Subject: RE: Stack height, for shoes There are two important things to glean from these numbers: * The number by itself is a measure of "ground feel" which becomes important to those wanting more of a "minimal" shoe -- barefoot purists want to feel the ground on a microscopic level. More material means less ground feel. * The difference between these numbers (forefoot and heel) is what is known as "heel drop". There's a move in the industry (also driven by the barefoot movement) towards less heel drop. The Merrell Barefoot line has zero heel drop, even though the thickness is... (I've heard 10mm). The New Balance Minimus line has 4mm heel drop. Altra (when they finally make it to market) will have zero heel drop, but only one of their models would be considered "minimalist". One thing that people changing shoe models often never consider is a change in heel drop, and how that affects the calves and achilles tendon. Also, the taller a shoe is (meaning larger stack number), the less stable it will be. That's just physics. Often the stability features built into a shoe are there to compensate for the large stack-induced instability. Edited by briderdt 2011-03-11 12:20 PM
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