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Could Your Feet Be the Cause Of Your Health Concerns?
Most of us have heard of the terms "flat feet" or "fallen arches". Maybe you have been diagnosed with "Plantar Fascitis". What does all of this terminology mean and how does if affect our health? Believe it or not, the integrity and stability of your arches can have a dramatic effect on your posture, joint health, and spinal alignment. Many common aches and pains can be traced to the bottoms of your feet.
Let's start with a basic anatomy less of the foot. It seems like a small enough structure. It can't be too complicated, right? Actually, the foot is an extremely intricate region of the body with the essential task of supporting your body weight and making us mobile beings. Each foot is made up of 26 small bones, held together by 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments. The alignment of these structures make up the formation of your arches. The arches are elastic type structures that help distribute your body weight across your feet and legs and put the spring in your step. They maintain the ability to be all things at once; rigid levers that must also become resilient and flexible to become all-terrain. Optimally, arches support and stabilize the foot so that we can move about all surfaces in whatever way we choose; be it walking, running, skipping, or jumping. Unfortunately, there are many ways that arches can lose both their flexibility and/or stability leading to a wide range of health and pain related symptoms and conditions.
Now let's define some of the above mentioned terms. Flat feet or fallen arches, medically termed "Pes Planus" occurs when the arch or instep of the foot collapses and comes in contact with the ground. It can be the result of ongoing stresses on your feet (long term use of shoes with poor support), weight gain or obesity, traumatic injury to the foot or ankle, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Diabetes, or weakened musculature associated with aging or heavy strain. You may have noticed that your infant or young child has flat feet. This is normal. Arches develop in childhood and continue to strengthen and develop in young adulthood. Some adults simply never develop arches (congenital Pes Planus). Whatever the reason, flat feet may cause you to experience pain symptoms and more often then not, causes many postural deviations such as lateral spinal curvatures (often termed Scoliosis), differences in leg length, and improper gait biomechanics.
Starting from the bottom, let's assess how flat feet manifest into postural issues, health problems, and pain complaints. First, the flattening of the arch causes "pronation" of the foot and ankle (turning in) and a flattened look of the feet. This can be visualized by looking at the bottom of the shoes, usually the heal, for uneven wear patterns. As you begin your stride, the ankle turns in and the knee bows inward. Already, this is an issue and a common cause of knee pain, clicking, and popping due to improper joint alignment. It can cause stretching on tendons causing tendonitis (inflammation of the tendon), tearing, and eventual weakening of the ligaments surrounding the knee. Long term, this can lead to meniscal and ligamentous tears, and instability of the knee potentially causing Osteoarthritis. Now back to the gait analysis. As the knee bows in, the femur (leg bone) bows inward and twists slightly stressing and pulling on the hip rotator muscles and tendons that hold the femur in its socket at the hip joint. This stress on the muscles and tendons at the hip socket can cause inflammation to the bursa (fluid filled sack at the hip joint) leading to Bursitis and hip pain. In addition, this causes the hip and pelvis to lower on that side. The pelvis is the foundation for the spine. when the pelvis drops, the spine follows causing an unnatural, unhealthy curvature throughout the spine. Spinal stabilizer muscles compensate for the abnormal spinal curvature by tightening up in an attempt to straighten the spine. This leads to muscle spasms, pain, and inflammation around the spine. Inflammation can cause irritation to the nerves exiting the spinal vertebrae. Continuing our journey upwards, in response to the bent spinal posture and muscle tug of wars, the shoulder blade on one side is pulled inward and down toward the spine, while the opposite side is pulled outward. The result is unleveling of the shoulders and tension on the attachments of muscles that proceed across the tops of the shoulders and upwards into the neck. Uneven and tight musculature causes the ear and head to tilt toward the shoulder causing stress on the neck and head stabilizer muscles at the base of the skull. These muscles spasm in an attempt to level the head and eyes for proper balance and coordination. This can lead to loss of balance, eye strain, and headaches, not to mention irritation to the brainstem, beginning of the spinal cord, and nerves that supply information back and forth between the brain and body. Its hard to believe that flat feet can have that much of an effect on the entire body!
Many shoe companies claim to properly support the feet and maintain the natural arch. Some of these companies do a really great job in developing a shoe that stabilizes and supports the arch. The downside of these shoes, however, is that they do not take into account that each person's foot is different. Most people will do just fine with a high quality, supportive shoe, or a generalized arch support such as Superfeet. Superfeet run the range of athletic fits, to dress fits, and even specify between men and women. Plus they have kids sizes. They provide fantastic support for the average foot. However, custom fit orthotics give a much more personalized support to the mechanical deficiencies of any foot. Most people are great candidates for the custom orthotic. Orthotics come in a range of types, depending on the practitioner supplying the orthotics. They can be rigid, semi-rigid, and soft. No matter what type of orthotic your practitioner decides is the correct fit for your foot, it is essential that your orthotic be interchangeable from shoe to shoe. You will need to wear the orthotic consistently on a daily basis to make a change within your body. Think of the orthotic as a workout for your body. After all, you would not expect to see much weight loss or toning results when working out at a frequency of 1 time per week. The same goes for orthotics. Your body will be going through a lot of adjustments in the first few weeks of orthotic wear. Different muscles will be working and joints will be stressed and move in a different way than before. Some new wearers may notice the effects quickly. Some may notice a bit of worsening in their pain symptoms and then improvement as their body adjusts and settles into its new position. Start the process slowly. Begin with 2 hours per day, working up as comfort allows.
If you have any questions in regards to orthotics or, if you think that you may be a good candidate, let us know. We will answer any inquiries or get you set up for an in office scan of your feet and orthotic casting. Many insurers will cover the cost of orthotics. Allow us to check your benefits and use them before the year is over. Even if your insurance does not cover the cost, we have an excellent self pay rate. |
