By Paul Freary
The running shoe market is growing constantly with both new and established brands introducing new models on what seems like a weekly basis. The choice and variety of shoes on offer are enormous and can be confusing, even bewildering at times.
Reading descriptions of new models from brands themselves can often add to the confusion, especially when they constantly try to create new market segments with new technologies to do anything from provide extra propulsion to stability and control.
The issue of support or control itself is perhaps one of the most debated areas of footwear; what is it? Does it work? And do I need it? These are questions that a hundred runners could ask and each get a different answer.

The Different Shoe Categories
Believe it or not, not too long ago there was just one type of ‘training shoe’ on the market. Do-it-all models that today are sold as fashion or ‘retro’ shoes. Back in the 1970’s shoes like the adidas Gazelle were seen as the best running shoes around!
With the growth in popularity of the sport came the opportunities for more and more models to be introduced and the possibility for brands to create training and racing or competition models. As research became an integral part of brand manufacturing and marketing, came support or control-type shoes.
Broadly speaking we then had two distinct shoe types, neutral models and support or control models.
ASICS Kayano
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Neutral shoes are best described as those where the midsole cushioning is the same density or ‘squishiness’ across the width of the shoe. Your foot is essentially sitting on a neutral, even platform of cushioning.
Support shoes are designed to control overpronation (the inward roll of the foot). They do this in a variety of manners as we’ll explore later, but usually, the control comes by way of a firmer material on the medial (inside) edge of the shoe to prevent or reduce the inward roll of the foot.
What is Pronation?
Pronation is the natural movement of the foot.
The foot is constructed of 26 bones which create an arch on the medial side. The arch helps absorb the impact of walking, running and jumping, in fact, all our daily movement.
When we walk or run, our foot will strike the ground at the heel, usually on the outside edge (the lateral side), go ahead and take a look at your shoes right now. They’ll probably show some sign of wear on the outside corner.
Brooks Adrenaline GTS
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In landing here your foot has giving itself a little more space under the arch. It’s a great piece of human engineering and the body knows all your body weight is transferring to this foot and the arch is going to help absorb this impact. By landing laterally and creating the extra space under the arch, gives you a little extra space for the arch to function.
As your weight transfers forward onto the foot on the ground it rolls inward gently, pronates, the arch flexes a little and it reduces the overall impact.
So, pronation is a good thing and the natural movement of the foot.
The Flexibility Factor
In recent years new terms have come into use, overpronation and under-pronation. Whilst these terms describe the general movement of the foot, there’s no hard and fast way to measure the movement and no right or wrong.
HOKA Arahi
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We should consider that pronation is determined by the flexibility of the foot, those 26 bones forming 33 joints, all of which will have a degree of movement and flexibility.
Generally speaking, a foot which is stiffer, or less flexible, will strike the ground on the lateral side but not pronate much due to its stiffness. This is usually termed supination or underpronation.
New Balance 860
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A foot which has more flexibility will pronate to a great degree due to the greater range of flexibility. This is usually termed overpronation. It’s worth noting that there is no specific measurement by which a foot can be considered to be overpronating and this term has become somewhat of an arbitrary consideration.
It should be noted that there is no right or wrong and the only determining factor when it comes to the flexibility or foot strike would be if the runner is injured.
Footwear Considerations
When selecting footwear, the overriding factor in the decision-making process should, of course, be comfort.
This said some types should naturally feel a little more comfortable and ‘natural’ to the runner depending on the flexibility of their foot.
Saucony Guide
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A runner that ‘under-pronates’ should usually choose a more flexible shoe. The additional flexibility of the shoe will help the foot naturally pronate a little more. A stiffer shoe, or one designed for an overpronator will encourage this already stiff foot further to the lateral edge of the foot and increase its already stiffer nature.
If a runner whose foot is very flexible and overpronates wears a neutral or very soft and flexible shoe, the degree of overpronation would be greater.
Saucony Omni
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One of the considerations of design with shoes for various foot types is the flexibility of the shoe in the midsole as well as the overall geometry of the shoe. Shoe geometry is a term which has been used more and more in recent years. It refers to the shape of the cushioning of the shoe, the rocker perhaps in the heel and forefoot, any stack height variations and the degree of flare in both the lateral and medial sides of the midsole.
Neutral Running Shoes
As mentioned earlier, neutral shoes are those with cushioning that is the same density across the width of the shoe. The cushioning is usually a single piece of foam throughout the shoe.
Of course, there are a wide variety of midsole foams and cushioning materials on the market and each could be considered neutral. It’s worth bearing in mind that a very soft, neutral midsole can be much more flexible than a very firm material and therefore have a different effect on the foot.
Unfortunately, there’s no industry standard by which to measure the overall performance of a shoe’s cushioning. Whilst a Shore durometer is a device for measuring the hardness of a material, nowadays, with highly responsive foams this measure isn’t ideal.
If such a scale were to be devised, we could perhaps rate the softest materials at a 1 (on a scale of 1 to 10), with the firmest materials at a 10.
Shoes sitting in the middle of this scale could be described as stable-neutral, neither too soft nor too hard.
Support Running Shoes
Support or control shoes exist to try to reduce the rate of overpronation. Over the years, many terms have been used to describe this category of shoes ranging from motion control to structured cushioning and stability to guidance-type shoes.
When these types of shoes first came into being they all featured a firmer section of cushioning in the midsole on the medial side of the shoe. This became known as a medial post. Usually being grey in colour it was easy to recognise this device. Whilst some brands still use a medial post or device they are now often blended into the rest of the cushioning for a cleaner-looking aesthetic.
Different brands now use a wide variety of control devices or solutions to help control the rate of pronation.
Some of the more popular control devices in the popular shoes are:
ASICS - Whilst they have removed the medial post reference from their marketing and renamed it as a ‘4D Guidance system’ the medial posting section of the shoe in models such as the Kayano can still be seen.
Brooks – Use a GuideRail system to provide control. These rails are an extension of the midsole cushioning that continues up around the rear of the shoe on both the lateral and medial sides. The rails cup the heel and keep it in a more neutral position.
HOKA – A unique J-Frame system is used by the brand. As the name suggests a J-shaped section of firmer material wraps around the rear of the foot with a softer density material within it. The concept is that the foot will ‘sink’ a little into the centre of the cushioning and remain stable.
Mizuno – The brand’s WAVE system is used to complement both cushioning and control. The plastic wave can act like a shallow wave, adding cushioning or as can be seen on the medial side of the shoe, a taller, stronger waver to reduce overpronation.
New Balance – In the brand’s popular 860v13 model a more traditional medial post is used and although usually the same colour as the surrounding cushioning material, it can be seen from the arch shape in forms within the midsole.
Saucony – while in shoes such as the Omni a medial ‘clip’ is used and easily identified, in the new Guide 17, it’s the geometry of the midsole that provides control. A straighter medial side to the cushioning and a flared heel help reduce pronation.
If you’ve made it this far you may very well be as confused as you were before reading! While compiling this piece it became apparent just how potentially confusing choosing the right shoe can be.
When recommending footwear I’d always suggest a gait analysis in a specialist running store. By this I mean a store that ONLY sells running shoes.
Gait analysis itself can be a confusing service in itself, so be sure to ask lots of questions, try lots of shoes and find someone who can explain the process clearly to you.
While gait analysis has its critics, it is worth bearing in mind that its real benefit is in recognising how your feet perform in various shoes.
It’s a method of comparing shoe A with shoe B and C etc. and this will hopefully help you make a more informed decision in your shoe choice. Ultimately a shoe should instinctively fit and feel just right and be one in which you instantly feel you can run comfortably in.
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