So is pronation just a flattening of the arch? In many respects, yes. You can say that a pronated foot is a flat foot. But you have to remember that there's a number of different medical conditions that result in pronation. What we'll be focusing on treating in this blog post are the cases of simple flat feet that result in foot fatigue.

Pronation - treatment options

Last week I asked the guys at work what they wanted to learn about and Gina had a good suggestion.  She said, "what about products that treat this" - she took her hand, palm down and tipped it side to side.  I knew right off what she was interested in. Frontal plane pathology (my kind of girl).

The reference points for human anatomy begin with the cardinal planes.  There are three cardinal planes.  When we speak of the frontal plane we're referring to an imaginary line that would pass from shoulder to shoulder and from hip to hip.  If you're facing a glass door, the glass represents the frontal plane.  Motion can be described along the frontal plane.  When we speak of the motion of the foot in the frontal plane, we call it pronation and supination.  Pronation often refers to the flattening of the arch while supination describes the creation of a higher arch.  Be sure to follow each of the links for more information on these topics.  In this blog post, we'll talk a bit about products we use to treat pronation.

So is pronation just a flattening of the arch?  In many respects, yes.  You can say that a pronated foot is a flat foot.  But you have to remember that there's a number of different medical conditions that result in pronation.  What we'll be focusing on treating in this blog post are the cases of simple flat feet that result in foot fatigue.

So how do we treat pronation?  There are several categories of products on our website that can be used to treat pronation. Those categories include arch cookies, arch supports, and heel wedges.  Arch cookies were traditionally used as a solution for children's shoes.  But for mild cases of pronation, an arch cookie can be a great solution.  Arch cookies can be used by adults to treat mild pronation.  Arch cookies fit well into dress shoes and Oxfords.  The only limitation with arch cookies is that the shoe has to have a firm medial wall on which the arch cookie can be fixed.

Pronation - adhesive-backed arch cookies

Examples of adhesive-backed arch cookies include -

Examples of non-adhesive, self-adherent arch cookies include -

Pronation - treatment with arch supports

What's the old reliable in terms of treating pronation?  That's the arch support.  Arch supports come in a lot of different makes and models.  For instance, where one arch support might be good for sports, another might be good for dress shoes.  Be sure to look at our complete line of arch supports for more examples of what might fit your particular needs.

Just a few of our arch supports include -

The last category of products used to treat pronation is heel wedges.  Although not typically considered a power-house of arch support, many customers use our heel wedges to control pronation.  Heel wedges are simple to use and are often used in conjunction with an insole.

Pronation - treatment with heel wedges

Examples of heel wedges include -

In the next blog post, we'll take a peek at how to treat the other frontal plane deformity, supination.

Jeff

Jeffrey A. Oster, DPM
Medical Advisor
Myfootshop.com

Updated 12/27/19