Like many runners I used to have issues with overpronation. These issues only became a problem on my slow easy longer runs. Tempo runs, race pace, and even marathon pace no issues. But once I slow down to get my easy mpw my feet tend to stay on the ground longer and pronate more. It would get so bad that running "slow" tore up my knees and I would also occasionally get numbness in my right foot/big toe even after running 3 miles.
Ever since I focused on landing and pushing off on the outside of my feet (left side of left foot & right side of right foot) I never have any injury issues. No more toe/foot numbness and my knees feel great. Increased my weekly mileage 50% and never felt better.
This doesn't seem to get talked about enough for the hobby jogger crowd. I also have high arches and Ive read that overpronation is usually a flat foot problem so who knows with me. When I'm running at race pace I don't really have to worry about it because my form automatically becomes better and I must pronate less. I do notice if I focus on it when running faster it does slow me down a small amount, though.
I'd say there's about a 99% chance you will develop some other overuse injury as result of this, very, very soon.
Movements patterns are the result of structural strengths and weaknesses further up the chain. If you simply manually override these patterns (without strengthening particular muscles and tendons), you're just gonna create more problems.
When running, you should be pushing off through your big toe, not the outside of your foot.
My guess is you'll develop peroneal tendinopathy, followed by a knee injury and then ITB syndrome. That's if a metatarsal fracture doesn't strike you down first.
OP, you have correctly identified a problem. Pronation. But your solution isn't optimal. I'm on a tablet and I can't type on a tablet I'll try to explain my answer later when it's daytime here.
This post was edited 2 minutes after it was posted.
OP, you have correctly identified a problem. Pronation. But your solution isn't optimal. I'm on a tablet and I can't type on a tablet I'll try to explain my answer later when it's daytime here.
Okay, I'm not sure I can explain this but I'll try. In slow motion, video show that the foot actually has two impacts when it touches down. The first is when the heel touches and the second is when the forefoot impacts the ground. Over pronation occurs when the 4-ft touches down and the force is so great that it causes the arch to compress and the ankle to rock to the inside. Those two movements done thousands of times during each run can cause all sorts of running related knee problems including the problems you've described.
By focusing on supination, you are tightening the leg muscles and tendons upon impact and that is preventing your overpronation.Conversely, when you're running slowly, you aren't focusing as much on what takes place during impact and as a result the leg muscles are more relaxed and that allows your foot to overpronate.
Also, focusing on supination throughout the entire foot strike results in pushing off with the outside of your foot which isn't as optimal as pushing off with your big toe. You will be slightly slower and eventually you will roll your ankle to the outside... and that can tear tendons.
There's a lot more going on here, but let's just cut to the chase.
You can reduce your tendency to over pronate at slow speeds with certain leg exercises. This should be your first line of attack and it will probably work.
If it doesn't, you can do what I do. Let me explain...
You would also benefit from more padding under the arch. This padding supports the arch upon impact and prevents it from collapsing as much. An off the shelf orthotic like Superfeet Green or Superfeet Black (the racing version with zero cushioning!) will help prevent over pronation.
A cheaper solution is to add some crafts felt or similar material under the arch area of the existing insert. I've been doing this for 30 years in all my shoes. Cut a piece of felt about 1.5 x 2", remove the existing insert, and tape this felt to the bottom of the insert so it will touch the arch area. Add another piece if one is not enough, overlapping them so there is no "hot spot" where the pressure on the arch is greater in one spot than another. There's a bit of trial and error involved. In some shoes, I use one layer of felt. In others, I have to overlap three pieces to get the arch high enough. Since you have high arches, it will probably take more than one.
You'd think so, but no. In my experience, a neutral shoe with a lightweight orthotic is lighter and provides more arch support than a support shoe. All the support shoes I've tried are clunky and seemingly designed for the 200+ lb runner.
For me anyway, the ideal shoe is a rocker soled shoe where the sole starts curving up before the back of the shoe. The result is that the initial impact point is shifted slightly forward in the shoe. That, combined with the rocker sole, slightly reduces the impact force when the forefoot comes down. It's the forefoot impact that's causing the over pronation.
OP, you have correctly identified a problem. Pronation. But your solution isn't optimal. I'm on a tablet and I can't type on a tablet I'll try to explain my answer later when it's daytime here.
Okay, I'm not sure I can explain this but I'll try. In slow motion, video show that the foot actually has two impacts when it touches down. The first is when the heel touches and the second is when the forefoot impacts the ground.
The transition from supination to pronation is part of normal, powerful stride. There’s a chance your cue of ‘staying in supination’ is actually helping you (because you aren’t actually staying in supination and are instead going from supination to pronation like you should, it in a better way than you did before)… but your reasoning isn’t correct.
Ultimately, the “fix” is to be able to control the foot/ankle movement (along with tibia) under load as it’s supinating and pronating. For example, I may get into as much pronation as I can with my tibia internally rotated and some sort of tension ideally pulling me into greater pronation. Then I supinate out of that position (resisting the load). Then once in full supination, I slowly transition back to pronation in a controlled way rather than just letting the tension yank me back.
You'd think so, but no. In my experience, a neutral shoe with a lightweight orthotic is lighter and provides more arch support than a support shoe. All the support shoes I've tried are clunky and seemingly designed for the 200+ lb runner.
For me anyway, the ideal shoe is a rocker soled shoe where the sole starts curving up before the back of the shoe. The result is that the initial impact point is shifted slightly forward in the shoe. That, combined with the rocker sole, slightly reduces the impact force when the forefoot comes down. It's the forefoot impact that's causing the over pronation.
Fair enough. Support shoes have come on even in the time I've been wearing them though. I wouldn't describe the Adrenaline 23s I wear now as clunky, and I'm on the light side (67kg). I respect the DIY philosophy though.
I do already have a recommended orthopedic insert from a running store. Would these random inserts you talked about be better?
Well, maybe, especially since the recommended orthotic you are wearing is NOT correcting your problem. One thing I've noticed about orthotics is that the amount and exact location of support changes with every shoe. An orthotic that works great in one shoe might need significant adjustment to work in another shoe. For me, at least, it's been more effective to adjust every insert to fit the new shoe. I've done it so long now I can usually get it right after a couple of adjustments.
I have a medium height arch. In some off the shelf orthotics, I have to add a piece of felt under the arch to give myself more arch support even though the off the shelf orthotic already has much more lift than the original insert.
How much support I need to prevent my personal foot problems... PF and runner's knee... varies from one model of shoes to the next and even from one model to the next year's model. My right foot also needs more support than my left.
One other point, it's okay to land slightly to the outside of the foot, but by push off, you want to be pushing off the big toe from a relatively neutral position... not pronated or supinated.
I switched to forefoot strike 20 years ago. My right foot lands slightly on the outside. My left foot lands neutral. Switching to forefoot strike eliminated my knee problems and reduced my PF. However, after 20 years of landing flat on my left forefoot, I've developed foot pad atrophy on my left foot! I'm not sure what the takeaway is from that, other than repetive landing in the same position for hundreds of thousands of over the years is likely to eventually cause repetitive motion injuries.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
When running, you should be pushing off through your big toe, not the outside of your foot.
My guess is you'll develop peroneal tendinopathy, followed by a knee injury and then ITB syndrome. That's if a metatarsal fracture doesn't strike you down first.
Spot on. I for some reason thought this was a good idea in high school and had every single injury you listed.