Buyer Guide Questions

What Are Flat Feet

If you try to examine a normal foot, you will see in the middle that there is usually an arch. You will see an area of the foot which doesn’t make contact with the floor. There are people who have higher arches compared to others, and there’s nothing wrong with this.

It only becomes a problem when there is no arch and the full base of your foot comes in contact with the floor. Fallen arches, known as flat foot will cause different kinds of pain numerous areas of your lower body. Having flat feet can even bring your joints out of alignment.

Mainly, the pain will occur in the feet, ankles, and lower leg muscles, specifically in the arch and heel region. Having flat feet can also lead to a weakening of your posture. You will experience discomfort through your hips and lower back. Running, walking or even standing can be very painful.

Types of Flat Feet

There are actually two different types of flat feet or fallen arches. There is the pathological flat foot and physiological flat foot.

Resulting from a combination of increased joint mobility and fat in their arches, most babies and toddlers have flat feet. Physiological flat feet are symmetric and do not have any movement restriction and generally painless. Meanwhile, pathological flat feet have some symptoms.

Pathological Flat Foot

As the name implies, pathological flat foot occurs when your fallen arches are accompanied by stiffness and other pain symptoms.

Physiological Flat Foot

A physiological flat foot is symmetric, do not have any movement restriction and are generally painless. Physiological flat foot occurs when you have fallen arches but they do not necessarily cause disability.

In some cases, older people develop asymmetric flat feet. This means that they had normal or slight-flat feet that suddenly collapse into severe flat feet.

What Causes Flat Feet

Causes for having flat feet are quite wide and varied. Flat feet may be congenital. But this painful condition can often be avoided. Primarily, you will need to understand that the tendons and ligaments in your feet and lower legs help and stabilize your arches. When these tendons and ligaments in your feet weaken, your arches will collapse and cause your foot abnormality.

However, flat feet do not cause any symptoms until late childhood due to the arch not forming fully for some reason. It can also be hereditary and can often be present from birth. It is quite common for children to have flat feet.

Childhood

As children grow older, it’s not always easily identifiable at first. This is because most kids appear to be flat footed due to baby fat and their development.

If a toddler presents with painful feet, it can be an indication that another process is going on. A pediatrician or orthopedic surgeon should examine a young child with painful flat feet.

Older children aged 10 to 12 years old and young teens with painful asymmetric flat feet may have a condition called a tarsal coalition. This is a separation of the foot bones.

Adulthood

It’s usually in early adulthood when flat feet problems arise. The condition is picked up through some kind of bottom of foot pain complaints or other reported problems from any joints in the lower body.

An acquired flat feet in adults usually have tissue breakdown which contributes to the deformity. The tendons, ligaments and sometimes joints wearing out factor into the problem.

The collapsed arch which occurs during adulthood often arises due to excessive stress on the foot. Examples of this are standing all day at work or walking in high heels for long periods of time, wearing uncomfortable shoes without proper support, failing to treat foot injuries, or not allowing enough time to heal ankle sprains and broken bones in feet.

How To Treat Flat Feet

Some people with flat feet may automatically align their limbs in such a way that symptoms may never develop. Treatment is not usually required. There are a few non-surgical steps you can try to reduce flat feet pain, this is especially preferable if you are a professional athlete such as a soccer player or boxer or a wrestler, as you want to minimize your down time as much as possible.

Wearing the Right Shoes

The most important key to reducing pain is wearing the correct well-fitted shoes. A good pair of flat feet shoes are ones that are supportive and that fit well with plenty of padding and good arch support.

Insoles

A cheap and rather effective pain relief method is to use custom orthotic inserts inside your shoes. Fitted insoles or orthotics are custom-designed arch supports. These may relieve pressure from the arch and reduce pain if your feet roll too far inwards. An orthotic only brings benefit while it is in use. This solution is quite helpful for wrestlers as they grapple and twist their way into making their opponents submit, however there also comes quite a bit of foot and ankle sprains with that activity.

This is not a long-term solution though. It will depend on the severity and be taking painkillers if you have any discomfort can be comforting. But you need to remember to always notify your doctor of any changes you intake in your medication.

Taking Some Rest and Losing Weight

Doctors may advise some of their patients to rest and avoid activities that may make their feet feel worse until symptoms improve. Obesity is a common cause of pain in the foot or fallen arch. And so losing weight if you’re overweight is an effective way of reducing flat foot pain. And remember this has many other benefits too.

Surgical Intervention

Some children’s bones do not develop properly. This will result in flat feet from birth that may continue into adulthood. In these cases, surgical intervention may be necessary to separate fused bones. But this is rare.

