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Saturday, January 10, 2015

Varus Wedge from Altra: Help for Pronators

In trying to help patients with over pronation, I use various forms of varus (inverted) wedges to help. Some are attached to a custom or OTC orthotic devices, and some to the shoe insert. Here is a product you can buy with a 3 and 1/2 mm varus wedge. Altra sells both in mens and womens sizes. Remember this amount of canting can produce over a 1/4 inch change at the knee, and up to 1/2 inch change at the hip. So, you have to get used to slowly, and blame any new ache or pain on the wedge. If the varus wedge causes you to over supinate (roll to the outside like minor ankle sprains), it could be very dangerous and should be discontinued in that shoe. Some shoes it will work for, others potentially not. The goal is to move you from pronated to less pronated, or even neutral to slightly inverted, without making you laterally unstable with over supination. So, if you have been told you over pronate, and you want to try this wedge, familiarize yourself with what over supination (aka underpronation) is like (I have videos on my blog), and have a friend (you do have friends?) watch your heel from behind to make sure you are not rolling out too far. Good luck.

http://www.altrarunning.com/fitness/en/Altra/womens-gear/womens-stability-wedge

http://bcove.me/7e0eymzu

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Thank you very much for leaving a comment. Due to my time restraints, some comments may not be answered.I will answer questions that I feel will help the community as a whole.. I can only answer medical questions in a general form. No specific answers can be given. Please consult a podiatrist, therapist, orthopedist, or sports medicine physician in your area for specific questions.