Neutral Pronation??

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Following on from the Overpronation thread and our love of such terms I came across a new one today - 'Neutral Pronation'. Any takers on what it means before you click on the link?

The same article has the gem of a quote: "Shin splints, pain in the knees and legs are attributed to the wrong shoes." Well thats made my clinical life alot easier...

Full story here

 

Oxymoronic foot biomechanics - I'm thinking about patenting it!

Robin

 

Ive not looked but I guess it means something about pronation which occurs but does not cause pain. The so called ´normal´foot

 

Wow! I love this part: "She counsels volunteers to seek help from shoe professionals before starting their training." Of course, who else can diagnose your walking pattern better than a customer? wonder why I studied podiatry instead of working in Foot Locker.

 

Actually that's the best piece of it's type I think I've seen! The neutral pronation is a tiny bit misleading BUT it does mean they've actually evolved from the "pronation bad, neutral good" concept. That's more than a lot of pods have managed!

And a disclaimer at the end that you can't generalise people into "foot types"! Again a revalation LOTS of us have not yet had!!

Not a bad piece!

 

As an adjective, neutral does have many definitions:

adj.
1.Not aligned with, supporting, or favoring either side in a war, dispute, or contest.
2.Belonging to neither side in a controversy: on neutral ground.
3.Belonging to neither kind; not one thing or the other.
4.Sexless; neuter.
5.Chemistry.
a.Of or relating to a solution or compound that is neither acidic nor alkaline.
b.Of or relating to a compound that does not ionize in solution.
6.Physics.
a.Of or relating to a particle, an object, or a system that has neither positive nor negative electric charge.
b.Of or relating to a particle, object, or system that has a net electric charge of zero.
7.Of or indicating a color, such as gray, black, or white, that lacks hue; achromatic.
8.Linguistics. Pronounced with the tongue in a middle position, neither high nor low, as the a in around.

For the layperson, the term "neutral pronation" should really not be a problem. Podiatrists and others who try to understand the term "subtalar joint neutral position"......."neither pronated nor supinated" .....are the ones that are probably more confused??!!:boxing::bash:

 

Having now read the article, I'm not sure how I feel about the term "neutral pronation - I suppose Kevin is right in that anyone who follows the "neither pronated, nor supinated" theory will find this more difficult to digest.

If defining pronation by the amount of arch collapse and foot rolling in, then saying that there is neutral arch collapse and neutral foot rolling in (according to the third definition of neutral on Kevin's list) is essentially correct.

However, the term collapse:-

1. to fall or cave in; crumble suddenly:
2. to be made so that sections or parts can be folded up, as for convenient storage:
3. to break down; come to nothing; fail
4. to fall unconscious or as if unconscious or physically depleted, as from a stroke, heart attack, disease, or exhaustion.
5. Pathology. a. to sink into extreme weakness.
b. (of lungs) to come into an airless state.

...does not sit easily alongside the definitions of neutral when referring to the state of the arch?

Personally, I probably have more of a problem with someone in a sports shop diagnosing"overpronation" based on some 2D walking/running footage with no clinical examination of the foot. If the classification of the foot type is based on such basic parameters, then the term "neutral pronation" is inoffensive and largely meaningless.....in my opinion.

A running shoe has no break-in period. If there's something that doesn't feel right, it's probably not going to go away."

How do people feel about the above quote from the article? What are others views on breaking in periods - with reference to foot orthoses more than trainers.

Robin