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PRONATION SNEAKERS AND PRONATION
SHOES CAN WORSEN THE PRONATED FOOT.
THE HYPERPRONATION OCCURS.
WHY IS THERE SO MUCH WORRY ABOUT
ABNORMAL PRONATION. DOESN'T HYPERSUPONATION,
ABNORMAL SUPONATION, HYPOPRONATION (ALL
ARE SIMILAR TERMS) SOMETIMES RESULT IN A LACK
OF THE BODY TO ABSORB SHOCK POSSIBLY RESULTING
IN INJURY, LACK OF AN ABILITY TO PARTICIPATE IN
SPORTS, ETC.....?
I believe that a certain degree of pronation is normal,
if the foot is it's optimum position during the gait cycle.
If too much supination is present then the foot does not
pronate, the heel does not evert when it should, and the
internal rotation of the leg does not occur. If the leg does not
internally rotate then the knee cannot flex. The knee flexion
is needed to absorb shock. Thus abnornal foot function
possibly can cause other problems in the body for which your
medical doctor can examine, diagnose and treat. A podiatrist
can treat the abnormal supination which I believe is the
foot not pronating when it should.
An example of "abnormal supination" which is
also known by me as "hypersupination" or "hypopronation"
can be found by the gait analysis of a patient and also
from the findings of your static exam. ( Generally the findings
of a static exam should confirm the findings of a
gait analysis of biomechanics occuring in the foot. Please
keep in mind that there are triplanal suprastructural
influences that influence the foot and the foot can
compensate either normally or abnormally. There is
normal and abnormal compensation occuring in the foot). At
the New York College of Podiatric Medicine I learned that
when the subtalar joint is held in it's neutral position, and the
longitudinal axis of the midfoot is maximally pronated
especially in the frontal plane, then the first metatarsal
phalangeal joint is relatively plantarflexed with regards to the
other metatarsal heads. The abnormal compensation that
occurs if this joint is rigid but not flexible causes the rearfoot
to abnormally supinate ( a great deal of motion is occuring on
the frontal plane during this abnormal supination) at that
point in the gait cycle when it should be pronating. Again
pronation of the rearfoot is where the calcaneous everts and
dorsiflexes and the talar head is plantarflexing. With this in
mind, the leg does not internally rotate as it normally should
and the knee cannot flex and so there is a decreased ability
for the knee joint to absorb shock. I believe the knee was the
major shock absorber. I believe this could possibly lead to
ankle and foot inversion sprains and injuries especially during
certain sports. All this is only some of what I learned while I
was a student at the NYCPM. I am very grateful to all my
teachers at NYCPM for all that they taught me. All my
teachers there were mostly podiatrists who have given me
the biomechanical knowledge that enabled me to better treat
my patients. Please understand that there are other theories
in the orthopedic texts. For example, when the calcaneous
everts, the foot becomes more rigid.
This is totally the opposite of what I learned at
NYCPM. (I believe theory in general can be very
interesting. However, every runner, patient with a
biomechanical fault is a seperate clinical patient.
Through trial and error even the use of felt propperly
placed in one's shoes or sneakers can dramatically affect
gait.)
I am now looking to see if certain sneakers, shoes
or orthotics can help accomodate such abnormal supination.