Guide To Buying Shoes

Wearing the right footwear is one of many ways to help deal with flat floot pain. To wear the right shoes for flat feet is the most important solution for anyone that likes to take their health management into their own hands (or feet!)!

Replacing Old Shoes

Your shoes are the critical part of your standing, walking and running form. As we know, most of us humans can easily form sentimental attachments to our most possessed things such as our favorite shoes.

For instance, the arches of your shoes have begun to drop. Its toe box has become too wide and the heel padding has worn thin. These will all lead to various types of foot pain, including fleet feet.

Remember, as your footwear gets old and out of shape due to frequent usage, they will gradually loosen in areas which are required to provide that all important support.

Durable and Rigid

Rigid soles are a common inclusion in most conventional footwear.

Good Arch Support

Aching feet and overpronation are a few of the common problems that fellow flat footers face. Overpronation of the foot is not an injury itself. But if one over pronates then he or she may be more susceptible to a number of sports injuries. Overpronation is often recognized as a flattening or rolling in of the foot. However, it is not quite as simple as that as the timing of when the foot rolls in are also important.

As we have mentioned previously, the weight distribution across the entire foot is what would cause the aching foot. Again, this can often be relieved by wearing shoes that have the proper arch support and are fitted properly.

If you can just imagine for a second that flat feet have the entire foot touching the ground. Whereas the arched counterparts actually only have a section of their foot on the ground.

It is for this reason that arched shoes are a bit narrower. And if you have been walking in them, your feet may feel cramped or ache after long periods of use. You may need to wear shoes that are wider than normal to alleviate some of these aches.

Using Orthotic Inserts

Orthotic inserts are medically prescribed types of equipment and appliances that raise your middle-foot to form an artificial cushioning curvature as found in normal feet. If you already have orthotic inserts and they smell cheesy, then don’t hesitate to use deodorizing sprays to control the stench!

In some occasions, you may find that having a specialist orthotics is needed to help reduce the pain that you are experiencing with having a flat foot. In fact, having orthotic inserts work well. And a reason for this is that orthotics help in distributing weight and pressure.

Running Shoes

Usually, it is the running sneakers which prove to be the best shoes for fallen arches. One reason for this is that they tend to have good arch support compared to everyday fashion shoes.

However, there are other types of footwear which are just as good. Yet this kind of flat feet shoes have usually been designed with podiatrist input and specifically targeted for people with fallen arches.

This type of footwear is most commonly associated with walking contrary to the complex and expensive research which goes into the manufacturing of the running shoes mentioned earlier.

Main Types to Consider

When buying running shoes, there are two main types that you need to consider.

Stability Control Shoes

These types of shoes have a lining of foam at the instep. This lining cushions your arch region. Stability control shoes also offer support and comfort to your flat feet because the soft region makes it comfortable to fit your low arches.

Motion Control Shoes

The second types of shoes come as a blessing to runners that have low arches and those who usually indulge in rigorous over-pronation. The support that motion control shoes provide on the side of the arches also makes running and long walks a comfortable experience. It provides good support and comfort at the same time.

What Experts Have To Say

In this video, a Certified Pedorthist and Executive Vice President of Aetrex Worldwide, Inc. Matt Schwartz describes low arch and flat feet, and the technology available to determine your foot type. This video includes an overview of how low arch and flat feet function, the kind of conditions and setbacks associated with them as well as some potential solutions to help avoid the setbacks.

Conclusion

There is an estimated 20% of the adult population having flat feet. For the individuals in the shoe-making business, this highlights a key prospective target audience. This gap has been identified. And it has been perfectly filled, for there are various types of flat feet shoes available on the market now. They now understand the anatomy of flat feet and ensure that they offer you comfort and soothing experience in your daily routine.

Some of the essential requirements and types of equipment for your flat feet shoes are the arch support that reproduces normal foot curve, shoes with raised insoles, and various medical orthotics.

The arches of your sneakers serve a shock and weight absorber when your feet touch the surface. People who do not have an arch usually exert much pressure on their foot. And this can lead towards tendon damage. In order to avoid this painful situation, artificial arch supports functions as spring to distribute the weight evenly on your foot.

There are various shoes that have raised insoles that build an artificial footrest. The higher insoles provide support to the middle-foot which proves to be beneficial for your flat feet.

Medical orthotics are medically prescribed pieces of equipment and appliances that raise your middle-foot to form an artificial cushioning curvature as found in normal feet.

It is an interesting fact that most of us tend to neglect the comfort of our feet by compromising on any footwear that looks pretty, gorgeous or perhaps with a good bargain price in this modern world. Taking care and protecting your feet is important to alleviate any potential problems in the later part, most especially if you have flat feet.

Therefore, the next time you want to buy shoes for your flat feet, please make sure that you keep in mind all the tips provided in this guide.