What is overpronation of the foot?

The concept of overpronation gets a substantial amount of dialogue in athletic and sports medical groups and there's a incredible amount of confusion and misinformation about that. Pronation is a normal movement where the rearfoot moves inwards and the arch of the foot flattens. Everybody requires this motion for normal function. Overpronation is when there exists an excessive amount of that motion. The matter is that there is absolutely no general opinion regarding what is normal and what is excessive. The rationale as to why it is important is that overpronation has been in theory related to a whole variety of excessive use injuries in athletes. Given that lack of evidence as to exactly what is normal, the science is quite confusing about this. Some studies have shown that overpronation, no matter how you elect to determine it, is a risk factor for an overuse injury. Many other scientific studies have demostrated that it’s not.

Previously athletic shoes were used based on how much a feet pronated. Those who overpronated may get a running shoe that has been built to handle that abnormal motion. Those who had more normally aligned feet would've been provided a more neutral running shoe. Athletes with too much of the opposite motion could have been sold running footwear with a lot more impact moderation. While this is still widespread inside the running shoe industry, the research evidence does not support that approach.

Should there be a number of studies for a theme which are unclear and confusing then experts want to do systematic reviews and meta-analyses that is supposed to be a cautious review of all of the research without having any opinion. Only the better scientific studies should be within the analysis that should weight the standard of the study. When these kinds of analyses are carried out on the matter of overpronation in runners chances are they usually conclude that, yes, overpronation is definitely a risk factor for a running injury in runners, however it is only a small risk factor. It is still statistically important. These outcomes additionally report that there are plenty of other factors than overpronation which might be a risk for a running injury.

This does leave the entire concept debatable with a lot of misunderstandings. Overpronation is really a small risk factor for an overuse injury, but the prescribing of running footwear based on pronation is just not backed up. This really is baffling for health care professionals in terms of just how much attention can they place on the overpronation when it comes to the treating of a running injury or do they place much more emphasis on the other aspects. With the athletic shoes suppliers might they continue to market running footwear in line with the pronation model? It's still one of the most frequently used approach and runners learn about it in their running mags plus they do expect it. Usually runners usually do not care what the scientific data demonstrates. They just want to get much better from their injury and they just want running footwear which enables them to run much better and is more comfortable. Far more investigation must be carried out on this plus much more training is needed on the principle.