Wide foot? Top of foot pain? Big toe pain? In this blog, we cover our top 5 lacing techniques for runners.
The great basketball coach John Wooden, who produced 10 NCAA championship teams was once asked for his secret to winning basketball games, his answer: “ensure his player’s shoes were tied properly”.
Many runners don’t realise that how you lace your shoes can impact the forces applied to your feet. There are in fact almost 2 trillion unique ways to lace your shoes using a combination of 6 eyelets! So here are our top 5 lacing techniques that can be used for various issues around the feet.
Hot spot lacing
Pain on top of the foot? Extensor tendinopathy? Want more space on top of the foot? This type of lacing reduces pressure on top of the foot. Simply avoid crossing the laces over the area on your foot that you feel the pain/pressure.
Heel lock lacing
Insertional Achilles or heel rubbing on the heel counter? Feel like your foot is slipping out of the shoe? This lacing technique uses the 7th eyelet of the shoe to avoid the heel moving up & down. Create a loop in the 6th & 7th eyelet, and then feed the opposite lace through, pulling tightly
Parallel lacing
This lacing technique is perfect for those with high arches, anyone whose feet swell when running, or if you just prefer less pressure on the top of your foot. For this lacing skip an eyelet on each side, come up and then across to the opposite eyelet. Repeat the same on the other lace, then keep alternating until you reach the top
Wide foot lacing
Wide foot? Morton’s neuroma? Want more wiggle room for the toes? This type of lacing can be useful when the shoe feels a bit narrow. To perform this technique, simply start normal lacing from the second eyelet upwards.
Diagonal lacing
This type of lacing can be effective to alleviate pressure on the big toe or the inside of the foot. To perform this lacing take the lace from the inside of the foot, and bring it diagonally up the shoe to the very top eyelet on the opposite side. Then lace up the remaining eyelets with normal crisscrossing with the other lace.