Pronation in shoe wear

Question

I have recently started running and bought myself a pair of running shoes, but from what I've been told, I need to make sure they are the right fit for me. I've been reading about pronation and I've come to learn that my shoe wear is different from left to right. Could someone help me out and offer advice as to what kind of shoe to buy in terms of neutral, over pronation, or under pronation when you have a mix of the two. I seem to have neutral wear in one foot (right foot) but over pronation (left foot) in the other. I have come across asics and they seem to have shoes that you can wear if you are both neutral/over pronation according to their pronation guide, but not sure how this works if my feet are different from one another. I should also mention that after a wet test, both feet look neutral to me which is surprising I thought. I have had a knee injury recently on my left leg and an ankle injury on my right leg. Both times pain was gone in a day or two. Regarding my knee injury, I am not sure if it is a result of running (didn't feel any pain during my run until a few hours after) or because I sometimes sit on my leg when seated at a chair.

Here is a diagram I drew up showing wear in my shoes:

Answer 1

In most cases, it is not as much the feet being physically significantly different in structure as it is the leg length and imbalance in leg muscles causing slightly different movements in different feet. These issues result in an inefficient running gait even if there's nothing wrong with the feet.

You can do the following to help fix the problem -

1. Check for leg muscle imbalances - Most people have a stronger right leg than left and they tend to unconsciously leverage it by pushing harder on it or using the left leg at angles different from the right leg. In many cases some leg muscles are stronger on the left than on the right. There can be many variations to this problem which can cause your feet to hit the ground differently or otherwise result in inefficient gait. The fix here is doing running specific pilates and similar exercises with an experienced trainer.

2. Check your running posture and gait - An experienced trainer can videotape you running and then analyze the running gait and posture to advise on how to change things. He can work closely with your pilate instructor as well to come up with leg muscle strengthening exercises to balance things a bit and use the optimum gait.

3. Sports Doctor - If your region has them, there are sports doctors that have special machines/treadmills on which they make you run. The machine records the gait and the doctor can analyze it on the computer. This is the preferred and most scientific/analytical method that is highly advisable to all running enthusiasts. The doctors will be able to recommend both running shoes and exercises for your specific case.

4. Simplify the shoes - I've personally stopped using the over-engineered shoes with this or that support. I now use neutral shoes with minimal (0-4mm) heel differential. Once you try them and if they work, you'll never worry about pronation and stuff. The idea being that you should use too much "support" only if your feet have some real structural issues requiring them, shoes should protect your feet from the environment but not get in the way of how your feet naturally work.