Footwear Science: Outsole Wear Patterns
Shoe wear patterns are the predominant question I get about shoe prescription. Patients frequently ask about wearing out certain parts of the shoe, what that means, if the shoe is right for them and so on. Long ago when I was working in running stores in college, I was confused that so much emphasis was put wear patterns telling people if the shoe was right for them. As I advanced in my understanding of biomechanics, then into a doctorate in physical therapy and further discussing this with clinicians all over the world, I realized that we have almost no evidence regarding wear patterns and shoe prescription. The internet is full of blog posts, articles and links describing shoe wear patterns telling you all these intricate things. Here's the problem: there's almost no research on this. Almost all (if not all) of those posts are simply anecdotal evidence. If you look at almost all of the articles out there, they do not cite any research. This includes posts BY CLINICIANS.
https://www.doctorsofrunning.com/2017/06/footwear-science-outsole-wear-patterns.html
