Overpronator or Oversupinator?

When I was still not into running, my friend Ciela mentioned something about having her feet analyzed in a sports store to know whether she overpronates or oversupinate. I never heard about such a thing as pronation and supination in running. I thought it was just a marketing strategy for shoe stores. However, after reading something about it in Running for Fitness, I saw how important it can be for you to know if you overpronate or oversupinate because it will help in the choice of your running shoes. Here's how...

How do you run? It involves two basic movement of the feet. The pronation and supination. Pronation is when the heel hits the ground and the foot naturally rools in from the outside. This helps to absorb the impact of running. On the other hand, supination happens just before the take-off phase of running when the foot rolls back towards the outside. Some people tend to overpronate, that is, their feet roll in too much which makes the knee bend in across the center of the body towards the other leg. In the same way, some people tend to oversupinate, however there are more overpronators in the population than oversupinators. Overpronation and oversupination can cause injuries like stress in the ankle and Achilles tendon, knee pain, hip strains, torn hamstrings, pain in the lower back and overuse injuries.

So how do you check for overpronation? Again, let me lift it right from the page of the book:

1) Stand in front of a full-length mirror, barefoot, on one leg, with your hands behind your back, and your toes facing forwards;

2) Keeping your pelvis level and your back straght, slowly bend the leg on which you are standing;

3) Your knee should go straight forwards, over your second toe. If it bends in towards the other leg, past the big toe, then you probably over-pronate when you run.

N.B. There is also a hi-tech way of doing this. I just recently visited an Adidas store in Trinoma and I asked if they can diagnose if I overpronate. They made me run over a huge tablet which was connected to a computer and that registered my foot imprint as it landed on the tablet. I am glad to know that I am one of the fortunate ones who run in a neutral way.

Now, how does this relate to your footwear? Would you believe that there are now different categories of running shoes depending on whether you are an overpronator or oversupinator?

Check out my next blog entry on There are Different Types of Running Shoes?!