The outside of the heels (left side of the left heel, right side of the right heel) erode down very fast compared to the rest of the shoe. On completely flat shoes I often find that the outside heels can wear right down to the insole while the tread on the rest of the sole looks almost new.
Most people’s shoes seem to wear down like this.
The obvious thing to think is that it’s the area of the foot that hits the ground first, though it doesn’t feel like that; if anything, it feels like the inside heels hit first.
It’s probably a straightforward answer, to a mundance question, but I’m curious…
Because of the way you walk. If it’s not the way your foot hits the ground, it’s some motion as you move forward, or the way your foot leaves the ground.
Actually, presumably Mijin supinates, while you pronate. Supinating is where the foot rolls outwards a bit, while pronating is when it rolls inwards. I supinate, and my shoes wear down exactly as the OP describes.
Answer: it’s the way you walk (or run – not sure which shoes they are). You may also be scuffing your feet instead of picking them up. I suspect you’d notice that though.
You can google “shoe wear patterns” to find some info. I don’t recommend any because I’m a bit of a skeptic when it comes blindly assigning shoes based solely (ha!) on wear patterns or perceived supination/pronation. (I think it’s more complex than that, another topic entirely).
Anecdotally my work shoes in which I only walk have a much different wear pattern (outside heel, inside toe) than shoes that I run in (heel looks brand new while I wear a hole through the midsole).
Supinating is where the foot rolls *inwards *a bit, wearing the sole on the lateral (“outside”) edge. Pronation, outwards, wearing the medial (“inside”) edge. Whee! Pictures!
I remember it because supinate sounds like soup. If you held a bowl of soup with your feet, you’d turn your feet soles in, with the outside edges toward the floor, and hold the soup bowl on your arches.
Once you know wether you pronate or supinate you can actually buy shoes to counter it (at least running shoes) by going to a good running store. The dealer should actually know which models work better for which runners.
It is normal to wear out the outside of your heel more than other portions of your shoe. Some pronation is normal. Pronation means rotating to the inside (wrist or ankle), and it is normal to rotate your foot in. After landing on your heel, your foot pronates a little to push off your big toe. The problem is overpronation, when the amount of rotation is exaggerated. Supination is a rotation to the outside (wrist or ankle). Pronation of the wrist is usual in a tennis serve, for example, or a curve ball in baseball. The American twist serve and the screwball involve supination, which can lead to elbow problems because it is not natural. So too, supination of the foot can lead to problems, too.
Both pronation and supination cause the outside of the heel to wear out, if that is what you land on, which is normal. If you actually land on the balls of your feet, then that is the area which will show the wear, of course, but only very fast runners do that. All walkers land on their heels, even if it doesn’t feel like it. Walk on the sand and see what part of your foot leaves the deepest indention. Most likely it will be the outside of your heel. If you scrape your foot as you land, you can see the scrape mark on the sand (before the outline of the foot). If you do scrape your feet, the outside of your heel wear wear out quickly.
As a side note, most good shoe stores have half-moon shaped pieces that can be nailed to the faster-wearing part of the heel to protect it. I’ve used these quite a bit. They’re cheap, and they dramatically extend the life of the heel.
There was at one time (over two decades ago) “eternal sole” which was glued onto the outside heel. Those were made of plastic, but cost $10. I haven’t seen them in over 20 years, so I assume it is not made any more.
However, I discovered an outfit that made soft heel “taps” which were nailed (small nails provided) on at the outside of the heel of the running shoe. I think they were made of hard rubber. I used to wear out that area quickly because I scraped my heels when I ran. (I think I developed that habit because I was doing quite a bit of long distance running years ago.) It took me many years to disabuse me of that habit. I don’t need them any more, so I lost the info concerning the seller. The company was called “Hale,” but it was taken over by another company, the name of which I don’t remember. This “other company” has continued to make those taps as they sent me some info a while back, informing me that it had taken over Hale and offered the sale of the same taps. Those taps were very cheap: a dozen or so for a few bucks.
Another remedy, which I had forgot, is to use an electric glue gun. You can buy that with glue pellets at most hardware stores. Actually, I picked up quite a bargain for the pellets at Big Lots some years ago. You can hunt around in such places for good buys on the gun, too.
A contrary thought: forcing your body into a position/orientation that it isn’t use to may cause more harm than good. If you are walking or running injury free I wouldn’t be inclined to change anything. Just at thought.
And while I’m cynical: I also find running store sales folks to be hit and miss. Some are there to sell shoes. Guess which shoes cost more?: the fancy ones that correct things. Not that they are all bad. Just be aware of all the influences at play.
Some runners need orthopedics because of overpronation or supination. If they don’t correct their problem, they can develop plantar fasciitis, hip pain, etc. Supination is common in women due to a wide Q-angle, caused by wide hips. (“Q” standing for quadricpes, I guess.) I changed my running style to overcome my scraping. It took me a while and the change did result in some temporary problems, but those are gone and my shoes are now lasting much longer without makeshift remedies.
I apologize for resurrecting an older thread. Can you please elaborate on how you changed your running style to overcome the scraping? I also seem to scrape my outside heel when I run, and my shoes only last about 100-150 miles as a result. Any pointers and ideas on changing the running style would be greatly appreciated.
It wasn’t easy. It took years of running on sand, dirt roads, or any other surface where you can see the imprint of the sole of your shoe (to see if you are scraping). I tried different methods to eliminate the scrape, first without success. (When I ran on the beach, I could see that I was not the only one who scraped.) First, I tried taking a higher step (raising the knees higher) and emphatically landing on my heels. I had some success with that. But what got me over the scraping (and, I admit, not completely, but 90% completely) is to imagine that I’m landing on my toes and pushing off my big toe. It’s got to be the toes. If you think that you are landing on the balls of your feet, you will scrape. You got to think that you are landing on your toes, and you will find that you are actually landing with your complete foot.
That worked for me. I can’t guarantee it’ll work for you.
At first, with a different running style, you may be bothered with some lower foot problems, particularly around the ankle, but that will soon disappear.
Actually, now, I don’t need the footprint. I can hear the scrape when I do scrape.
I learned the true explanation from a guy on the Joe Pine show about 45 years ago. It turns out that the Earth is hollow and we are living on the inside of the sphere. The evidence offered by Joe’s guest was that the bottom of our shoes have a convex curvature, proving that the Earth has concave curvature.
No, I think that means you’re running the right way. When you run barefoot you’d naturally land on the balls of your feet to cushion the impact to your legs, so keeping that same motion with your shoes on would result in that wear pattern. In some people’s opinion, striking the ground with your heel first is the unnatural motion, which causes a different set of problems. The more natural motion also strengthens your leg muscles differently.
I myself have flat feet, so I find landing with my toes terribly tiring, but it definitely gives me a speed and agility advantage when playing sports.
