different parts: The outsole, the midsole and the upper. The outsole is simply the tread on the bottom of the shoe. The upper is the part that wraps around the foot (you know, it has the shoe laces in it), usually made a breathable synthetic material. The midsole is really where the shoe gets its character; this is the foam core that houses all of the cushioning and stability technology. Shoes for the moderate to severe over-pronator will have a denser foam on the inside--often an obvious gray color--called medial posting--to help stabilize the foot (see below).
The first step to finding out what shoe is best for you is to find out what type of foot you have. A crude but somewhat useful technique is to do a Wet Footprint test. Simply wet the bottom of your foot and step down on a piece of paper; compare the resulting imprint to the pictures below.
The normal (or neutral) foot leaves a footprint with a moderately-sized band connecting the forefoot and the heel in a noticeable curve. This describes an average amount of shock-absorbing pronation, and is a sign that everything is working properly from a biomechnical standpoint. This type of runner is best served by a Stability shoe, or a shoe that provides some pronation correction and support for the arch as well as a respectable amount of cushioning for comfort.
Stability shoes:
A flat foot imprint usually looks like it sounds: The ankle rotates and the arch collapses so far inward that the print resembles the entire sole of the foot. There is typically no curve at all between heel and big toe. This is usually indicative of an over-pronated foot, which requires a Motion Control shoe to counterbalance that unstable inward rolling motion. Excessive pronation that is not addressed can lead to a wide range of overuse injuries, affecting ligaments in the foot, the achillies tendons, knees and lower back.
Motion Control Shoes:
This foot reveals itself as the print with the most curvature and little or no connection between the forefoot and the heel. An underpronated foot (or "supinated", which means rolling outward instead of inward) is more rigid and therefore does not act as a very good shock absorber. The best shoe to look for is one in the Cushioning category.
Cushioning Shoes: