Your operating shoe has a seventh eyelet on the high that the majority runners ignore.
That further gap is there for one motive: heel lock lacing.
Used appropriately, the heel lock (typically referred to as the runner’s knot or ankle lock) pulls your heel deeper into the shoe, reduces the quantity your foot slides on influence, and lowers the load forces that contribute to emphasize accidents.
Three biomechanics research have examined it straight. All three attain the identical conclusion: it really works, and it adjustments how a shoe feels in your foot inside the first mile.
Right here’s what you’ll study:
What heel lock lacing really is and why that high eyelet exists
What the analysis discovered when runners examined it in opposition to customary lacing
Step-by-step directions for tying the heel lock knot
When to make use of the skip-sixth-eyelet variant as an alternative
Whether or not ladder lacing is price making an attempt
What Is Heel Lock Lacing?
Heel lock lacing is a lacing method that makes use of the uppermost eyelet of a operating shoe to create a loop on all sides, then ties these loops collectively to lock the heel in opposition to the shoe’s collar.
Commonplace cross-lacing pulls the shoe comfortable throughout the highest of the foot, however the heel can nonetheless shift barely with every stride.
The heel lock eliminates that shift by anchoring the ankle inside the shoe earlier than the knot is tied.
You’ll see it referred to as by a number of names relying on the place you look: runner’s knot, ankle lock lacing, and lock lacing all describe the identical method utilizing the highest seventh eyelet.
A 2009 examine testing 20 runners throughout 6 lacing situations discovered that 7-eyelet heel lock lacing produced the bottom peak heel pressures of any situation examined and considerably lowered tibial loading charges in comparison with customary six-eyelet cross-lacing, with no distinction in perceived consolation.
That second half issues.
Runners usually assume the heel lock will really feel tighter or extra restrictive than customary lacing.
The biomechanics proof exhibits the notion of consolation is similar.
Does Heel Lock Lacing Really Work?
Biomechanics researcher Marco Hagen on the College of Duisburg-Essen spent a number of years testing precisely this query.
In his first examine, 20 skilled rearfoot runners ran via 6 totally different lacing situations whereas researchers measured influence loading charges, pronation velocity, and plantar stress distribution below the foot.
The 7-eyelet heel lock produced the bottom peak pressures below the heel and lateral midfoot of any lacing situation examined.
Hagen’s follow-up examine added a second measurement: stress on the highest of the foot.
Tightening customary laces to get the identical stability because the heel lock elevated stress over the navicular bone and extensor tendons, constructions that may develop overuse accidents from extended stress.
The heel lock matched the soundness of tight customary lacing with out elevating that dorsal stress.
A 2025 examine from the College of Valencia added a thermal angle to the info.
A 2025 examine in Utilized Ergonomics discovered that cross-lacing produced greater post-run foot pores and skin temperature than heel lock lacing, and that elevated temperature was straight related to discomfort throughout operating.
Cross-lacing holds warmth in a different way in opposition to the highest of the foot.
Heel lock lacing allowed for higher thermoregulation.
Runners within the heel lock situation reported greater consolation scores throughout the 20-minute treadmill trial.
Heel lock lacing reduces influence load on the decrease leg, improves heel stability, and leaves the foot cooler and extra comfy throughout longer runs.
You’ll be able to learn extra about how foot strike sample interacts with influence forces if you would like the broader biomechanics image.
How Do You Tie the Heel Lock Knot?
You want a shoe with a seventh eyelet on the high: the small loop gap barely above and offset from the primary eyelet column.
In case your shoe has 6 eyelets per aspect however no seventh, customary cross-lacing with a agency knot is your best choice.
For footwear with a seventh eyelet, observe these steps:
Lace via the underside six eyelets usually. Use your customary cross-lacing sample up via the sixth eyelet on all sides.
Thread the lace up into the seventh eyelet on the identical aspect. Don’t cross to the other aspect but. Pull the lace via so it types a small loop on the surface of the shoe.
Repeat on the opposite aspect. You now have a loop on all sides of the shoe at ankle peak.
Cross the laces via the other loop. Thread the left lace via the proper loop. Thread the proper lace via the left loop.
Pull each laces down and outward to tighten. This cinches the heel collar in opposition to your ankle. You must really feel the heel seat firmly in opposition to the again of the shoe.
Tie your customary knot as typical. The heel lock holds independently of the knot.
Pull the loops comfortable however not tight sufficient to really feel stress in your ankle bones. The aim is to remove heel slip, to not prohibit blood movement.
The primary time you attempt the heel lock, it might really feel unfamiliar across the ankle for the primary jiffy of a run.
That feeling fades shortly. What you acquire is a shoe that now not shifts on the heel throughout push-off.
Ought to You Skip the sixth Eyelet?
Hagen’s 2010 examine examined a modified heel lock variant: skip the sixth eyelet totally, thread straight from the fifth into the seventh to kind the loop.
That small change produced a measurable discount in stress over the talus and navicular bone.
The talus and navicular are the high-arch bones on the high of the foot simply above the tongue.
Should you expertise any of the next, the skip-sixth variant is price making an attempt:
Ache or discomfort throughout the highest of the foot throughout longer runs
Numbness over the midfoot, particularly when lacing feels tight
A outstanding navicular bone or excessive instep that presses in opposition to the shoe tongue
A historical past of extensor tendonitis
The method is equivalent to the usual heel lock. Skip the sixth eyelet and go on to the seventh when forming the loop on all sides.
For runners with out dorsal stress points, the usual 7-eyelet heel lock and the skip-sixth variant carry out equally effectively on stability.
When Does Ladder Lacing Make Sense?
Ladder lacing (additionally referred to as Lydiard lacing, after coach Arthur Lydiard who promoted it within the Sixties and 70s) routes the laces in parallel horizontal rungs somewhat than crossing diagonally excessive of the foot.
The laces by no means cross the metatarsals, which removes the diagonal stress level that customary cross-lacing creates throughout the midfoot.
There may be restricted biomechanics analysis on ladder lacing particularly. Hagen famous this hole in his personal papers.
Based mostly on the mechanism, ladder lacing is price making an attempt if:
You will have recurring ache or blisters on the highest of the midfoot that aren’t resolved by the skip-sixth variant
You will have broad ft the place the diagonal lace stress is concentrated over a broad space
You want most stress distribution throughout the tongue somewhat than a stability focus
Ladder lacing trades some heel stability for top-of-foot stress aid.
Runners who want each can pair a ladder base with a heel lock end: use ladder lacing from the toe up via the fifth or sixth eyelet, then transition to heel lock loops on the seventh.
Which Lacing Sample Ought to You Use?
The reply will depend on what drawback you’re fixing.
When you have this drawback
Do that lacing
Heel slipping throughout push-off
Commonplace heel lock (7-eyelet)
Ache on high of foot from tight lacing
Skip-sixth-eyelet heel lock
Numbness or stress throughout the midfoot
Ladder lacing (or skip-sixth)
Black toenails or toe field stress
Skip first or second eyelet; widen toe field
No particular drawback
Commonplace heel lock (analysis helps it as a default)
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The analysis makes the clearest case for the usual heel lock as a default for many runners.
It reduces influence load, stabilizes the heel, and doesn’t require any discomfort tradeoff to do it.
The shoe lacing you employ impacts each stride you tackle a run.
Spending two further minutes tying the heel lock knot earlier than a coaching cycle prices nothing and removes one variable that drives repetitive stress accidents over time.
Your arch peak and foot kind additionally have an effect on how your shoe suits and performs. Should you’re coping with recurring ache that lacing adjustments don’t totally resolve, arch peak and foot kind is price studying subsequent.
