Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsForearm and HandCauses and Risk FactorsDiagnosisTreatment and PreventionFAQ
Table of ContentsView All
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Table of Contents
Forearm and Hand
Causes and Risk Factors
Diagnosis
Treatment and Prevention
FAQ
Supination is a term used to describe the upward rotation of your forearm or foot. When your palm or sole is face-up, it is supinated. This is the opposite of pronation, which is the downward rotation of the forearm or foot.
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Forearm and Hand Supination
When you supinate your hand, the forearm and palm are being turned to face out, a thumbs-out position. This results in your thumb being on the far side away from your body and the pinkie finger closer to your body.
If you were to do this when your arms are at your sides, the palms are facing forward, anteriorly. If you supinate your hand while your arms are over your head, the palm is facing backward.
Supination in the Feet
In a normal gait cycle, the foot is slightly supinated at the time the heel contacts the ground, but then it pronates, turning up and out to absorb the shock of the step.
As the full weight of the body comes on the foot when the foot is flat on the ground, the foot supinates, twisting in and down as it takes on the load and continues to supinate during the propulsive push-off stage.
As such, supination is a normal part of how the foot moves throughout a step. It is when either pronation or supination motion is excessive that they become something that may need to be addressed or corrected.
Pronation is the movement of your feet when you walk. It’s normal to have neutral pronation. Your feet can also be over- or under-pronated, which means they either roll in or out.Underpronation is also called supination.
Under-Pronation
When your foot is supinated, the sole is facing in, toward the ankle of the opposite foot. This is done with the ankle of that foot rolling out and the toes and sole facing in. This is also called under-pronation or having high arches.
If you were to look at the front of the leg when the foot is supinated, you would see the big toe angled in and the ankle angled out from the midline. It involves plantar flexion, adduction, and inversion of the foot.
Over-Supination
Over-supination or being a supinator describes having an excessive outward rolling motion of the foot and ankle during a walking or running stride.
You can look at the wear pattern of your shoes for a clue as to whether you are a supinator. Excessive wear on the outer edge of the sole is an indicator of supination.
Supination is more common in those with high and inflexible medial arches and can lead to foot aches, pain, and conditions such as plantar fasciitis.Their stiff arches aren’t good shock absorbers.
Wearing the proper footwear, and using shoe inserts/insoles, or orthotics can help reduce supination.Supinators should not use motion-control shoes, which are designed to correct the opposite condition (over-pronation).
What Causes Supination Problems?
Supination in your forearm means that your palms are facing up. Your arms are supposed to be able to turn up this way.
If you cannot turn your arm this way, it’s usually a sign of a problem with the bones, muscles, or joints involved in making the movement. For example, getting an overuse injury to your elbow can make it harder to rotate your arm this way.
If you have supination problems in your feet, it’s not normal and will affect how you walk.
There are some things that can make you more likely to have supination problems in your feet, and they’re not all things you have control over. For example, if supination “runs in your family,” you’ve probably inherited a gene that makes the condition more likely to affect you.
There are also risk factors you can change. For example, wearing shoes that don’t fit correctly is a potential cause of supination problems that you can fix.
There are also causes and risk factors that are a mix of things that are in and out of your control. For example, the way your body is shaped and aligned is not always something you can change but sometimes, doing certain exercises to improve your posture can help.
How Are Supination Problems Diagnosed?
If you’re having trouble turning your arm, your provider can use a combination of range of motion tests and imaging scans to look for a problem. Sometimes, it’s fairly easy to diagnose the cause—for example, if you’ve broken your arm.
How Supination Issues Are Treated
If you have problems supinating your arm, you’ll need to treat the underlying cause. This can include rest if you’ve got an overuse injury, wearing a brace or cast, or possibly having surgery if the injury is severe. Physical therapy might also be part of your recovery, as it can help you learn how to move your arm properly again.
If supination is severe and cannot be fixed with the right footwear and treatments like PT, a specialist might recommend that you have surgery to correct it.
