Dear all,

Reading  articles or leaflets about the selection of proper shoes, I have
many times  the impression that the last of a shoe  is presented as a
characteristic of choice.  It 's not and I hereby  agree with what Kevin
said:

>
>The shape of the last of the shoe will effect things as pronation resistance,
>shoe weight, and comfort for the individual.  I don't get too excited about
>straight last versus curved last shoes AS LONG AS THE INDIVUDUAL IS
>>COMFORTABLE IN THE SHOE (my editing)
>

In the last sentence,  the key word is "comfortable". This is true because
the shape of the foot dictates the last and not the other way around. One
could express this with a known but modified joke:

      Rule #1. The foot is always right.
      Rule #2.  If  the foot feels wrong, refer to rule 1.

Therefore, it is of no use at all to impose shoes with  lasts that do not
fit, how good the shoes may be otherwise. They will be uncomfortable or
aching, finally ending up in a bin or dusty cupboard (just think about
Howard's  anecdote in his posting  about shoes for Down patients).
In this sense, people  showing overpronation have mostly rather flat and
thus straight feet and therefore, will prefer a straight last. A curved
last will  hurt.
>From a biomechanical perspective however, a curved last will offer  more
pronation resistance : you can check this by trying to tilt a shoe with
curved last inwards and repeating this experiment  with a straight last
shoe (everything  else of both shoes being the same). But as a curved last
will hurt a straight foot, we are back to rule #1.
So, overpronators are mostly stuck with a straight last, not because the
latter is more stable, but because there is no other choice if you don't
want painful feet.
For the ones not convinced, just try to run with a last that does not fit
your feet well (I did), being too curved or even too straight, whatever. It
hurts at the point to reject the shoes.

So, the choice of the last of shoe is not a matter of biomechanics but of
comfort only.

Regards to all,
Bart









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 Bart Van Gheluwe
Laboratory of Biomechanics
Vrije Universiteit Brussel -Fac. LK
Vakgroep BIOM
Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium
Tel.: 02/629.27.33 (31)
Fax: 02/629.27.36
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