How about motion-control shoes for overpronator?

Press, 21 April 1986, Page 15

How about motion-control shoes for overpronator?

By

TOM BRIDGMAN,

NZPA staff correspondent Washington

Once upon a time an old pair of tennis shoes was sufficient for a job. But since “running” came along and has been taken up by thousands, footwear has moved with the times. The latest brands have names and descriptions like an up-market sports car and the need for a science degree to understand what is on sale. Adidas ZX 600, Avia 620, Etonic Xenon, Hersey DPS ii, Reebok GL 6000, Diadora Seb Coe Impact 1000, Etonic Sigma, Puma Stellar, Nike Vendetta — just names of some of the shoes analysed in the latest edition of "Runner’s World.” As for what they provide, how does "motioncontrol shoes designed for the overpronator who need optimal control and medial support” grab you? The Adidas ZS 600 is boosted as being “semicurved and combinationlasted (with a board in the rearfoot) and has a thermoplastic heel counter and an external motion control device.” Brooks Contour has “a two-density expanded-rub-ber outsole with carbon

rubber in the heel and forefoot, plus a variation on the rollbar design made popular by the chariot.”

Kangaroos Coil R 1 has as its key element the dynacoil. It is not a new birth-control device but “a coiled filament encapsulated in a single-density polyurethane foam, which is then encapsulated in compression - moulded eva.” Get all that?

If you want something a little special, the Hersey DPS ii, a snip at SUSI6S ($312)- a pair, is handmade and custom designed, from tracings of your foot. It is for the “heavy pronator.”

Confused? Well, according to the reader service office of “Runner’s World” “pronator” is the word to describe the natural turning of the foot.

“Thermoplastic heel counters,” “flex wedges,” “polyurethane external heel stabilisers” and “variable-width lacing” appear all the rage with shoemakers.

Obviously it is expected that shoe buyers follow and study this art.

How about this of the new Balance 995: “The 995’s outsole wears

slightly better than the 990’s and the 995 has a snugger fit in the heel than the 990, but the 995 is not as firm in midsole because of the po-lyrethane-encapsulated eva midsole."

To help through all trendoid tech. talk “Runner’s World” even provides a glossary for those who want to “talk shoe.”

Anatomical last, chemical sheet, cantilevered outsole, heel-counter stabiliser and many other terms are explained for the uninitiated.

Having gained “Shoe Talk iii” with hons, the buyer, if sufficiently well heeled, can move on to

the new ultimate — the computer shoe. For about SUS2OO (($378) Puma offers the RS computer shoe, its latest in “biomechanical running shoe designs.” It has a computer chip built into the heel. "This electronic device records your run, then plugs into your Apple HE, Commodore 64 or 128, or IBM PC computer, showing you time, distance and calories expended,” runs the blurb for the shoe.

“Easy-to-use software, included with the shoes, lets you log each of your runs and graphically measure progress in comparison with training goals.”