Shoe causing knee pain? You decide…

This gentleman presented with left-sided knee pain at the medial collateral ligament. His left foot was planted when he rotated to the left. Take a close look at the shoes in the picture. If you look closely, you will notice the right shoe is tilted on its axis due to a rear foot to forefoot deformity (forefoot supinatus)and the left shoe upper was assembled canted on its axis, Most likely in manufacturing defect. Can you see the subtle valgus in the left shoe rearfoot?

Think of the implications of a shoe with this orientation. Putting the rearfoot in valgus “prepronates“ the foot, causing medial rotation of the tibia and femur and increase valgus stress on the knee, stressing the medial collateral ligament and stabilizing complex. This will most likely manifest itself as anterior rotation of the ilium on the left-hand side with relative posterior rotation on the right and a clockwise Pelvic distortion pattern. With the foot planted on the left side and it being pre-pronated, can you see how the rotation to the left leaves a greater amount of external rotation that must occur to just get the foot to neutral, never mind supination for stability and pushoff?
What about the popliteus having to work on time to assist and extra rotation and the appropriate femoral/tibial rotation ratios to spare the medial meniscus?

These are the kind of things to keep us awake at night…