Stuck in pronation? Try this!

If you’ve been following me for a while, then you know pronation (ie. the foot rolling in/flat-footedness) is not bad. It’s a very important phase of walking and running. It’s the shock absorption phase, and runners who have difficulty pronating (ie. are stuck in high arches/can’t flatten their arch) are actually at an increased risk of injury compared to those who pronate. Some research is even suggesting that being flat-footed may be a necessary compensation for endurance running, to help absorb even more shock every time you land.

So we need pronation. We just do not want to be stuck in pronation all of the time! Someone smarter than me has referred to pronation like a bank robbery: you get in and you get out. You want it at foot strike, but you don’t still want to be pronated at toe off (as you are pushing away from the ground). At this point of walking and running, you want to be supinated. In other words, when you are pushing away from the ground is when you need to have an arch in your foot- you don’t still want to be flat-footed here. A lot of people who are over-pronated at toe off tend to spin their foot out to help with propulsion instead, and, because of this, roll over their big toe and end up with a bunion.

Time for self-assessment

For a lot of people, their foot issues are being caused by their hips. Flat-footedness very often is due to an inability to tension adequately through the gluteal (hip) muscles. You can try this now: if you stand up with feet hip distance apart and squeeze your glutes (butt muscles), most of you will feel you can create an arch in your foot. For some people, this is hard enough and they don’t feel anything! They tend to squeeze their butt sphincter like they’re holding in a poop rather than actually squeezing the hip muscles. This may be your first problem. Learn to use your glutes- sucking in your sphincter ain’t gonna help your running! It may also be a positional issue. If you’re someone who is prone to “swayback” postures or increased lumbar lordosis, 

then you may not be able to feel your glutes in this position because they aren’t in a position they can actually work! Tuck your tailbone under like you are weeing over a fence and try again.

Now find the bony bits on the side of your hips (what we call your greater trochanter). It may be a pain point for you- a lot of runners get bursitis here. Now feel again: as you squeeze your butt muscles that bony bit actually moves. As you squeeze your butt, it will roll backwards. You might notice that one side doesn’t move as well as the other. For most people, the foot that is more pronated (more flat-footed) will be the side that doesn’t move as well here.

Which makes total sense: if your greater trochanter can’t move backwards, it is indicating your hip has a hard time externally rotating. External rotation is largely driven by your glute max and is what creates the environment so that your foot can supinate/create an arch! After all, supination is a triplanar motion, involving adduction, inversion and plantar flexion. External rotation of the glute max helps externally rotate the knee via it’s attachments to the ITB, which attaches to tibialis anterior at the lateral tibial condyle. Tibialis anterior then helps produce inversion. This is the spiral line in Thomas Myer’s Anatomy Trains.

Now bring your awareness to your heels and try squeezing your butt again. You might find that, all of a sudden, that greater trochanter moves a lot more easily underneath your fingers. Perfect! Again, makes total sense: when you load through your heel, you activate more of your posterior chain and help initiate hip extension and hip external rotation (they are all coupled motions, meaning they all work together during functional activity such as walking and running).

How this self-awareness translates to better running

So here’s my offering to you to explore: when you are running, as you approach toe-off on that leg, focus on extending through that hip joint and feel that greater trochanter rotate back. Yes, I said focus on hip extension not on external rotation. But put your hand on the greater trochanter to notice that motion. OR, if that isn’t working for you, bring your awareness to your heel as you push-off. This will help get more propulsion through your posterior chain and hip muscles. Don’t over-emphasise any change; just by bringing your awareness to places you may notice that a change naturally occurs. Remember, when changing running technique, less is more and it should feel different/better immediately!

If you do this, you will notice that your foot finally begins to free itself from that constantly pronated state. You will begin to retrain supination- not all the time, only during the phases of gait when you need it. You might notice less pressure on your big toe when you run, less calf or hip tension or even less pain afterwards in your big toe, foot, knee and hip.

Found this useful? Let me know by commenting below or emailing me! This is why the Embodied Runner program was created: so that you can feel how your body works together when you run and you gain the wisdom to be able to fix your own injuries! It’s 8 weeks of deep-diving into lessons just like this one. We would love to have you.

Embody the change you wish to see.