Thick heels on kid’s shoes negatively effect running development.

Shoes for young kids with big thick heels are bad your children’s running development. The reason is that a big thick heel gives too much cushioning and encourages kids to land on their heel. The best runners don’t do that.

Landing on the heel like this causes an increased stride length (length of step) and decreased cadence (decreased steps per minute). Research shows that elite runners have an increased cadence but don’t show significant differences in stride length to average runners. Average runners spend longer on the ground with each step because they have less stiffness in the foot and ankle and therefore are less efficient.

Young kids will naturally start running without landing hard on their heel and needs to be encouraged. So this is why health professionals recommend thin flexible soled shoes that protect the foot and mimic the barefoot environment – treddies are Physiotherapy designed and come in 16 colourful and fun designs - http://www.treddies.com/

If you want your kids to run well, get your kids playing and running in treddies from the moment they can.