I wish I could be more confident but as of now there is no anecdotal evidence (that I know of) that changing to midfoot will reduce injuries. However, we do have some good direction that may get us to a clearer answer. Below are a few points that will give you insight on what might be best for you and your clients:
1. For starters, we've seen that matching running shoes to foot morphology (increased pronation,etc) may not be effective. Knapik et al have seen little influence on shoe assignment based on foot shape multiple times; see here and here. However, all his studies, though performed in a loaded position, are not necessarily in a relaxed position and do not have any dynamic or palpatory assessment involved. Further, standardized assessments like the FPI, were not used so the validity and reliability of those studies are a big limitation.
2. Most running injuries occur at the moment the foot hits the ground (Leiberman et al., 2010). Also, higher injury risk are associated with larger vertical ground reaction forces at impact and higher loading rates in tibial stress fractures, compartment syndrome, and plantar faciitis. And vertical loading rates and knee extensor forces are higher in rearfoot striker, as seen in this month's JOSPT.
Additionally, running with a foot strike anterior to the heel has been shown to reduce knee loading and reduce initial vertical loading rates.
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| notice the increased peak loading force with rear foot runners |
3. Injury prevention probably has more to do with your form than where your foot hits the ground. What I mean is even if your a midfoot runner but land anterior to your body weight your still turning on the brakes. Think of it as a pogo stick. If I land in front of me I'm loading that pogo stick to shoot backwards, ie, hitting the brakes. Conversely, if i can land correctly and have that pogo stick shoot me forward than I am not wasting precious energy. And rear foot (heel) strikers typically take longer strides with resulting excessive braking forces. Striking the ground anterior to the heel is associated with a shorter stride (seen here and here) and your center of gravity landing more anterior (in front) of you. With a shorter stride and higher frequency your foot is on the ground less. Less time = less chance of injury. However, greater number of steps per minute may be actually increase the loading on joints over a given time or distance so its hard to stay what's best. Therefore, it comes down to good form that maximizes efficiency, like Pose running below:
4. There is no sufficient evidence linking minimally supported shoes or barefoot running with less injuries or increases in performance. Further There is no evidence to support normal running shoes with higher injury rates as seen by Lohman et al.
So there you have a quick and dirty explanation for your patients/clients. There's still a lot more to talk about like how we transition into midfoot safely, because increase loading is seen on the soleus and gastroc and may lead to overuse injuries there. Hope this explanation helps.
