Ask ten runners what caused their last injury and at least half will mention their shoes. It’s an easy thing to blame, and shoe companies are happy to sell you the fix. In practice, footwear is rarely the main driver — and chasing the “right” shoe can distract from what’s actually going on.

What we check before we check your shoes

When a runner comes in with a recurring niggle, we start somewhere less exciting: how much your training load has changed recently, how your strength and mobility compare side to side, and whether you’re doing the same movement thousands of times a week without any variation. Most overuse injuries come down to a mismatch between what your body is prepared for and what you’re actually asking it to do.

  • Sudden jumps in volume or intensity. Tissue adapts to load gradually. A big jump — a new training block, a race you undertrained for — often outpaces what tendons and muscles can handle.
  • Asymmetries that never get addressed. Small side-to-side differences in strength or mobility tend to get compensated for, until they don’t.
  • Running the same route, the same way, every time. Repetition without variation concentrates stress on the exact same structures, session after session.

Where shoes actually fit in

Footwear matters most at the extremes — a shoe that’s badly worn, or a big, sudden change in drop or cushioning. Outside of that, the evidence for one “correct” shoe type is much weaker than most marketing suggests. We’ll look at your shoes, but as one variable among several, not the first place we look.

What actually reduces injury risk

Consistent, gradual increases in training load, a strength routine that addresses your specific asymmetries, and enough variation in your training to avoid the exact same repetitive stress week after week — none of it as satisfying as a new pair of shoes, but it’s what the evidence actually supports.

If something keeps coming back

A niggle that resolves and returns is usually a sign the underlying cause hasn’t been addressed, not that you need a different shoe. If that sounds familiar, manual therapy is a good place to start figuring out what’s actually driving it.