Lately, we have had more people come into the office with foot pain. They say “My feet hurt the minute I get out of bed.”, “ I’ve got plantar fasciitis.”, or “ I was born with flat feet.”.
You might not know this, but we were all born with flat feet! All babies develop their arches through their infant and toddler years, provided that development is not interrupted. Today, that development is often interrupted early on. We walk too soon – therefore stop crawling too soon (such an important part of our total body development!) and often times we wear shoes that are too structured – too restricting – too early. You add all of these possibilities to a more sedentary lifestyle (more technology creating less movement) and our joints deviate which shows up in our feet turning out. When this happens, the weight during activity is no longer being evenly distributed across the foot and sometimes too much weight is placed on the heel, leading the common complaint of plantar fasciitis.
When standing still, the design of the foot should point straight ahead. With that design, the arches allow the foot to move in every direction and allow us to do whatever we like – walk, run, skip, jump or shuffle sideways. The design is such that no matter the action, the weight of the body is evenly distributed across the entire foot. The problem is that our feet no longer point straight ahead naturally. Most of us think that the natural position of the feet is pointed out by 30-45 degrees. This is due that interrupted development I mentioned.
The good news is there is a solution. If your joints are misaligned and your feet point out, you can realign them. Even if your arches have fallen, you can raise them again. That’s right! Your flat feet don’t have to be flat. In infancy and toddlerhood, the actions of crawling and learning to walk compelled our foot muscles to tell our foot bones what they needed to hear in order to develop arches. Our bones do what our muscles tell them to do (muscles pull bones). With proper alignment exercises, that process can be duplicated in adulthood. It requires a realigning of the body over the course of a few months.
That’s where we come in because that’s why we’re here – no matter what the symptom – from your aching feet to your chronic headaches and anything in between. Let’s get started so you can get back to your pain free life!