Summary
Supination means turning your arm with your palms up. It’s a normal movement for your arm, but you might have trouble doing it if you have an injury.
In your feet, supination is not normal. It means that your foot and ankle roll out too much when you walk. Over time, this can cause pain and discomfort.
A Word From Verywell
Being able to supinate your arm correctly is important for a range of daily tasks. If you’re not able to turn your arm or move it through its full range of normal motion, figuring out the cause and getting treatment is important to your recovery.
Supination in your feet can cause a lot of pain and discomfort when you’re going about your daily activities and trying to engage in exercise and sports.
That said, there are some things you can do to try to fix the problem. Even if you were born with a genetic tendency toward supination, it doesn’t mean you can work on improving it.
Wearing the right shoes and learning exercises that will strengthen the supportive structures in your feet, ankles, and legs can be very beneficial for supination.
Frequently Asked Questions
Both conditions relate to how your foot hits the ground when walking or running, and both can cause injury. Over-pronation means that your ankle rotates and tilts inward with each step.Over-supination means your ankle rolls outward and the tilt of the foot puts pressure on the outer toes.Learn MoreCommon Foot Problems
Both conditions relate to how your foot hits the ground when walking or running, and both can cause injury. Over-pronation means that your ankle rotates and tilts inward with each step.Over-supination means your ankle rolls outward and the tilt of the foot puts pressure on the outer toes.
Learn MoreCommon Foot Problems
Physical therapists may be able to help you strengthen muscles and loosen tendons to ease over-supination. For some people, though, orthotics, which are made for your foot and inserted into your shoes, are the best way to correct the problem.Learn MoreWhat Are Orthotics?
Physical therapists may be able to help you strengthen muscles and loosen tendons to ease over-supination. For some people, though, orthotics, which are made for your foot and inserted into your shoes, are the best way to correct the problem.
Learn MoreWhat Are Orthotics?
Some exercises and activities might improve supination in the forearm:
Learn MoreGuide to Physical Therapy
12 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Faragó P, Grama L, Farago MA, Hintea S.A novel wearable foot and ankle monitoring system for the assessment of gait biomechanics.Appl Sci. 2020;11(1):268. doi:10.3390/app11010268Sánchez-Rodríguez R, Valle-Estévez S, Fraile-García PA, Martínez-Nova A, Gómez-Martín B, Escamilla-Martínez E.Modification of pronated foot posture after a program of therapeutic exercises. IJERPH. 2020;17(22):8406. doi:10.3390ijerph17228406Silva ÉQ, Miana AN, Ferreira JSSP, Kiyomoto HD, Dinato MCME, Sacco ICN.The association between rearfoot motion while barefoot and shod in different types of running shoes in recreational runners.J Sports Sci Med. 2020;19(2):383-389.Woźniacka R, Oleksy Ł, Jankowicz-Szymańska A, Mika A, Kielnar R, Stolarczyk A.The association between high-arched feet, plantar pressure distribution and body posture in young women.Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):17187. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-53459-wZhang C, Xu Y, Li J, Gusztav F, Gu Y.Mixed comparison of intervention with assistive devices for plantar pressure distribution and anatomical characteristics in adults with pes cavus: systemic review with network meta-analysis.Appl Sci. 2023;13(17):9699. doi:10.3390/app13179699Huang YP, Peng HT, Wang X, Chen ZR, Song CY.The arch support insoles show benefits to people with flatfoot on stance time, cadence, plantar pressure and contact area.PLOS ONE. 2020;15(8):e0237382. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0237382Nocerino EA, Cucchi D, Arrigoni P, et al.Acute and overuse elbow trauma: radio-orthopaedics overview.Acta Biomed. 2018;89(1-S):124-137. doi:10.23750/abm.v89i1-S.7016Sulowska I, Oleksy Ł, Mika A, Bylina D, Sołtan J.The influence of plantar short foot muscle exercises on foot posture and fundamental movement patterns in long-distance runners, a non-randomized, non-blinded clinical trial.PLoS One. 2016;11(6):e0157917. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0157917Beaufore J.What are the bottoms of your shoes telling you?Ohio State University Wexler Medical Center.Cleveland Clinic.High arch feet.Golightly YM, Hannan MT, Dufour AB, Hillstrom HJ, Jordan JM.Foot disorders associated with overpronated and oversupinated foot function: the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project.Foot Ankle Int. 2014;35(11):1159-1165. doi:10.1177%2F1071100714543907Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare.Activities to develop elbow and forearm supination skills.
