| Description:
A condition of the feet in which the arch of the instep is flattened and the entire sole touches the ground.
All babies have flat feet because their arches are not yet built up (and their feet tend to be plump). This condition may persist into adulthood, or an arch may form as the child grows.
Flat feet can also be acquired, as in jobs that require a great deal of walking and carrying heavy objects.
Problems it causes:
The normal arch is made up of bones and joints which are held tightly together in a precise relationship. In order for the arch to flatten out, the ligaments and tendons which hold the bones and joints together must be more flexible than normal. This abnormal flexibility may be a result of: the genes we inherit from our parents, the weakening of muscles and ligaments caused by advancing age, neuromuscular diseases, or injury. Injuries may include one severe trauma, or years of standing for long periods of time in the wrong types of shoes (those with high heels or those with poor support). This flexibility of the bones, joints, and soft tissues is what causes the foot problems which are related to flat arches or feet. The following conditions are the most common foot problems seen in flat feet:
How to help the pain:
We know that flat feet are cause by the foot's dysfunction to uphold the weight applied to it. Therefore, it makes sense that the support to up hold the arch must be strong enough to endure a person's body weight. For this reason soft arch supports and flexible shoes will not help.
Shoes must be stiff and non-flexible through out the arch area to the ball of the foot. This stiffness will help keep the bones from misaligning like walking barefoot. Reinforced heal counters are also very important for stabilization.
Arch supports need to made strong enough to support a person body weight. An arch support must fit the entire length of the longitudinal arch without sharp rises. Arches normally found just have a small lump in the middle which would hurt those with a flat foot. The pressure to increase the arch needs to be spread out and have a gradual rise. |