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I was reading Craig Payne's old blog on APMA's children shoe-fitting advice.
Craig pointed out that there hadn't been any research on same to provide evidence.
The effect on the foot's development was raised, so how much force can the heel stiffeners exert and for that matter a stiff midfoot midsole?
mark

 

They probably exert next to none; the foot moves inside the shoe. A heel stiffener just prevents the shoe from distorting so easily.

 

thanks craig, it was JFEsculier's post that sparked the interest, mark

 

Agree with Craig, probably not a lot

 

and adds weight.. in essence, a throwback to what we think we need.. like so much about "tecchnical" running shoe design

 

Newton's Third Law. Shoe pushes on the foot as much as the foot pushes on the shoe. So, the foot has to "deform" enough to push on the shoe. Most feet don't evert enough, or have enough talar adduction, to significantly push on the shoe.

Most shoes are designed not to push on the average foot.

 

Maybe the collar height is more important: "Collar height and heel counter-stiffness for ankle stability and athletic performance in basketball",

Abstract
This study examined the effects of collar height and heel counter-stiffness of basketball shoes on ankle stability during sidestep cutting and athletic performance. 15 university basketball players wore customized shoes with different collar heights (high and low) and heel counter-stiffness (regular, stiffer and stiffest) for this study. Ankle stability was evaluated in sidestep cutting while athletic performance evaluated in jumping and agility tasks. All variables were analysed using two-way repeated ANOVA. Results showed shorter time to peak ankle inversion for both high collar and stiff heel counter conditions (P < 0.05), while smaller initial ankle inversion angle, peak inversion velocity and total range of inversion for wearing high collar shoes (P < 0.05). No shoe differences were found for performance variables. These findings imply that the collar height might play a larger role in lateral stability than heel counter-stiffness, while both collar height and counter-stiffness have no effect on athletic performance.

https://www.researchgate.net/public...bility_and_athletic_performance_in_basketball