DOES THE HEEL COUNTER CONTROL MOVEMENT OF THE REARFOOT?

Abstract

The heel counter of a running shoe is believed to contribute to rearfoot stability. It has been assumed that the motion of the heel counter represents the movement of the calcaneus. Recent studies with bone pins have shown that the foot moves less than indicated by the heel counter. If the heel counter provides stability, then the motion of the foot in a shoe without a heel counter should increase. PURPOSE: To determine if a shoe with a heel counter will reduce rearfoot motion. METHODS: Five recreational runners ran in two pairs of shoes with identical midsoles. One pair was built with a heel counter and the other was built without a heel counter. The subtalar joint neutral position of the foot was determined through manual palpation. This position was maintained during barefoot weight-bearing stance through the use of an inclined plane and served as the stance calibration for the no-heeled shoe condition. In order to achieve a comparable stance trial for the heeled shoe, the stance calibration was collected with the inclined plane placed under the shoe at the same elevation derived while barefoot. Subjects ran on a treadmill at 3.6 m/s while three-dimensional rearfoot kinematic data were collected. Inversion/eversion angles were calculated based on a joint coordinate system. Statistical analyses were performed with paired t-tests. RESULTS: The touchdown angle and time to maximum pronation were not different between shoes. The maximum pronation (no-heel = −10.9 ± 3.5°; heel = −17.3 ± 6.7°) and the total rearfoot motion (no-heel = 12.1 ± 2.2°; heel = 17.5 ± 2.0°) were greater while running in the heeled shoe. CONCLUSION: The heel counter did not seem to reduce the movement of the foot. At best, the heel counter did not increase pronation as compared to the no-heeled shoe. At worst, pronation was accentuated about 5° by the heel counter. These results also support recent findings that motion of the shoe does not necessarily reflect motion of the foot. A running shoe without a heel counter may allow direct measurement of the calcaneus and allow comparison to the foot in normal running shoes.