Overpronation, also known as supination is a condition where the weight of the individual’s foot strikes only the outer portion of their foot. As a result of this condition, the leg will compensate and alter its shape by bending outward. This is commonly referred to as being “bow legged” and it involves the leg, as mentioned before, bending outward and thus makes the appearance of a bow. The angle of the leg opens inward and this condition can cause inflammation of the knee and hips. This inflammation in turn causes incredible pain and can cause other conditions such as Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis and Iliotibial band syndrome.

These conditions all are all essentially the result of poor weight distribution along the foot. In the case of overpronation, by placing the weight only on a few contact points with the ground, the rest of the weight above the ankles is in turn placed inappropriately. Humans are fairly unique in that they stand and walk on two legs. We use our feet for practically every motion during the day and out bodies are designed exactly to do so. However, due to a variety of situations, we place the weight of our feet inappropriately along the foot. Poorly designed insoles on the shoes we buy, or poor shoe design in general (wagging the finger at you, high heels) can make artificially distribute the weight of the body in all of the worst possible points of the foot.

Custom orthotic insoles go a great distance toward fixing those issues. By taking the weight of the foot and redistributing it along a more efficient layout, the areas of the foot that were previously overused are then relaxed, and the areas which were previously underused are then more efficiently utilized. This goes a long way toward helping to alleviate a number of foot related issues. Additionally, doctors and podiatrists typically will suggest custom insoles as their first stop toward providing relief for their patients.

Custom orthotic or orthopedic insoles go a long way toward helping relieve the effects of overpronation. Furthermore, they provide a variety of other benefits as well, namely, odor resistance! As a result of the fact that insoles are typically made of EVA foam material, they provide a degree of odor resistance. Therefore, for runners and athletes, this is an amazing bonus in the efforts to provide relief for their loved ones at the end of the day!