You can try this first with your toes barely touching the wall the bare minimum is that your kneecap should be able to touch the wall without too much trouble. Line one foot up facing the wall and while in a lunge position keeping your foot flat on the ground, see how far forward your knee can move. Weight-Bearing Lunge Test: This test has been found to be valid and reliable for looking at ankle dorsiflexion. If not, a shoe with toe spring may be beneficial for you. Halfway between flat and straight up is 45 degrees, so you should be able to get a little beyond that at least passively by pulling. Then take your fingers and see how much further you can passively bend it at the big joint. Great Toe Extension Examination: Place your foot flat on the floor and seeing how far you can actively lift your big toe. There are two easy at-home tests you can do to assess yourself in these motions. The second is whether that person has enough dorsiflexion (bending your ankle to bring your toes toward your shin, which should be around 15-20 degrees. The first is whether the person has enough big toe extension (upward curve of the toes), which should at minimum be 60 degrees. There are a few important ranges of motion I usually look for when determining whether someone might benefit from a shoe with toe spring. If that is a concern for you, wear a variety of types of running shoes with and without toe spring. If you don’t have enough motion at your toe joints, the second version is likely going to cause you more problems than it will fix! There are also arguments that excessive toe spring causes weakness of the intrinsic foot muscles, but at this point has yet to be proven by high quality research. Other shoes have toe spring that is aggressive enough that the toes are held in an upward position (extension). Some versions allow for the toes to be kept in a neutral (flat) position while the sole curves up underneath. Matthew KleinĪdditionally, not all toe spring is created equal. Toe spring in the Adidas Ultraboost 21 holds the toes in slight extension. If not, whether the shoe sole is thick, has a plate or both, it may feel like trying to run over a speed bump. For the body to appropriately transition over the front of the shoe, these plated shoes also need a significant amount of toe spring. This usually allows very little motion at the forefoot.

A plate, particularly a carbon-fiber plate, will also stiffen the sole. To expand on the second reason, an increasing number of shoes, both for training and racing, have plates in them. The thicker the sole, often the sharper the curve or greater degrees of toe spring are needed to allow the foot to roll forward. To allow for forward motion, toe spring is utilized to allow motion over the forefoot. Flex grooves, which are grooves cut into the sole to improve flexibility, are often not enough to allow for flexibility in some of these shoes. Thicker soled shoes, often seen in maximal shoes, are often less flexible, meaning that transitioning over the front of the shoe can be difficult. This is the major reason for the increase in toe spring frequency and degree that we’re seeing now. The second reason is if the sole of the shoe isn’t flexible enough in the forefoot to bend and allow motion in this area.

Do Mega-Cushioned Shoes Cause More Injuries?.If you have less than 60 degrees of upward motion (called extension), you may have some difficulty using the natural mechanism. Called the forefoot rocker, this is a particularly important mechanism of the foot that contributes to efficient forward motion.įor the forefoot rocker to work appropriately, the MTP joints need to be able to move a certain amount (i.e., number of degrees) to allow this forward-rolling motion. This allows the heel to rise and the body to roll over the front of the foot. Its purpose is to facilitate forward motion through the front of the shoe.ĭuring normal gait mechanics, as your weight transfers over the front of your foot, the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints, or toe joints, extend.

Toe spring refers to the degree of upward curvature of the sole under the toes or forefoot (front of the foot). No matter what you need to improve in your running life, find it with Runner’s World+ The What and Why of Toe Spring With it becoming increasingly prevalent, it’s worth knowing why it exists, and whether shoes with a lot of toe spring might help or hurt your running.

Controversial Shoes: Do They Work for Everyone?.

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