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alternating running shoes for injury prevention?
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Who knows of an advantage, other than psychological, to changing from one pair of shows to another during the week, even if most of the miles are run on the same surface?

I have been alternating between 2-3 pairs of shoes with the idea that it will slightly alter musculoskeletal stress from run to run and prevent blisters (which TBH aren't that much of a concern until miles get over ten in one session). Is there a downside to this practice?

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Re: alternating running shoes for injury prevention? [scofflaw] [ In reply to ]
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That's been my MO for almost 20 years. I generally rotate through 3 pairs/week (5-6 trail runs) with 1-2 barefoot beach runs/week. For me, it's more a "variety is the spice of life" thing and also think it helps extend the life of the shoes, but also attribute a little bit of it to running virtually injury free for all this time.

Chris
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“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
― Hunter S. Thompson,
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Re: alternating running shoes for injury prevention? [scofflaw] [ In reply to ]
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I’m actually the opposite

When the adidas ultra boost shoe came out I tried it.

I have never worn any other shoe since. Every run, every surface, 3 Ironmans...

For me it’s more about mixing up the terrain, hills, including some treadmill, etc
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Re: alternating running shoes for injury prevention? [scofflaw] [ In reply to ]
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scofflaw wrote:
Who knows of an advantage, other than psychological, to changing from one pair of shows to another during the week, even if most of the miles are run on the same surface?

I have been alternating between 2-3 pairs of shoes with the idea that it will slightly alter musculoskeletal stress from run to run and prevent blisters (which TBH aren't that much of a concern until miles get over ten in one session). Is there a downside to this practice?

I can't see an upside or a downside. If someone has to regularly change shoes to avoid injury, they have problems and are most likely going to get injured eventually.
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Re: alternating running shoes for injury prevention? [scofflaw] [ In reply to ]
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Its what I do since 25 years. Of course I can't say I would have had problems when I would not have alternated. I also do not know of field tests with groups of persons. It just makes sense to me that the chances of injuries decrease for the reasons you mentioned.

I run since 38 years now. The only problem I encountered since about 20 years now is with my achillis, which I got under control with calf stretching. Cross fingers, but no other problems despite of my >80 kilos.
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Re: alternating running shoes for injury prevention? [scofflaw] [ In reply to ]
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I used the same shoe for 1.5 years (2 pairs of the same model), and ended up having a stress fracture in my right foot. Since then I am rotation through 6 shoes in training, and I am virtually injury free.

This doesn't mean its scientifically proven now, but as with most things in training, mixing things up is good and beneficial, and doing the same thing exactly the same over and over again can be boring, not give you the gains you want or even harm you =) Cant think of a reason not to rotate through different shoes..
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Re: alternating running shoes for injury prevention? [Ben6] [ In reply to ]
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Ben6 wrote:
.....Cant think of a reason not to rotate through different shoes..
Here's one: I can't find multiple different shoes in which I'm comfortable!
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Re: alternating running shoes for injury prevention? [scofflaw] [ In reply to ]
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scofflaw wrote:
Who knows of an advantage, other than psychological, to changing from one pair of shows to another during the week, even if most of the miles are run on the same surface?


I have been alternating between 2-3 pairs of shoes with the idea that it will slightly alter musculoskeletal stress from run to run and prevent blisters (which TBH aren't that much of a concern until miles get over ten in one session). Is there a downside to this practice?


This study would seem to affirm the practice of alternating running shoes to prevent running injuries:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24286345

Larry Lahodny
Owner, Gizmo Socks
Henderson, NV
Last edited by: lahodny: Nov 29, 17 8:10
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Re: alternating running shoes for injury prevention? [lahodny] [ In reply to ]
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Another interesting fact is I saw a study (cannot find it at the moment) that showed it takes a couple days for the cushioning/insole in the shoes to decompress and go back to normal after you run. So running in the same pair of shoes every run would cause you to have less cushioning on the subsequent runs.

I also switch back and forth between no-cushion shoes and cushion shoes, just to change things up.
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Re: alternating running shoes for injury prevention? [scofflaw] [ In reply to ]
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The shoes I wear are dictated by the weather. I have summer shoes (porous mesh), fall shoes (slightly denser mesh), and winter shoes (gore-tex).
Virtually all the foot issues I've had were not from shoes but from me ignoring preventative maintenance of my feet.
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