What is underpronation?

I grew up with a mother who worked on her feet a lot. And as many of us who work on our feet know, it can make them complain. Over her career my mother tried to keep her feet happy and went the rout of arch supports, insoles, etc. Growing up I thought of my mom as all knowing- kind of like this song from Disney's Tangled: Mother Knows Best. I love you Mom, you did teach me what you knew and thought was right.

But, because she believed arch supports and insoles where so important so did I. And because having good shoes is one of the key parts of running, I took arch supporting to the extreme with stabilizing pronation control shoes with added stiff cork high arch supports inside. This is what I ran on for years- from my freshman year track season in high school to my sophomore year of college at least. I'm discovering now that in my attempt to preemptively prevent injuries I may have caused some- possibly some of my achillies tendinopathy, and certainly my sprained ankles, because I land so far on the outside of my foot. I have forced my feet to change from neutral or possibly very slight over pronation (which probably would have improved on its own as I got stronger in running) to, at times, extreme supination or under pronation.


So, is there a right amount of pronation? There certainly is something to strive for. Your feet affect the use of joints and muscles as well as the impact on the rest of your body. Therefore normal pronation, which perhaps should be called ideal pronation, is an important part of an efficient runner's form.

Pronation is the inward rolling movement of the foot as it supports your body weight and absorbs shock. Ideally for normal pronation the arch should only roll, or compress, about fifteen percent in order to help you push off evenly from the front of the foot. The size of a runner's arch can affect its ability to roll. If you have a "normal arch" (indicated in the picture above), you're likely a normal pronator.

I definitely do believe that arch supports have a valuable place in low activity footwear for walking. And I wont deny that my feet feel so much happier when I put on my high arch supporting Birkenstocks. But, I think for now I'm gunna let my feet do what they want to while running, without the extra support. There's got to be a way to work with your feet instead of against them. Our body and feet have evolved over thousands of years, and humans where running long before high-tech shoes where invented. I'm not completely a minimal forefoot running convert. I don't know if my lower legs could handle it after all I have forced them to do over the course of approximately six years. But the research I've done on this topic suggests that as long as I make some transitions slowly I can become a healthier, less ridged and more efficient runner.

For an awesome article on foot mechanics, see this article by the British Journal of Sports Medicine brought to my attention by a Facebook post from my mother today. Thanks Ma! It uses a lot of scientific jargon but it's an informative read about the differences between running and walking and the roll the arch of our foot plays in our evolution. The article suggests foot exercises and addresses the barefoot minimalist shoes idea.

So, what is under pronation?

I found this really awesome RW video HERE.  It seems kind of crazy to me, to watch this video and notice that the runners muscle development is shaped so much like mine. Imagine that, foot strike shapes muscle formation! Click the link to read the full length article. It describes all styles of pronation and, by reading you can determine your own pronation type too!


I bought my last pair of shoes right after moving to Charlotte. That was a year an a half ago! While I haven't done any long term training plan in them, I have been a recreational runner averaging probably 1-2 runs a week over that time in them. Getting new shoes was long overdue. I've heard shoes should last up to 6 months or 500 miles. I'm certain I've exceeded both of those marks.

Inside of the fore foot doesn't touch the ground anymore

Wear is more noticeable along the outside edges

Each foot/shoe supinates differently

Choosing a pair of new shoes recently was very stressful for me. I discovered there are actually shoes made for people who supinate. Duh, there's a product for everything. But I had to decide how to choose shoes to aid in my transition to a more natural running gait.

Attributes of stability control shoes I'm trying to steer away from:

• Stability shoes have a thick ridged foam or plastic piece as part of the shoes sole under the arch of your foot. It prevents the inside part of the shoe from compressing over the use of the shoe and it holds up the arch to prevent over pronation. 
• Varying degrees of stability shoes are meant to have the runner heel strike. They have an angle cut into the outside edge of the heel intended to help your foot track through each foot strike, from the outside of your heel through to the middle toe at push off.
• Due to stability and motion control properties of these shoes your foot may not be able to bend and flex as it naturally should because the shoe is inflexible.
• Because stability shoes are intended for the runners wearing them to be heel strikers there is often a LOT of padding under the heel which causes the shoes to almost be like high heels. The idea is that having a higher heel will take strain off the achillies and calves. But this is not the natural evolutionary intent for our running form.

How do I transition slowly enough to prevent fatigue or injury from my body getting used to less structure in my shoes? How do I choose a shoe that will hold up to the mileage I plan to put in them between now and September when I run the half marathon? When buying my newest pair of running shoes last week, I struggled with deciding how light and flexible, how soft and squishy, how low the heel drop (diff in height between ball of foot and heel in sole thickness), and how neutral to go.

I ended up choosing an Asics gell-evate 2. The brand Asics is now slightly scary to me because that's what I have been wearing for most of my running career. I have a negative association with the brand and the over compensating I've been doing. But these shoes are neutral, even slightly supination minded shoes. I will not put my stiff cork insoles in them and we'll see what my foot does naturally. These Asics shoes are not as flexible or squishy as I'd hoped, nor do they have a lower heel drop but, I felt that they would be more durable than some of the other soft foam easy flexing shoes that I tried on. These shoes are a small step in the right direction and I'll meet more of the natural foot movement enabling criteria with my next pair. Hopefully a fresh start will reduce imbalances.