Never had an achilles injury before.
Been running in the kinvara - 4mm drop. Should I move back to higher drop to avoid the risk?
Never had an achilles injury before.
Been running in the kinvara - 4mm drop. Should I move back to higher drop to avoid the risk?
Nah you'll be straight just takes sometime to get used to, maybe cycle with an older pair tell you adapt. All my Hokas are 4mm use to run in zero drops but they were to hard on the achilles
0900 wrote:
Never had an achilles injury before.
Been running in the kinvara - 4mm drop. Should I move back to higher drop to avoid the risk?
Ultimately zero drop should help strengthen your achilles and keep it in it's natural position but you may need to ease into the transition of using a zero drop. Though going from 4mm to 0 isn't drastic
Add some eccentric heel drops to your routine and cycle into the new lower drop shoes slowly and you should not have any issue.
0900 wrote:
Never had an achilles injury before.
Been running in the kinvara - 4mm drop. Should I move back to higher drop to avoid the risk?
I think you said it- "risk". Its no certainty, but flatter shoes and no shoes are problematic for some. More stretch on the achilles AND the plantar fascia. You are at close to end range of motion at zero drop. If you tolerate 4mm, then you probably tolerate 4 mm. maybe just dont go to zero or 12.
OP here.
I switched away from the Kinvara to an 8mm drop shoe as I was having some achilles stiffness and got worried, but now I'm dealing with terrible shin splints. I can't seem to find a happy medium.
I'm thinking of either going back to the Kinvara or trying the Hoka Clifton, or even the Rincon. Are the Hokas a safe bet?
09000 wrote:
OP here.
I switched away from the Kinvara to an 8mm drop shoe as I was having some achilles stiffness and got worried, but now I'm dealing with terrible shin splints. I can't seem to find a happy medium.
I'm thinking of either going back to the Kinvara or trying the Hoka Clifton, or even the Rincon. Are the Hokas a safe bet?
The way the body works is that stress induces adaptation but can also cause breakdown beyond a point, so the impact of greater Achilles stress of low-drop shoe use depends on the wearer’s prior conditioning and current use levels.
It depends on what you're used to. If you've always worn low drop shoes, you are likely used to that. If you've had a large drop and you switch to a low drop shoe, you have a higher risk of problems. This is because you may have had your tendons/muscles adapt to the large drop which shrinks the tendons. Going to the low drop stretches them more than they're used to and causes problems.
The secret is to have a rotation of shoe drops so you can mix the stresses up. I like to go to my 8mm drop shoes for recovery, especially after a big day in flats.
I agree it's fine if you adapt slowly.
Also, minimalist shoes are risky. Conventional shoes with low drop are not as much.
09000 wrote:
OP here.
I switched away from the Kinvara to an 8mm drop shoe as I was having some achilles stiffness and got worried, but now I'm dealing with terrible shin splints. I can't seem to find a happy medium.
I'm thinking of either going back to the Kinvara or trying the Hoka Clifton, or even the Rincon. Are the Hokas a safe bet?
Shin splints and Achilles tendonitis can sometimes have a common cause... short calf muscles. The problem is more common among women who tend to wear casual shoes with a higher heel to toe lift than men, but of course, men can get both problems too.
Hokas slightly change the point of heel impact and result in more of a rolling motion so it's worth a try. That said, Hokas vary a lot from one model to the next so might need to try more than one model.