Running Shoe Recommendations Based on Gait Analysis - A Single-Blind Randomised Crossover Trial

Q: What was the study designed to test?

The study examined how shoe recommendation based on gait analysis influences runners’ subjective perceptions of comfort, performance, and injury reduction while monitoring spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters.

Q: What were the main findings regarding comfort and runner preference?

Subjective comfort, performance, and injury-reduction ratings differed significantly between own and experimental shoes, with most runners overall preferring their own shoes. Spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters were not significantly different between shoes.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by kopisore

Running shoe recommendations based on gait analysis can shape runners’ expectations and choices. A single-blind, randomised crossover study tested how recommended footwear alters subjective perceptions of comfort, performance, and injury reduction while tracking spatiotemporal and kinematic measures. Twenty-one women completed clinical gait analysis and treadmill trials in own shoes and two experimentally matched shoes differing mainly in colour and description.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Objectives

Design

Method

Participants

Trial procedure and footwear conditions

Results

Conclusions

Trial Registration

Wiley Translational Sports Medicine Volume 2025, Article ID 1419641, 13 pages [https://doi.org/10.1155/tsm2/1419641](https://doi.org/10.1155/tsm2/1419641) Research Article Running Shoe Recommendations Based on Gait Analysis Improve Perceptions of Comfort, Performance and Injury Risk: A Single-Blind Randomised Crossover Trial Andrew Fife , 1 Jean-Francois Esculier ,2,3 Codi Ramsey ,4 and Kim Hbert-Losier 1,2 1 Division of Health, School of Sport & Human Movement, University of Waikato, Tauranga, New Zealand 2 Research & Development, Te Running Clinic TM, Lac-Beauport, Que´bec, Canada 3 Department of Physical Terapy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 4 Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health, Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin, New Zealand Correspondence should be addressed to Kim H´ebert-Losier; [kim.hebert-losier@waikato.ac.nz](kim.hebert-losier@waikato.ac.nz) Received 12 May 2025; Revised 30 October 2025; Accepted 10 November 2025 Academic Editor: Christopher Mendias Copyright © 2025 Andrew Fife et al. Translational Sports Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Tis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objectives: We examined how shoe recommendation based on gait analysis infuences subjective perceptions of comfort, performance and injury reduction in runners while monitoring spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters. Design: Single-blind crossover randomised controlled trial with repeated measures. Method: Twenty-one women runners completed a clinical gait analysis and four 5-min treadmill trials at a self-selected comfortable speed sequentially in their own shoes (OS), the frst experimental shoes (randomised), their OS, and the second experimental shoes (randomised) . Te two experimental shoes were identical except for their colour (randomised) and werepresented to runners as either a ‘basic’ shoe or, deceptively, a ‘gait-matched’ shoe selected for them based on the clinical gait analysis conducted. Results: Running Comfort Assessment Tool (RUN-CAT) scores and 100 mm visual analogue scale ratings of subjective comfort, performance and injury reduction difered signifcantly between own and experimental shoes (p < 0.001) . Post-hoc comparisons revealed that runners’ OS were the most comfortable (83.3 ± 3.8 mm) followed by gait-matched (66.1 ± 21.5 mm) and then basic (49.0 ± 24.1 mm) shoes. RUN-CAT, performance and injury reduction ratings were similar between own and gait-matched shoes, but gait-matched shoes had better mean diference (95% confdence intervals), RUN-CAT (15.6 mm [5.7, 25.5]), performance (17.1 mm [5.6, 28.6]) and injury reduction (30.1 mm [8.9, 51.2]) scores than the basic shoes. Discrete spatiotemporal, foot strike angle and resultant tibial acceleration parameters were not signifcantly diferent between shoes (p ≥ 0. 157) . Most runners overall preferred their OS (71.4%), followed by gait-matched (23.8%) and basic (4.8%) shoes. Conclusions: Shoe recommendation and description can signifcantly afect subjective shoe comfort and overall preferences without signifcantly altering spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters. Runners should be cautious while choosing shoes based on recommendations and descriptors derived from gait analysis or based solely on perceived comfort as runners’ subjective perceptions can be artifcially manipulated. Trial Registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12623000516684 . Keywords: deception; footwear; gait analysis; prescription; running 2 Translational Sports Medicine 1. Introduction performance and injury reduction in runners while monitoring spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters. We Many runners use shoes to increase comfort and reduce hypothesised that runners would score and rank gaitincidence of running-related injuries [1

FAQs

What was the study designed to test?

The study examined how shoe recommendation based on gait analysis influences runners’ subjective perceptions of comfort, performance, and injury reduction while monitoring spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters.

How did the researchers compare the different shoes?

Twenty-one women runners completed a clinical gait analysis and four 5-minute treadmill trials in own shoes and two experimental shoes. The experimental shoes were presented as either “basic” or “gait-matched,” with identity controlled except for colour.

What were the main findings regarding comfort and runner preference?

Subjective comfort, performance, and injury-reduction ratings differed significantly between own and experimental shoes, with most runners overall preferring their own shoes. Spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters were not significantly different between shoes.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by kopisore