Running causes a lot of force to the foot primarily at heel strike. Remember from physics, Force equals mass x acceleration. So the question is how can you manipulate this equation?

For people who are overweight they can decrease their mass. Acceleration is constant. It is the acceleration of gravity 9.8 meters/sec2.

So we can manipulate acceleration via padding. Padding slows down when the force acts upon the lower extremity. This is why I'm not a proponent of minimalist shoes. They do very little to mitigate the effect of acceleration. So I'm a big fan of Hoka and Sketchers max cushion. There are other manufacturers that are jumping on this padding bandwagon and I'm sure there will be good additions to the previous 2 I've mentioned. Altra comes to mind. I still like Hoka and Sketchers max cushion better though.