Should you use MOTION CONTROL shoes to prevent PRONATION and INJURY as a RUNNER? Hey guys
its JP and this a question I have gotten from some runners and coaches, so I figured Id
elaborate a little more on it and make a video on it. Also, I know you guys have been asking
for more shoe related content, so Ill start getting into more of that.
Anyway, for those who dont know, foot pronation seems to get a pretty bad reputation in the
running community. There are plenty of people that tend to associate pronation with injury
risk; therefore, they justify getting motion control shoes to PREVENT that movement, which
would result in PREVENTING injury. Now, while this reasoning can initially sound pretty
logical...is it actually true?... The SHORT answer is NO!
There are a few incorrection assumptions that arise from that kind of statement, so I will
talk about what they are and why it may not be true. First, that statement may depict
pronation as bad thing...but actually, pronation is a NATURAL movement of the foot. This kind
of movement may help the foot absorb and distribute forces as weight is placed on it as you run.
Now, another is the thought that pronation itself causes injury. Based on some reasearch
from Nielsen and colleagues, they looked at the relationship of pronation and running
injuries. It has shown there is no conclusive evidence to say that pronation alone may be
responsible for running related injuries. How this can be interpreted is that while
overpronation could possibly play a role in the biomechanical loading involving injury
where the forces would exceed capacity of the structure to withstand those forces, there
are just much bigger pieces of the puzzle that may contribute to causing an injury...such
as structural integrity like when there was a previous injury in the area...and things
like the intensity and frequency of your running.
Another is the thought of getting motion control shoes because you have flat feet. This also
might not intially make sense why Im challenging this as the reasoning behind that statement
could be rationale since..If you have flat feet, your foot may end up overpronating,
and that may lead to injury. I want to challenge that thought that flat feet correlates with
overpronation a little more. Based on some research from Langley and colleagues looking
at static foot posture, which is basically when you are looking at the foot when it is
not moving vs. how the foot actually moves during running. This has shown that whether
or not you have a high arch, regular arch, or a flat foot...this does not determine how
much pronation that actually occurs as you run. You can basically have a flat foot and
not have much pronation going on...OR you can have a high arch and actually have tons
of it going on. This may also help explain another research paper, which was a large
meta analysis looking at around 7000 people that looked at the relationship of selecting
a shoe type, which included motion control, stability, and cushioned shoes, based on the
persons arch height. This study also conluded that choosing a shoe type based on arch height
may not decrease risk of runing related injuries.
Now, are motion control shoes TOTALLY USELESS? Not necessarily. The stiffness in the shoe
may help decrease pain when running if someone has increased irritability with movement within
the foot. If this is the case, the shoe may end up feeling more comfortable when you run
compared to other shoes, which is actually something I factor in when trying to pick
the best shoe for you. Instead of getting too focused on foot posture, try to find what's
most comfortable for you to run in! Nowadays, you can try out a shoe for a trial period
and take it out for a test run. Based on research from Mohr and colleagues, finding what's comfortable
may actually help with training and performance for most runners.
And thats it for the video. I hope you guys found this useful! Let me know of you'd like
more shoe related content for runners! And as always, Thank you for Watching!