Most Running Falls Occur Because of Running on the Entire Foot, Instead of Just the Forefoot.
The Forefoot Gives us a Reliable Platform. A Platform that is; Malleable to the Contours of the Ground, and Can Pivot with the Angles of the Ground.
In Contrast, If we put our Heel Down; We create a Long Narrow platform. This Long Narrow Platform has hardly any malleability relative to its size. And This Long Narrow Platform turns the body into a Mechanism that Favors Tipping Left and Right. Forcing left and right movements Instead of allowing for Any Direction of Pivot, Creates a High Torque Movement. This High Torque Movement is the Biggest Contributor to the common experience of; “Falling is Just Part Of Running.” It is the “Sudden” accident we can’t respond quickly enough to. When the entire foot is on the ground; The direction that our foot tilts, yanks the rest of our body along with it.
It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way.
Our Feet are Extremely Malleable. Our toes have many joints in a relatively small area. This Allows the bottom of our forefoot to take on any shape it needs to fit with the contours of the ground. The toes can adapt and articulate to the ground. The conditions of the ground can change and shift, and the forefoot can change and shift with it.
Our Feet are Extremely Pivotable. By not having the heel on the ground; We Can Utilize the Range Of Motion in our ankle to let the Forefoot tip to any angle that the ground is at. Our ankle acts as the necessary extra joint to allow the foot a huge range of motion, without affecting the upright angle of the body. The Toes and the Ankle Work Together to Keep us Upright.
The Toes Tilt the Bottom Surface of Our Foot To Match the Ground. And the Ankle Tilts the Foot as needed, to not push the body from its Balanced Position. All Angle Changes occur from the ankle or lower. No Torque on the knees, because the ground is no longer yanking us into position. We are in our balanced upright angle, the ground is whatever shape and angle it is, and our Feet Fill in All of the Space in Between. It’s Geometry.
When Used Properly; The Human Foot has the Incredible Ability of filling in any shape needed, between our leg and the Earth. It can do so Extremely Quickly. It can change shapes before we even realize it needs to. This keeps us upright, this keeps us from falling down.
