Fitness: training shoes

Edited by Dr. Stefano Casali

The role of the equipment

It is "undoubtedly true that, if the pursuit of performance is the" primary objective that athletes and technicians pursue, technological research in the field of sports equipment has also addressed the development of tools and clothing that minimize the possibility of injuries to the musculoskeletal system; hence the importance for the coach of knowing the characteristics of the equipment in order to guide the athlete towards the choice that best suits his specific needs. Even in the world of sport, as and more than in other fields, there has been, in the last two decades, a notable development of technologies at the service of the athlete, aimed both at optimizing their performance in competition and at making training more effective and profitable.

Think of the development and diffusion of tools such as the heart rate monitor for monitoring heart rate during training, the adoption of titanium and carbon fiber for the construction of bicycles, the production of clothing and footwear in light and breathable materials. but at the same time warm and waterproof like gore-tex, also used for trekking shoes. or, again, the introduction of new protections in motorcycling riders' suits that significantly reduce the risk of trauma in the event of accidents. of sports equipment in the context of each individual discipline, taking into account the fact that, in most of them, the athlete trains and achieves his performance by means of specific tools. We therefore postpone a "case by case" examination to another occasion and look for a tool that is used by all athletes, a sort of "common denominator" that unites all athletes; with perhaps very few exceptions this is constituted by the training shoe.

The training shoes

For some athletes the shoe represents the only tool to perform the performance such as in many disciplines of athletics and in this case there is a specific type for each specialty, but practically everyone uses the training shoe during the preparation in view of the appointments. scheduled agonistic. The approaching training shoes of the last three decades to the current ones clearly shows how much the shoe has evolved, both for the design and the materials used and for what concerns the design philosophy that is currently influenced by biomechanical studies which have followed one another over the last few years. From a shoe with a rather simple design with an upper entirely in leather produced in the 1960s, we have moved on to one with a synthetic leather upper and spoiler above the heel in vogue in the 1970s, until arriving in the following decade to build models with uppers in nylon, a material that has made it possible to obtain ever lighter models on which the first shock-absorbing systems are starting to be adopted in the form of cylindrical units of different densities that can be inserted into the heel of the shoe.

The 90s sanctioned the development and almost universal adoption of shock absorbing systems: air, gel, mesh, plastic inserts and other materials are positioned in the heel and in the front part of the shoe, and together with the stabilizing inserts and special materials used for the construction of soles, midsoles and uppers, represent the most significant technical measures currently adopted on training shoes. Can the choice of the right training shoe help reduce the incidence of joint and muscle-tendon injuries in the athlete? To answer this question, it is necessary to evaluate some aspects that he should consider when choosing a sports shoe and others, concerning the consumption of the same and more generally the plantar support, which the technician should know in order to be able to then, in case of problems arise. that may limit the performance, suggest a consultation with a specialist.
In detail: