Korean Job Discussion Forums

[zeppelin]

I used to be a fitness runner. I'm not competitive or anything, just liked it for the exercise. I'm getting back into it.

I tend to suffer from runners knee. Back home I would go to a running store where they would analyse my stride to check if I overpronate or underpronate and recommend shoes based on that, and possibly shoe inserts too. These seemed to help with the runners knee problem.

Is there such a place in Korea (preferably Seoul) which can analyse my stride and make reliable, sensible recommendations based on the analysis.

[zeppelin]

Anyone?

[air76]

Sounds like something that would not exist in Korea. But you never know.

After all, Koreans believe that those shoes with the rounded soles are actually good for your health...so you may not want them analyzing your stride anyhow.

[zeppelin]

Yeah I see your point but all the main shoe manufacturers are represented in Korea, Nike Addidas, Puma etc. They all make running shoes and running shoes make lots of money.

Lots of people run in Korea. Running shops with a simple gait analyser are part of selling running shoes.

[Hamlet]

The Nike shop in Myeongdong was doing that before the Nike Human Race a couple of months ago. I saw them painting the bottoms of people's feet and having them step on paper, so they could analyze their feet and recommend a shoe for them. I haven't seen them doing it since, though.

My knees used to hurt a lot when I ran, and I thought it was over/underpronation, but I couldn't find any shops here to help me. What I wound up doing was changing my stride. I took shorter strides, and bent my knees more when my food hit the ground, like shock absorbers. I also started strengthening and stretching my hips (got this idea from doing lots of research about knee problems).

In the end, I found that using the least amount of shoe possible (like the Nike Free) and changing how I ran based on what pain I was feeling was a better solution than more artificial options like shoe inserts. For the first couple of months, my runs were short and had many walks, but eventually I worked my way up to hour-long runs three times a week. At this level, I experience very little pain, and I feel like I know my body very well.

This may or may not be helpful to you, but it's at least something to consider.

By the way, you might want to check out a local running group called Seoul Fliers if you want more info or people to run with.

[zeppelin]

[seoulsteve]

There's a good store in the gangnam area...sorry, I forget the name and exact location! I found it through another post on this forum, I think the topic was about running shoes. Browse around, I'm sure you'll find it.