Running injuries have been a primary focus of many Biomechanics Laboratories for over 40 years. The major emphasis of the research on running injuries has been related to athletic footwear development. With the emphasis on footwear design, two causes of injuries were often suggested. These two causes of injuries were: 1) injuries due to poor shock attenuation; and 2) injuries due to mediolateral instability. Over the years, hundreds of studies have been conducted to show the effect of footwear on these types of injuries. Due to methodological issues, many of the results from past studies have been called into question: 1) we have learned that investigating foot and ankle motion by placing markers on the shoe does not truly represent the motion of the foot; and 2) by modeling the foot as a rigid segment, we could not truly determine the motion of the midfoot and forefoot. In addition to these concerns, there is a lack of prospective studies to indicate the causes of running-related injuries. As a result of these limitations, biomechanists have now come to the conclusion that the injuries may not relate to poor shock attenuation or to mediolateral control. Rather than simply look at foot or ankle motion, we have used a system approach to the causes of injury by investigating how the lower extremity segments interact and whether these interactions can result in running-related injury.
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