Pronation: What Is It and Why Is It Important

When we talk about pronation, we get a lot of concerned looks from our patients. 20 years ago, we thought this was the worst word in the world and that it only caused pain while running. But it’s actually very important for running; it’s just a matter of how much your foot pronates. 

By definition, ankle pronation is the combined motions of ankle eversion, dorsiflexion, and abduction when your foot hits the ground. When pronation occurs when walking and running, your foot is “softening up” and adapting to the ground so that you have a smooth transition throughout your stride. You actually WANT your foot to pronate. So this scary phenomenon is not the cause of pain and discomfort, right? Well, the answer to that is complex.

You see, when your foot pronates, it then has to supinate by “stiffening” your foot back up to allow for an efficient propulsion or “push off” of your foot from the ground. If your foot OVER pronates, it will have to do more work to propel your foot off the ground, potentially leading to overuse in the foot and ankle and cause injuries like plantar fasciitis and shin splints. And it doesn’t stop at the foot and ankle. If you need additional support to push your foot off the ground, your knee and hip can also overcompensate due to your foot not functioning properly and cause overuse injuries higher up the chain.

On the other side of the spectrum, if your foot UNDER pronates, then it is not adapting well to the ground beneath you, causing you to use more of your stability muscles in your ankle and hip since it is too “stiff.” The overuse of muscles that should not be used in certain phases of your stride are what can lead to injury as training continues.

Moral of the story: you want your foot to have the PROPER amount of pronation so you can have an efficient stride with each step throughout training.

Now, there can be numerous reasons why too much or lack of pronation occurs, whether that is from your own body mechanics or improper shoe wear. Good thing our PTs work with this action of the foot on a daily basis. If you’ve been having pain and find it difficult to continue training because of it, give us a call and we can address not only the injury itself, but the CAUSE of the injury to prevent it from coming back in future training cycles and later in life.