Pronation as a shock absorber?

We sometimes (or often) think of pronation as a BAD thing. It's actually a pretty good thing... Along with ankle dorsiflexion, knee flexion, hip flexion and drop of the contralateral pelvis

Check out our quick video on all the shock absorbing mechanisms

Pronation as a shock absorber

Here, we talk about the 5 shock absorbing mechanisms built into the lower extremity

The effect of lower extremity fatigue on shock attenuation during single-leg landing.

Thank goodness the body can compensate. Here is a perfect example of this discussed in this study.
“ … it has been shown that a fatigued muscle decreases the body’s ability to attenuate shock from running. The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of lower extremity fatigue on shock attenuation and joint mechanics during a single-leg drop landing.”
This study suggests that as one part fatigued, the joint and muscle strategies elsewhere in the limb made up for it.
“Hip and knee flexion increased and ankle plantarflexion decreased at touchdown with fatigue. Hip joint work increased and ankle work decreased.” The results suggested that the lower extremity is able to adapt to fatigue though altering kinematics at impact and redistributing work to larger proximal muscles.

The effect of lower extremity fatigue on shock attenuation during single-leg landing. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon). 2006 Dec;21(10):1090-7. Epub 2006 Sep 1.
Coventry E1, O'Connor KM, Hart BA, Earl JE, Ebersole KT.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16949185