Copyright Wright Balance® 2025

When standing, walking, running or stumbling, to stay in balance, it is ideal for the left and right knees to be centered over each foot. That is not the case with 98 plus percent of the population. When the knees are not set directly over the center of each foot while standing, walking or running the knee on one side, and on occasion both sides, moves laterally in or out. When the knee moves in toward the midline it is referred to as "pronation". When the knee moves out away from the midline it is referred to as supination. The pronation / supination of the knee, may result in any number of symptoms including the following:

  • Foot, ankle and knee instability
  • Pain in the ankle or knee
  • Pain in the arch or other areas of the foot
  • Swelling of the knee joint (inflammation)
  • Stress fractures

In athletes, knee instability can result in injuries necessitating surgery. Creating knee stability is not difficult when doing the Wright Balance® Express and the Oblique Slings Exercises. However, keep in mind that your student has had a lifetime of this knee configuration and will ideally need to follow with exercises that strengthen the muscles around their knee joints after the knees are set over the center of each foot.

Knee Pronation or Supination is easily corrected via the Wright Balance® Express exercise in 8 isometric positions followed by isometric rotational and internal and external oblique exercises. All combined, these exercise take a total of 3 minutes. The 3 minutes of exercises include a brief Rotational Plane and External and Internal Oblique muscle sling corrections following and the Wright Balance Express. When done correctly, the knee pronation / supination is corrected in all static positions and dynamic movements. This 3 minute Core correction will last for 12 to 24 hours, depending on activities following the exercise.

Note: Preliminary results show that when the Wright Balance® Express and the Internal & External Oblique exercises are accompanied by a Multifidus / Longitudnal Myofascial Sling release program that the exercise last beyond the 24 hour period.

The following illustration is the configuration of the body prior to the Wright Balance® Express and Oblique Slings Exercises.

If you add knee flex and, without turning your hips or shoulders, lean your head to your right so your eyes are over your right foot and note the position your right knee relative to the center of your right foot.

Then, again without turning your hips or shoulders, lean your head to the left so your eyes are over your left foot and note the orientation of your left knee relative to the middle of your right foot. This is testing knee pronation / supination only in a STATIC position. It is important to test for knee pronation in both static (standing) and movement (walking) positions

The following video demonstrates how to check for knee pronation or supination only in a standing / static position.

You will note in the video below that testing knee pronation in a dynamic position (walking) that hip and shoulder piston action are observed when there is not correction of knee pronation in all planes of motion.

To understand the implications of the "drag", friction and "piston action" produced by walking, note the left hip and left shoulder motion of this woman. As she steps forward with her left foot you, see her left hip rise and left shoulder lower. These movements create friction and drag through the kinetic chain in all of us.

You will note that either your left or right knee rotates in or out relative to the center of your foot in both a static and dynamic posture. If your knee rotates in toward your body center (midline) that is referred to as knee pronation. If your knee rotates away from your body, it is referred to as supination. The pronation or supination is generally on the same side of your body as the raised hip and lower shoulder.

You can test the dynamic movement of your hips and shoulders by taking a step forward and holding that position as you lean to one side and check if your knee is over the center of your foot as shown in this image.

How to test and correct this dynamic knee pronation and "piston" action of the hips and shoulders is demonstrated in the videos below.

Following Wright Balance® Express, knee pronation or supination is corrected in a static posture and the shoulders and hips level as shown in the illustration below.

I would encourage you to discuss the importance of the correction of knee pronation and the impact on balance when rising from a chair, standing, walking, running and/or exercise with your student. Movement in general and a sudden move in particular while running, walking or lifting will place unnecessary stress on the supinated or pronated knee causing a strain, sprain or tear. You might note a "listing" to one side, a limp or other gait issues as a result of this knee pathology, especially in the elderly.

The Wright Balance® Express & Rotational & Oblique Corrections

It is imperative that your student tapes the entire fingertip area around a fingernail of one finger on each hand. If it is an older adult or athlete, I would suggest taping the toenail of one toe on each foot with medical tape. Taping the toes will last for a number of days and is easily replaced when it does come off during bathing. Keeping the tape in place insures that the the application of force during any movement is equally applied through the Core Zone that has been recruited.

NOTE:It is IMPERATIVE that you use the 8 inch Stance Width range in the Zone where you did the Wright Balance® Express. When you face the wall. for example, if you have done the Wright Balance® Express in an Upper Core Stance Width, the width of your feet must be between 8 and 16 inches (plus or minus 1 inch on the narrowest and widest in this range) during the correction. You will note that if you are wider than 16 inches or narrower than 8 inches, you will see no rotation of your hips. When you step between 8 and 16 inches you will note that your hips are rotated as you apply force on the wall with either your right or left hand or both. Hold that pressure or do 1 arm push-ups until your hips square.

The following video shows a demonstration of the Wright Balance® Express from the side. Please be sure to guide your student through the Wright Balance® Express and provide them with a video of THEM doing the exercise. If they have any spine tilt, unless it is part of the exercise, that incorrect position will impact the results of the Wright Balance® Express. I will follow with videos on Rotational Plane and Internal & Oblique (Longitudinal Oblique Slings) exercise corrections.

The following 1 minute video shows the impact of the Wright Balance® Oblique Sling exercises and the elimination of knee pronation in both forward and backward motion.

The following 28 minute video is a detailed summary of how the Wright Balance® Express paired with the Oblique Sling exercises corrected the knee pronation / supination.

Phase 2