Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by rule.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Supination/Pronation????

To follow-up on the supination/pronation discussion from last week, I met with a few folks to analyze my running form and technique and I think we discussed a lot of issues and learned a lot. As we studied my left and right foot, it was clear that I'm landing on the outside edge of the mid/forefoot area with both feet. Then I looked at my soles of my racing flats and it was confirmed. There is significant wear and tear on the outside edge of the midfoot area in both feet to the point that there's almost a hole in that area.

I've attached pictures from the race and a picture of the shoe soles.

It appears it is supination (and not pronation). I did more research and it appears that supination places extra stress on the foot and can result in Achilles tendinitis and Plantar Fasciitis . . . exactly the problems I've had ((even with VFFs). Among the remedies it is recommended that you do extra stretching for the calves, hamstrings, quad and IT band. Also, it is recommended to use lightweight trainers/racing flats and do not wear extra support or motion control shoes. At least it is good to hear that from regular shod folks . . . it is encouraging to hear a shod person say "stay away from motion control shoes." It was encouraging to hear them say that supination is natural and although mine is a little more extreme, that I would need to continue to get stronger. No one recommended Orthotics or beefer shoes. Also, jump roping is recommended, which I just started. I'm also very rigid which seems to be a trademark for a pronator (good for speed but not good to avoid injuries).

Since I was looking at my shoes, I looked at my miles on the current pair and I'm almost at 400 miles on my flats . . . they are only 3.6 oz., so that may be a lot of miles for racing flats. I have a few new pair so I'm thinking I should start with a new pair. Traditionally, when I ran in more support motion control shoes, I would move to a new pair around 300 miles so this is the furthest I've gone in terms of miles and it was in light flats.

The bigger issue is that with the minimal cushion and protection of my racing flats, I'm guessing my supination may have also caused an imbalance in the shoe because when I placed my flats on a flat surface, they tilted outward.

HHH

7 comments:

  1. How do I post photos on this blog?

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  3. For your muscles, have you looked into self-myofascial release with a foam roller? It's a simple form of self-massage that can be used to improve your muscles in addition to stretching them.

    Here's an introductory article on it, http://tinyurl.com/o5ky42

    I've recently started it myself, so I can't speak from experience just yet.

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  4. I live with the foam roller. Been using it for years. Among other things, it's great for IT Band/Knee issues. I use is 3x/4x times per week for years. It should help you a lot. I haven't had any knees issues (knock on wood) for years since starting that a few years ago.

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  5. From the 2 times I've used it so far, it feels great on my lower body more than upper. I can really feel it on the IT bands the most, but luckily, it isn't excruciating.

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