12 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Faragó P, Grama L, Farago MA, Hintea S.A novel wearable foot and ankle monitoring system for the assessment of gait biomechanics.Appl Sci. 2020;11(1):268. doi:10.3390/app11010268Sánchez-Rodríguez R, Valle-Estévez S, Fraile-García PA, Martínez-Nova A, Gómez-Martín B, Escamilla-Martínez E.Modification of pronated foot posture after a program of therapeutic exercises. IJERPH. 2020;17(22):8406. doi:10.3390ijerph17228406Silva ÉQ, Miana AN, Ferreira JSSP, Kiyomoto HD, Dinato MCME, Sacco ICN.The association between rearfoot motion while barefoot and shod in different types of running shoes in recreational runners.J Sports Sci Med. 2020;19(2):383-389.Woźniacka R, Oleksy Ł, Jankowicz-Szymańska A, Mika A, Kielnar R, Stolarczyk A.The association between high-arched feet, plantar pressure distribution and body posture in young women.Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):17187. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-53459-wZhang C, Xu Y, Li J, Gusztav F, Gu Y.Mixed comparison of intervention with assistive devices for plantar pressure distribution and anatomical characteristics in adults with pes cavus: systemic review with network meta-analysis.Appl Sci. 2023;13(17):9699. doi:10.3390/app13179699Huang YP, Peng HT, Wang X, Chen ZR, Song CY.The arch support insoles show benefits to people with flatfoot on stance time, cadence, plantar pressure and contact area.PLOS ONE. 2020;15(8):e0237382. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0237382Nocerino EA, Cucchi D, Arrigoni P, et al.Acute and overuse elbow trauma: radio-orthopaedics overview.Acta Biomed. 2018;89(1-S):124-137. doi:10.23750/abm.v89i1-S.7016Sulowska I, Oleksy Ł, Mika A, Bylina D, Sołtan J.The influence of plantar short foot muscle exercises on foot posture and fundamental movement patterns in long-distance runners, a non-randomized, non-blinded clinical trial.PLoS One. 2016;11(6):e0157917. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0157917Beaufore J.What are the bottoms of your shoes telling you?Ohio State University Wexler Medical Center.Cleveland Clinic.High arch feet.Golightly YM, Hannan MT, Dufour AB, Hillstrom HJ, Jordan JM.Foot disorders associated with overpronated and oversupinated foot function: the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project.Foot Ankle Int. 2014;35(11):1159-1165. doi:10.1177%2F1071100714543907Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare.Activities to develop elbow and forearm supination skills.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Faragó P, Grama L, Farago MA, Hintea S.A novel wearable foot and ankle monitoring system for the assessment of gait biomechanics.Appl Sci. 2020;11(1):268. doi:10.3390/app11010268Sánchez-Rodríguez R, Valle-Estévez S, Fraile-García PA, Martínez-Nova A, Gómez-Martín B, Escamilla-Martínez E.Modification of pronated foot posture after a program of therapeutic exercises. IJERPH. 2020;17(22):8406. doi:10.3390ijerph17228406Silva ÉQ, Miana AN, Ferreira JSSP, Kiyomoto HD, Dinato MCME, Sacco ICN.The association between rearfoot motion while barefoot and shod in different types of running shoes in recreational runners.J Sports Sci Med. 2020;19(2):383-389.Woźniacka R, Oleksy Ł, Jankowicz-Szymańska A, Mika A, Kielnar R, Stolarczyk A.The association between high-arched feet, plantar pressure distribution and body posture in young women.Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):17187. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-53459-wZhang C, Xu Y, Li J, Gusztav F, Gu Y.Mixed comparison of intervention with assistive devices for plantar pressure distribution and anatomical characteristics in adults with pes cavus: systemic review with network meta-analysis.Appl Sci. 2023;13(17):9699. doi:10.3390/app13179699Huang YP, Peng HT, Wang X, Chen ZR, Song CY.The arch support insoles show benefits to people with flatfoot on stance time, cadence, plantar pressure and contact area.PLOS ONE. 2020;15(8):e0237382. