Injury studies are notoriously difficult to conduct. They take a lot of time and money, and it’s always tough to find enough subjects to provide the desired statistical power. Many injury studies include only a handful to several dozen subjects.



Of course, the U.S. Army doesn’t have these limitations, at least not to the same degree as other researchers and institutions. That’s why Army studies are often considered so important.



Recently the U.S. Army tackled the forefoot-vs.-rearfoot question as it related to the running strides of a few hundred soldiers, as well as their 2-mile times and reported injury incidence.



Result: The Army found no difference in performance or injury rates between the two groups of runners.



The Army recruited 342 males into the study. They were filmed while running to determine footstrike, with the outcome that 87% of the runners were characterized as heel strikers, much as in other studies of runners at large. The other 13% were labeled non-heel strikers. All presumably ran in conventional, well-cushioned running shoes.



When given a 2-mile time-trial, the two groups produced identical times, 14:48 on average.



There were also no statistical differences between reports of injuries between the two groups, or in number of days when training had to be modified due to injury. Injury occurrences were drawn from a survey tool. In both cases, there was a trend toward the non-heel strikers having more problems.



The study was coordinated by U.S. Army researchers in Natick, Massachusetts, and San Antonio, Texas. They will report their results later this month at the American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana.



“Neither foot strike pattern is advantageous” for performance or injury prevention, the research team concluded.

Related:

Do You Know Your Footstrike?

Footstrike And Its Possible Effect on Lower Back Pain

Can Your Footstrikes Make You Anemic?

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