Executives in the athletic shoe industry are always looking for new ways to market their product, but the recent surge in “motion-controlled” shoes that limit foot pronation may actually be doing more harm than good.
The new motion-controlled athletic shoes were created to correct the inward-tilting motion of the legs after they make contact with the ground (also known as pronation) while running. Some running “experts” claimed pronation was the reason some runners were experiencing injuries, but recent studies have proved otherwise. Numerous studies in the past five years have found:
- Normal pronation is not linked to an increase in injuries; and
- Runners with pronated feet do not preform better in motion-controlled shoes.
Dutch Study
The latest study to refute the benefits of motion-controlled shoes comes from the Netherlands.
In their study, researchers tracked 927 beginner runners for 12 months after they began a running regimen. Physiotherapists categorized each runner as highly supinated, supinated, neutral, pronated, or highly pronated. They were all asked to wear the same neutral shoe – the Adidas Supernova Glide 3 – while they ran. Runners reported any injuries as they occurred.
Researchers found:
- “No significant risk differences between highly supinated, supinated, pronated, and highly pronated feet compared with the neutral feet.”
- The percentage of runners who suffered an injury over the course of the year based on their running styles were: highly supinated (24.5%), supinated (17.9%), neutral feet (17.4%), pronated feet (13.1%) and highly pronated (33.3%). Authors noted that few people in the study had highly pronated feet, which may have limited study data.
“The results of the present study negate the importance of foot posture, especially moderate foot pronation, as a strong indicator of injury among novice runners,” researchers concluded. “Clinicians should focus on guidance in training distance, duration, and intensity rather than guidance in shoe selection on the basis of foot posture.”
Dr. Silverman comments
It’s about time that this notion promoted by so many gets debunked.
The action “pronation” is actually a complex coordinated event that is natural in the foot to accommodate to uneven ground and refers to what appears to be a flattening of the arch. The action “supination” is a complex coordinated event that is natural in the foot to create strong push off forces and propel us forward with a stiffened higher arch.
When “experts” use the term loosely they are essentially using the word to describe the arch position when standing. Basically, they describe a standing foot with a flat arch as pronated, and an arched foot as being supinated.
The terminology is used incorrectly, and it’s a ridiculous premise in the first place. We don’t know what the perfect foot is, thus hypothesizing that “a pronated foot” leads to more injuries is the height of ridiculousness. Not only is the wording incorrect and nonsensical, the logic is faulty and based on pseudoscience.
Thank goodness someone is starting to call out the obvious.
Related source: Runner’s World
