What Are the Causes of Overpronation When Running?

For runners who suffer from leg fatigue, shin splints, bone sprains and sore painful muscles and joints it may be possible this is caused by overpronation of the foot. Overpronation is caused by weak muscles, and even though running may irritate the condition, there are ways to treat it. Recognizing the symptoms and treating the overpronation while running will reduce the chances of injury and allow you to run normally and pain free.

Symptoms

• Foot injury

  Signs of overpronation while running include pain in the joints of your lower leg,like your knees, ankles and toes. Others are ankle and foot sprains, plantar fascitis, shin splints, arch pain, and heal pain from heel spurs. Plantar fascitis is thick swollen tissue in the heal of the foot. Flat feet, hammer toes,tendonitis and osteochondrosis are other symptoms along with bunions, corns and calluses. The muscles and body parts are sore to the touch. The pain from these symptoms is present and most painful when participating in athletic activities or running, and the pain begins to decrease slowly with time.

Physical Appearance

• Pigeon toed

  The visible characteristics of overpronation include the heels of your feet turning toward the inside of the body, and your knees also turning inward. Walking flat-footed is also a noticeable sign, and while running and walking you will roll your feet inward.

  If you have pronation, you will wear the soles of your shoes out easily and quickly, and you may look pigeon toed while walking.

Causes

• Overpronation can be caused while an infant is developing in the womb, or it can develop later. The shoes you wear play a large role on developing overpronation, especially for someone who wears high heals or shoes with little arch support for long periods. These shoes will cause the muscles and tissues of the feet to get weak, and the foot will then begin to turn inward.

Treatment

• To treat overpronation while running the runner will either use inserts or specially created orthodontic shoes. The inserts for overpronation can be prescribed by a physician or picked up at local sporting goods store.

  Physical therapy is another treatment option. Therapy can help strengthen the muscles of the foot and ankle to keep the foot straight, and to prevent it from turning inward. A physician can examine the foot and determine if physical therapy would be beneficial to the patient or not.