Birmingham Sports Physiotherapist's concern of motion control running shoes for overpronators

Birmingham Osteopath and Sports Physiotherapist John Williams from Atlas Pain Relief Centre in Tamworth, Staffordshire has many years experience treating runners and running injuries. Overpronation and poor lower limb biomechanics can lead to many common sports injuries experienced by distance runners.

Running shoes and specialist footwear has evolved to produce an answer to this problem in the form of motion controlled running shoes which provide support and assist in correcting the overpronating foot. This however is not without its faults and can lead to injury problems.

Specialist running shops who sell motion control shoes may have pressure mats or treadmills with video analysis to assist the selection process of the most suitable shoes for individual runners.

Although this service is very valuable to the customer it can convince the customer that their recommended shoes will solve their injury problem or correct their biomechanical faults when running.

Generally running shoes are designed with identical bilateral correction which means that as long as both feet have identical faults then the running shoes could support the feet correctly. As many runners have one foot which pronates more than the other this poses a problem which the running shoes cannot help. Many motion control shoes are prescribed incorrectly for runners and may result in common running injuries.

Motion control shoes that are the exact prescription of the customer and correct the overpronation when fitted can still be the wrong choice!

When biomechanical correction is introduced, the human body detects change and will respond accordingly. You cannot alter one thing without it affecting another area of the body.

In a given 24 hours we may sleep 8 hours and this leaves 16 hours where you are likely to be active. Much of that time you may be weight bearing, standing or walking. During this time you are not wearing corrective footwear so your feet will be allowed to overpronate if you have this problem.

When its time to exercise and go for a run the motion control trainers are put on and immediately your biomechanics are altered. What follows is pure madness as the lower limb muscles are exercised in a plane of motion alien to them. This is like not warming up and stretching before a sprint or hurdle race or practicing driving a car for weeks in preparation for a race then switching to a different car on race day.

Once the run is over and your poor body has struggled to cope and adapt to the biomechanical changes, resulting in muscles pulling at different angles, you take off the shoes and spend the remainder of your weight bearing time in neutral shoes again. This will occur all the time and your lower limb anatomy will be in a constant state of flux, never being able to settle and always working out of its comfort zone.

What is the answer then? Custom prescription orthotics fitted into neutral shoes has to be the answer. Remove the orthotics from your running shoes and place them in your daily footwear and you have some kind of consistency and a chance for your body to adapt and get used to a corrective biomechanical position which will enable you to run without problems. You should not wear correction now and again! Either you need correction or you don’t, make a decision and if you need orthotics, wear them all the time.

There are many types of orthotics from rigid to semi-rigid and soft. Rigid orthotics can be difficult for runners as they have little give when pounding the roads and can be uncomfortable. Too soft and they will not provide enough support. This is very individual and needs consultation with your practitioner.

Orthotics are big business now and many people are fitting them. Some lack experience and fit them incorrectly so be careful who you visit and please do research first.

Tamworth based Atlas Pain Relief Centre have a Sports Injury Clinic in Tamworth Staffordshire and have a Centre of Excellence for runners. Laser foot scanning to map the contours of your feet and produce 3D images which are sent electronically to the USA. The orthotics are manufactured and returned within 10 days providing runners with an excellent opportunity to have the best technology available today.

The orthotic package includes video gait analysis as well as the laser scanning and is carried out by a sports podiatrist who himself is a keen club runner.

Sports injury treatments and injury prevention advice is available at the Tamworth Clinic and details of the services and testimonials from customers can be viewed by visiting www.atlaspainrelief.com