The Good, The Bad and The Orthotics

Our feet are fantastic structures, and, when they are working right, assist us to walk effortlessly, run efficiently and stand with good posture. In other words… balance the body.

We often hear about ‘flat feet’, ‘high arches’, ‘fallen arches’ and ‘rolling of the foot’, but rarely do we stop and think about the impact of these common foot problems.

Without going into great detail about the structure of feet, let’s take it for granted that our feet are made up of some big bones, some smaller ones and some even smaller ones still. These bones are complimented with layers of muscles above and below, and this combination of muscle and bone form the primary foundation on which our body relies.

A strong, solid foundation will support a sturdy building. A weak, damaged or unbalanced foundation causes visible faults to appear. The leaning tower of Pisa being a prime example!!

It’s quite ‘normal’ just to put on socks, and then encase our feet in a pair of shoes every morning without giving it much thought.

But, just a little time spent examining our feet could tell us a great deal about our general state of health.

For example, flat feet or high arches can both cause back problems of one sort or another. Back pain between lower to middle back can often be attributed to incorrect arch curvature under the foot.

‘Rolling’ of the foot, most commonly towards the little toe side, can cause the lower leg muscles to develop unevenly. Stronger muscles on the outer side of one, or both, legs tend to ‘pull’ on the inside of the knee joint. As the body tries to adjust, the imbalance travels upwards, causing problems to the hip, back, shoulders and neck.

Specific problems with the feet manifest into pain in very predictable areas of the body. Knee, hip, shoulder and neck problems may very well start in the fundamental foundation of our body structure… our feet!

We can try to remedy foot problems with ‘good’ shoes and supporting insoles, but these insoles do just that… support the problem!!

Our feet are designed to walk on sand, grass, mud and gravel. These surfaces exercise and strengthen the foot muscles and bones mentioned at the beginning of this section.

Wearing expensive shoes with inbuilt arch support, or using hard supporting insoles/orthotics, is similar to splinting a broken arm or leg. The bone heals, but the muscles, starved of exercise, tend to ‘waste’ and become weak.

The same applies to foot muscles. All is well while the cast (insole) is in place, but, unsupported, the foot muscles are not strong enough to perform well.

Problems that may arise from underdeveloped foot muscles are:

a. Flat or high arches.

b. Dropped metatarsal arches.

c. Bunions – the big toe turns inwards toward the other toes, creating painful and/or sensitive big toe joints.

d. Calluses and Corns - may be due to putting excessive weight on certain parts of the foot.

e. Hammertoes are caused by using the foot in an unbalanced way. Putting more weight on the ‘ball of the foot’ instead using the muscles puts the toes ‘up in the air’. Unused in daily walking, the toes become crooked and rigid.

Other problems that can arise from poorly developed foot muscles are:

1. Heel pain

2. Plantar Fasciitis

3. Plantar Neuroma

All these problems are SYMPTOMS. None of them are the CAUSE !

If ‘good’ shoes and hard, ‘normal’ orthotics don’t help to build these important muscles… What Does?

My-Health-TOOLBOX is pleased to promote Step Forward Orthotics These are the ONLY orthotics we have found that, over a short period of time, will change the muscles in the feet by exercising them to become stronger and more efficient.

These stronger foot muscles may help with so many other problems, not only in the feet, but in other parts of the body, like knees, hips, the back, shoulders and neck.