WHEN YOUR FEET HURT EVERYTHING HURTS

Poor alignment of the feet and legs can cause wear and tear to other parts of the body (much like poor wheel alignment on a car can affect steering and suspension and tire wear). Poor foot alignment disrupts normal knee and hip function as well as increasing forces on the hips and low back muscles.

Reasons for Orthotics:

  1. Structural alignment – When standing, walking and running your feet and legs are the structural support for your spine. If you have foot pronation (flat feet) it can lead to repetitive stress injuries such as shin splints, plantar fasciitis, heel spurs, knee strain and bursitis of hip. This can put strain on the muscles and joints of the spine causing low back pain and poor posture.
  2. Movement, Balance and Symmetry – Walking and running movements create twisting force from the feet into the legs, pelvis and spine. When the feet are out of balance individual parts can become over stressed causing muscular strain which can lead to repetitive stress injuries.
  3. Shock absorption – Our feet were designed to walk on natural, soft surfaces like soil and sand. When our feet land on soil or sand these surfaces give way to accommodate the lower limbs natural strike angle. Unfortunately we walk on hard ungiving surfaces that cause our feet to fatigue which results in planter fasciitis, heel spurs and knee pain.
  4. Lower extremity problems – There are many lower extremity conditions that can result in spinal problems and symptoms if left uncorrected. Morton neuroma, an unstable ankle joint, tracking problems of the patella and hip joint asymmetry can all result in chronic misaligned vertebrae in the spine resulting in neck and back pain.

Conclusion – The weight bearing extremities (feet, ankles, knees and hips) are almost always an important factor in patients with low back pain. If there is an ankle or foot misalignment everytime that person takes a step there is a mechanical error that multiplies with each step causing repetitive stress injury to this area of the body.

We make orthotics for people of all ages and sizes, children, adults and the elderly. Call our office for an evaluation to see if orthotics could help you.

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