What is supination?
Supination is a natural movement of the foot where the ankle is leaning out (opposite of pronation). When the foot is supinated great caution is required to prevent serious ankle injury from the foot rolling out. Because the foot is typically not used in a supinated position, the muscles preventing it from rolling are generally weaker. A supinated foot is synonymous with weak ankles. _________________________ What causes supination? If your ankles roll out (supinate) when you walk or run, and there is no structural reason for it, you are a hyperpronator (overpronator) in disguise. Supination is often a neuromuscular overcompensation for hyperpronation that causes you to subconsciously favor the outside of your feet in an attempt to minimize hyperpronation. Structural reasons for supination could be injuries, surgery, malformations of the bones from birth. _________________________ What is the impact of supination? Since most supinators are hyperpronators in disguise, they generally suf
Supination is the opposite motion of pronation. A foot is in supination when the ankle appears to be ‘tipped’ to the outside so you are standing on the outside border of the foot. Supination allows the foot to be a more stable, rigid structure for when we push off on our next step. The foot naturally supinates during the toe-off stage (when the heel first lift off the ground until the end of the step) to provide more leverage and to help roll off the toes. Excessive supination predisposes the ankle to injury because the stabilizing muscles on the outside of the lower leg (peroneals) are in a stretched position. It does in not take much force to cause the ankle to roll over, potentially causing ligament damage.
