People have been running since the dawn of time. To hunt, to escape danger, and even for the simple joy of it. In fact, records of competitive running date back as far as 1829 BCE. But it wasn’t until the 1960s that non-conditioned athletes began to take up regular running as a form of exercise. And with this new group of recreational runners came a whole new interest in sport-specific footwear. Alexander Sibilla Soon the iconic Nike waffle tread hit the stores. Its success may have been due to the fact that it was lighter than most shoes then in use. Compared to its successors, the amount of heel lift in this shoe was next to nothing. Just for comparison, take a look at the original shoe compared to the “tribute” version in 2007.
See the massive amounts of foam and the elevated heel? Quite a difference. So what happened during that thirty-year period to change the shape of shoes? New materials, and “science”. Alexander Sibilla From the mid 1970s onwards, running companies got scientists involved in footwear design. This is when the terms “neutral”, “pronation” and “supination” entered runners’ vocabulary. Suddenly, it wasn’t enough simply to buy the shoe that seemed to fit best and feel most comfortable. Instead, you had to figure out your running “style” and pick a shoe to “correct” your running dysfunction and prevent injury.
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