Flat Feet / High Arches

Flat Feet

Age, gender and racial background – these are some of the common themes associated with this unfavourable foot type.

If you or your child have flat feet then there are some things you should know.

But firstly, do you know if the feet in question are actually flat?  Maybe you haven’t had reason enough to check, or if you have, you might be casting an eye over the feet while they are not under full body load. As Podiatrists, this is what we are trained to excel in. Foot assessments, measurements, diagnosis and treatments. We can tell you if the feet in question are in fact flat or not, and how this affects the rest of the body.

You or your child are at greater risk of foot pain or injury if you have flat feet, and your lower limb function and posture will be affected too. You just don’t have that same spring in your step or feel tall and strong when you’re upright. Interestingly, you don’t know this until you have been treated, because you don’t know any differently! – having flat feet and walking this way is all you’ve ever known.

Don’t forget to bring a small selection of shoes to your assessment so that we can tell you if they are right for your foot type.

High Arches

We call it the Caveman Foot! It’s the foot shape we are supposed to have, and the one we probably used to have, when we were hunters and gatherers that walked bare foot on the earth. The uneven surfaces that we walked on would have had raised bits here and there, and these would have filled in the gaps under the foot and made contact with the arches.

Fast forward a few thousand years, and these perfectly flat, man-made surfaces that we now walk on, don’t suit! As you can see in this illustration below, there’s pressure and contact under the heel and ball of the foot, and a big empty space in between.

These smaller surface areas that make contact with the ground mean an increase in pressure – this can lead to burning and a bruised feeling under the heel or ball of the foot. It can also mean you are more likely to feel tightness and strain through the arch of the foot, as it’s unsupported.

Treatment

You’re simple going to love having arch supports in your shoes. And don’t worry, it doesn’t mean you have to go up a shoes size, we design them to fit your existing shoes. We can design them for lady’s shoes and can have them made super slim and narrow, so that they don’t take up all of the room in your shoe.

No, you don’t have to wear them all the time, but they’’ll be so comfortable you’ll really miss not having them in your shoes. You could just use them for exercising or for extended periods of time on your feet.

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PS….lot’s of children have stretchy ligaments these days that don’t support their joints sufficiently. This leaves them hyper mobile or “double jointed”. This can be easily detected and discussed at the time of consultation.