Did I Buy the Wrong Running Shoes?

by Raja
(Hyderabad, India)

I ended up buying a pair of neutral running shoes instead of stability running shoes. I was under the mistaken impression that neutral stood for a normal pronator. It was only later I realised that neutral shoes aided the underpronator.




I believe I am a normal pronator. Would using a shoe meant for the neutral runner cause any problems/injuries?


Answer by Dominique:


Hi Raja,
Thanks for your question about your running shoes. It's going to be a tough one to answer.

You are right, neutral running shoes are for underpronators. If the arch does not collapse enough, these are supposed to help with that.

Neutral Running Shoes for Men | Neutral Running Shoes for Women

You think you are a normal pronator. Normal pronators need stability running shoes that offer the stability to keep on pronating the right way.

Stability Running Shoes for Men | Stability Running Shoes for Women

By running in neutral running shoes as a normal pronator you run the risk that you start overpronating. This could cause injuries. You don't know if it will though.

It depends on your mileage, your real foot type and the shoes you got. Some running shoes will stimulate pronation more than others, so you may be okay with these running shoes.

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See if you can convince the running shoe store owner to take them back. If you have used them for a while already then you probably can't. Then again, if you haven't had any problems with them yet, then you might be lucky and not be affected by the shoes.

Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Dominique