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0237382Nocerino EA, Cucchi D, Arrigoni P, et al.Acute and overuse elbow trauma: radio-orthopaedics overview.Acta Biomed. 2018;89(1-S):124-137. doi:10.23750/abm.v89i1-S.7016Sulowska I, Oleksy Ł, Mika A, Bylina D, Sołtan J.The influence of plantar short foot muscle exercises on foot posture and fundamental movement patterns in long-distance runners, a non-randomized, non-blinded clinical trial.PLoS One. 2016;11(6):e0157917. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0157917Beaufore J.What are the bottoms of your shoes telling you?Ohio State University Wexler Medical Center.Cleveland Clinic.High arch feet.Golightly YM, Hannan MT, Dufour AB, Hillstrom HJ, Jordan JM.Foot disorders associated with overpronated and oversupinated foot function: the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project.Foot Ankle Int. 2014;35(11):1159-1165. doi:10.1177%2F1071100714543907Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare.Activities to develop elbow and forearm supination skills.
Faragó P, Grama L, Farago MA, Hintea S.A novel wearable foot and ankle monitoring system for the assessment of gait biomechanics.Appl Sci. 2020;11(1):268. doi:10.3390/app11010268
Sánchez-Rodríguez R, Valle-Estévez S, Fraile-García PA, Martínez-Nova A, Gómez-Martín B, Escamilla-Martínez E.Modification of pronated foot posture after a program of therapeutic exercises. IJERPH. 2020;17(22):8406. doi:10.3390ijerph17228406
Silva ÉQ, Miana AN, Ferreira JSSP, Kiyomoto HD, Dinato MCME, Sacco ICN.The association between rearfoot motion while barefoot and shod in different types of running shoes in recreational runners.J Sports Sci Med. 2020;19(2):383-389.
Woźniacka R, Oleksy Ł, Jankowicz-Szymańska A, Mika A, Kielnar R, Stolarczyk A.The association between high-arched feet, plantar pressure distribution and body posture in young women.Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):17187. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-53459-w
Zhang C, Xu Y, Li J, Gusztav F, Gu Y.Mixed comparison of intervention with assistive devices for plantar pressure distribution and anatomical characteristics in adults with pes cavus: systemic review with network meta-analysis.Appl Sci. 2023;13(17):9699. doi:10.3390/app13179699
Huang YP, Peng HT, Wang X, Chen ZR, Song CY.The arch support insoles show benefits to people with flatfoot on stance time, cadence, plantar pressure and contact area.PLOS ONE. 2020;15(8):e0237382. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0237382
Nocerino EA, Cucchi D, Arrigoni P, et al.Acute and overuse elbow trauma: radio-orthopaedics overview.Acta Biomed. 2018;89(1-S):124-137. doi:10.23750/abm.v89i1-S.7016
Sulowska I, Oleksy Ł, Mika A, Bylina D, Sołtan J.The influence of plantar short foot muscle exercises on foot posture and fundamental movement patterns in long-distance runners, a non-randomized, non-blinded clinical trial.PLoS One. 2016;11(6):e0157917. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0157917
Beaufore J.What are the bottoms of your shoes telling you?Ohio State University Wexler Medical Center.
Cleveland Clinic.High arch feet.
Golightly YM, Hannan MT, Dufour AB, Hillstrom HJ, Jordan JM.Foot disorders associated with overpronated and oversupinated foot function: the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project.Foot Ankle Int. 2014;35(11):1159-1165. doi:10.1177%2F1071100714543907
Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare.Activities to develop elbow and forearm supination skills.
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