Why Running Store are Awesome and Running Store Etiquette

Last week, my podiatrist suggested talking to Matt Byrne of the Scranton Running Company to look for a pair of off the shelf orthotics. I finally made it into SRC today, bringing along an anatomy textbook and about four pairs of running shoes in various states of wear. The first thing we did was go over some background information, which included talking about my shoe and injury history, showing Matt my anatomy book to explain what was going on versus what was supposed to be going on (anatomically, not biomechanically), and checking out the wear pattern on my current shoes. Next, he set me up on a treadmill and videotaped me barefoot. A slow-motion viewing showed moderate overpronation with the right foot and supination (underpronation) with the left (which is crazy, by the way...I always thought I mildly overpronated with the right and was neutral with the left, which is somewhat normal, but instead it looked like we were watching two completely different strides). For the record, Matt was as surprised as I was that I had posterior tibial dysfunction in my left foot. While supination is not a neutral footstrike and supinators often have injury problems related to their footstrike, posterior tibial dysfunction is not usually one of them. After talking for a while how to best address such a radical difference in foot motion, in order to stabilize the right while not overcorrecting the left in the wrong direction (without going the custom orthotic route), we started to play with insoles in different shoes, and eventually settled on the Brooks Launch (one of the many shoes I brought along) with Berry Superfeet. The entire process took about an hour.