What Is Overpronation Of The Foot

Overview

Pronation is a turning outward of the foot at the ankle, which allows the foot to flatten. The pronation helps to absorb some of the compressive shock forces, torque conversion, adjustment to uneven ground contours, and maintenance of balance. It is necessary to have a certain amount of pronation to disseminate the energy of the foot-strike. If there is too little or too much pronation injuries may occur. When a foot and ankle pronates to a great degree, we call it over-pronation. Normally you can see the Achilles Tendon run straight down the leg into the heel. If the foot is over-pronated, the tendon will run straight down the leg, but when it lies on the heel it will twist outward. This makes the inner ankle bone much more prominent than the outer ankle bone.

Causes

Unless there is a severe, acute injury, overpronation develops as a gradual biomechanical distortion. Several factors contribute to developing overpronation, including tibialis posterior weakness, ligament weakness, excess weight, pes planus (flat foot), genu valgum (knock knees), subtalar eversion, or other biomechanical distortions in the foot or ankle. Tibialis posterior weakness is one of the primary factors leading to overpronation. Pronation primarily is controlled by the architecture of the foot and eccentric activation of the tibialis posterior. If the tibialis posterior is weak, the muscle cannot adequately slow the natural pronation cycle.

Symptoms

When standing, your heels lean inward. When standing, one or both of your knee caps turn inward. Conditions such as a flat feet or bunions may occur. You develop knee pain when you are active or involved in athletics. The knee pain slowly goes away when you rest. You abnormally wear out the soles and heels of your shoes very quickly.

Diagnosis

People who overpronate have flat feet or collapsed arches. You can tell whether you overpronate by wetting your feet and standing on a dry, flat surface. If your footprint looks complete, you probably overpronate. Another way to determine whether you have this condition is to simply look at your feet when you stand. If there is no arch on the innermost part of your sole, and it touches the floor, you likely overpronate. The only way to truly know for sure, however, is to be properly diagnosed by a foot and ankle specialist.

Non Surgical Treatment

Anti-Pronation Insoles provide a unique foot support system that aligns the lower body. The major cause of foot and leg pain is over pronation (rolling over of the feet) which causes excessive pressure on the muscles, ligaments and bones of the lower body. Running insoles treat the underlying cause of over pronation and prevent future occurrences of the associated foot or leg condition. A project conducted at the NIKE Sport Research Laboratory studied the effects of orthotics on rear foot movement in running. Nine well-trained runners who wore orthotics were chosen as subjects. The results of the study indicated that orthotics reduced rear foot movement by roughly one degree or approximately nine percent of the amount found in runners not using orthotics. The average reduction of the maximum velocity of pronation was fifteen percent. Thus this study indicates that orthotics and insoles control over pronation which will treat and prevent many sporting injuries.

Prevention

Pronation forces us to bear most of our weight on the inner border of our feet. Custom-made orthotics gently redistributes the weight so that the entire foot bears its normal share of weight with each step we take. The foot will not twist out at the ankle, but will strike the ground normally when the orthotics is used. This action of the custom-made orthotics will help to prevent shin splints, ankle sprains, knee and hip pain, lower back pain, nerve entrapments, tendonitis, muscle aches, bunions, generalized fatigue, hammer toes, and calluses.