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Your feet are the only thing that touches the ground as you run. That means that all those ground reaction forces travel through there first. Your feet are the key to loading effectively into midstance and propelling efficiently through toe-off.
The foot and ankle comprise of 26 bones, 33 joints, over 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments, and thousands of nerve endings.
The foot was made to sense the ground and MOVE!
The foot is a triangle. Triangles are considered to be the strongest shape because they can distribute weight evenly across a structure, allowing it to support heavy loads.
The foot was made to be STRONG!
Pronation and supination are off though of as positions of the foot:
Pronation:
Lowered arch
“Flat foot”
Foot Spreads
Longer
Wider
Supination:
Higher arch
Rigid foot
Foot contracts
Shorter
Narrower
We want both of those qualities at different points in your stride.
Therefore, I prefer to think of pronation and supination as ACTIONS.
With every step, your foot pronates into midstance. That action spreads your foot and lowers your arch, helping you put force into the ground (and kicking off a chain reaction up the body to do the same).
Then, from midstance, your foot supinates through toe-off. The arch comes back up, and the big toe extends, activating the windlass mechanism for a nice, rigid level to push off from.
We NEED both!
We call it pronation and supination, but it’s reciprocal rotation at the foot.
We sometimes (mistakenly) think of pronation as the arch “falling” in. While the arch lowers and lengthens with true (good) pronation, it all begins with internal rotation. This is where we get actual lengthening of the foot surface and can put the most effective force into the ground. Then with supination, we have external rotation. External rotation, coupled with big toe extension provides a nice rigid lever for an efficient toe-off.
You can read all about this reciprocal rotation all the way up and down the chain here.
Again, the shape of the foot is a triangle. Triangles are considered to be the strongest shape because they can distribute weight evenly across a structure, allowing them to support heavy loads.
Let’s talk a little bit more about that triangle, which in the foot we refer to as the “tripod,” whose sides are made up of three arches:
The medial arch - the one we can often see lower and rebound with pronation and supination, respectively
The transverse arch - technically a series of arches spreading across the foot; here, we will focus on the portion spreading across all the head of the metatarsals (the ball of the foot)
The lateral arch - the flatter arch on the outside of the foot
Ideally the foot tripod interacts with the ground as the widest tripod possible, aka. Be able to ground and lengthen through the full transverse arch - the ball of the foot under the baby toe all the way to the ball of the foot under the big toe.
In my experience, that’s not always the case.
Try this with me:
Stand with your feet about hip-width apart and cross your arms across your chest.
Rotate as far as you can to the right and then to the left.
Repeat a few times and notice how the ball of your foot is interacting with the ground.
When you rotate all the way to the right, do you still feel the ball of yourright foot under the big toe (point A) on the ground or does it lift off a bit? Do you still feel the ball of yourleft foot under the baby toe (point B) on the ground or does it lift off a bit?
When yourotate all the way to the left, do you still feel the ball of yourleft foot under the big toe (point A) on the ground, or does it lift off a bit? Do you still feel the ball of yourright foot under the baby toe (point B) on the ground or does it lift off a bit?
If you lose contact with either of those points, you are likely dealing with a “narrowed” tripod.
With a narrowed tripod, it’s going to be harder to fully pronate, apply force to the ground, and manage the forces the ground exerts on you.
Often, especially with Morton’s Toe (where the 2nd toe is longer than the big toe), the transverse arch is narrowed, spreading only to the met head under the 2nd toe instead of the big toe.In many cases, this is accompanied by numbness or a burning feeling in the ball of the foot.
Whether it’s the chicken or the egg, a narrow tripod often results in a foot that simply everts (rolls in) and inverts (rolls out) instead of pronates and supinates.
So what, now what?
Work on widening that transverse arch!
Use toe spacers to spread your transverse arch.I love these ones from Spacer Mobility. Use thisTransverse Arch Mobility Drill to create the mobility needed to widen that tripod.
Use the props talked about at the end of theStep Up with Tibial Rotation Drill to maintain your nice wide tripod while moving in and out of pronation through rotation.
We aren’t meant to be stuck in an overly cushioned shoe all day, and we aren’t meant to stand barefoot on hard, flat surfaces either.
Give your feet interesting surfaces! Walk barefoot in grass, sand, pebbles, or river rock. When standing around on flat surfaces, consider using the Spacer Mobility Rock Mat to give your feet more proprioceptive input.
Of course your feet aren’t acting in isolation with this. It’s happening up with corresponding movement all the way up the chain.
True pronation happens as a full-body event in mid-stance, where the center of mass is oriented over the stance leg.
anterior (front) pelvic floor contraction WITH length in the posterior (back) pelvic floor
internal rotation at the pelvis, length in the glutes
center of mass is organized over the stance leg (internal obliques on that side working)
max TRUE pronation
For feet that move well, you need to be able to stand over your foot (stack) and stand on one foot (rotate).
That means thatthings like plantar fasciitis are not just a foot problem!
If there is one thing I’ve learned from posting about running on social media over the years, it’s that runners LOVE to talk about their shoes (gear in general, but shoes in particular).
Yes, I too LOVE a new pair of running shoes (planning to invest in a new super shoe soon, actually).
Yes, supportive footwear does have its place. I talk through some good shoe criteria here.
But, the “right” shoes are not the be-all and end-all.
With everything above we can look at this from a both/and perspective.
The feet play a critical role in running, absorbing forces, supporting body weight, and propelling the body forward. Pronation and supination are dynamic full-body actions, involving internal and external rotation, essential for effective running.
Training your feet in the context of your stride and what’s going in the rest of your body is exactly what we do with The Foot Fix.
The premiere rehab program is designed specifically for female runners struggling with plantar fasciitis, numbness and burning, Achilles issues, and chronically tight ankles and calves.
Finally, stop having to constantly adjust your running volume to try and manage your symptoms. Address the underlying cause, ditch your symptoms for good, and make real, consistent, forward progress!
Click here to learn more about The Foot Fix.
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