Many runners ask how they should be running. Running training should be focused on 1 of 2 things: 1) injury prevention or 2) performance. So the main purpose of this post is to focus on injury prevention and treatment. I promote runners to avoid a heel strike and to try more of a mid foot strike when running with pain or recovering from an injury. Landing with a midfoot strike has been associated with decreases in peak impact loads and a decrease in knee pain (patellar-femoral symptoms). Below is a diagram from a article in Nature that shows landing forces with different striking patterns.
Notice the lack of the sharp increase spike with a mid foot strike. One of the main points to take away from the article is the decrease in force and lack of impact during strike with a mid foot technique. One of the styles of running that there are countless videos to reference is the POSE method which incorporates the mid foot strike. Below is a video demonstrating the POSE method.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=oN1x3Ik1t5Y
