Every year, the ISPO features the Runner’s World Symposium. A great place to see the results of research and development with novel equipment. Here are some key take aways from the 2023 symposium.
The definition of “the perfect shoe” has shifted in the last decade drastically. Major research milestones from leading researchers like Brueggemann, Nigg or Grau have been developed with novel technology. From “pronation focus” to “guided paths” to individualized shoes and “full range”, the ideas and state of the art have developed towards a more healthy and sustainable shoe design and running concept.
Today health, recreation and sustainability are the key factors for running – and thus, the shoe technology has become the number one factor for running shoe sales.
Shoe technology & athlete co-creation
Running has passed its Corona dip and we have reached the highest number of runners in history. In parallel, the average spend on running shoes has increased to more than 90 EUR (e.g. in Germany).
Most growth was shown in highly technical segments like trail running, performance running and stability shoes.
To match the market requirements, shoe technology has become the driving factor for most brands.
Furthermore, brands are starting to utilize scalable tools to measure and evaluate shoes in co-creation with athletes and users. loadsol has become the standard tool for in- and on-field research and development.
from Runner’s World Germany
Injury prediction in running
The most common cause for quitting running are overuse injuries. There are multiple risk factors:
- Runners with late timing of maximal eversion
- Runners with weaker hip abductor strength in relation to hip adductor strength
- Runners with painful trigger points at the calf and shin
- Runners with previous injuries
These factors show a high risk for injuries over all running injuries (most common knee and AT calf)
[Grau et al., 2023]
Injury prevention in running
Foam rolling and strength training are correlating strongly with reducing the risk of injuries. Correct execution in combination with high compliance are the best way of prevention.
- high compliance in training reduces the risk from 27.2% to 4.6%
- especially recreational runners require help in doing “good” strength training.
- shoes play a role, but there is much more to it. Training
[Grau et al., 2023]
