The best sneakers to prevent injury

It’s hard to imagine a time before shoes, but experts suggest that shoes were invented approximately 40,000 years ago to protect the feet from both extreme hot and cold surfaces such as glaciers and desert sand or from sharp objects like rocks and thorns.  

Fast forward to today and shoes are still worn to protect the feet, but they are also a fashion statement, performance enhancing item, and in a back to the future sort of way, a sophisticated injury prevention tool, particularly for athletes. 

Fundamentally, most running and training shoes exist to protect the wearer from injury, but often the emphasis of a shoes’ technology and construction is on increasing performance, such as speed. 

With the global running footwear industry tipped to be worth USD $623 million by 2024, brands continue to explore new opportunities to win over customers and achieve more sales. An emerging trend is taking hold, and it involves running sneaker brands doubling down on the design, materials and technology used to not only help runners get faster, but to be able to run for longer and stay injury-free.

HOVR Machina

An example is Under Armour’s new HOVR Machina sneaker. More than a running shoe, the Machina features real-time form coaching to help make running feel easier and to prevent injury.

Three-years in the making, the Machina was designed as the brand’s ultimate running shoe. It’s Under Armour’s first cushioned shoe with a carbon propulsion plate, but what really sets it apart is its ability to coach runners. Created not only for the runner looking to get better, they actually help runners get better, while also reducing the chance of injury.

Under Armour has embedded a high-fidelity sensor in the midsole of the right shoe that digitally connects to the MapMyRun™ app via Bluetooth™ Low Energy. Once connected, the shoes track a wide range of data from running basics like distance, pace and splits, to detailed running form data including cadence and stride length. Using this data, MapMyRun™ provides a personalised coaching experience to each athlete, helping each runner find their ideal running form.

The Gait Coaching feature provides an in-depth analysis of a runner’s stride so they can run with the least amount of effort and better manage their risk of injury. The feature starts with a summary, showing the runner how their current form compares to their ideal form. Paired with coaching tips, the runner receives specific guidance so they can make adjustments and achieve their ideal form. 

The coaching also goes deeper, providing a stride-by-stride analysis of the run. Runners see the paces and portions of the run where they hit their ideal form and where they can improve. This portion of the feature enables runners to analyse hard workouts like intervals, long runs or even races. And since every runner wants to improve, the feature provides a historical view of running form data to quickly communicate if they are improving with each run. 

Nike React Infinity Run

Another shoe making waves for its marketed ability to reduce injuries from running is the Nike React Infinity Run. Nike says the presumed hurdle of injury for runners is the problem it’s trying to fix with this shoe.

The React Infinity Run encompasses the best qualities of two of its most popular running shoes – the Zoom Vaporfly 4% and Nike React. Using technologies from both, the React Infinity Run provides a soft, responsive platform and delivers it with a widened midsole. Similar to the geometry of the 4%, the Infinity has a rocker-like bottom that yields a more fluid transition from foot strike to toe off.

These attributes make the Nike React Infinity Run ideal for the kind of runs that don’t fall into the silo of interval or tempo, long run or race. This shoe matches best to base-run days, those middle-mileage, moderate efforts. In fact, an external study by the British Columbia Sports Medicine Research Foundation on 226 runners in the Nike React Infinity Run and the Nike Structure 22, a traditional motion control shoe, showed that runners in the Nike React Infinity had a 52 per cent lower injury rate than in the motion control shoe, with wearers confirming that they felt less pain in their knees and feet.

Two-times Olympic finalist and Nike athlete, Gen Gregson says, “After heavy hard sessions from track, my body is feeling pretty beaten up and so I like to wear my React Infinity Runs, mainly because they have more foam and the cushioning absorbs the ground for me.”

“They keep me on the run because I get no pounding. I don’t feel soreness and I pull up really well for the next day when I can turn up and run hard again.”

Reebok Nano 9

The growing footwear trend isn’t just for running shoes. It is no secret that netball is one of the most punishing sports on footwear and the lower limbs and ASICS is well-known in Australia and around the world for its leading design of shoes that provide grip and stability to reduce the risk of injury.

Likewise, wearing proper CrossFit shoes for a workout is important because they make it easier to perform at your best level and help to prevent injury.  CrossFit has come a long way in the last few years, and the Reebok Nano has been here every step, jump, and WOD of the way.

CrossFit is a type of workout where you don’t know exactly what is coming when you arrive. Whether it is running, lifting, rowing, jumping or anything in between, your footwear needs to be ready for the demands of your workout.

By using insights from the CrossFit community, Reebok’s Nano 9 shoe is designed to handle the intensity of a CrossFit workout, while providing better stability and reducing impact on the lower limbs. The Nano 9 has a strong support system in the heel, featuring raised side walls along the lateral and medial heel that runs all the way to the midfoot. It isn’t a hard rubber but is stiff enough to provide enough support for any lift.

With a new flexweave upper designer for various workouts and flexibility and a decoupled outsole for improved heel movement, Nano 9 is more dynamic than ever. It also has added midsole cushioning designed to absorb impact during short runs, making it the most runnable Nano to date.