What Happens When Your Feet Hit the Ground?
Your feet are the foundation of your body. They support you when you stand, walk or run. And they help protect your spine, bones and soft tissues from damaging stress as you move around. Your feet perform better when all their muscles, arches and bones are in their ideal stable positions.
The foot is constructed with three arches which, when properly maintained, give exceptional supportive strength. These three arches form a supporting vault that distributes the weight of the entire body. If there is a compromise of one arch in the foot, the other arches must compensate and are subject to additional stresses, which usually leads to further compromise.
It’s a Chain Reaction
Healthcare professionals know that alleviating pain in one part of your body often requires treating a different part. The pain you feel in your neck could be caused by a misalignment of your spine that is caused by unbalanced positioning in your feet. See? It’s a chain reaction. By stabilizing and balancing your feet, orthotics enhance your body’s performance and efficiency, reduce pain and contribute to your total body wellness. Orthotics compliment your healthcare professional’s treatment when you stand, walk and live your active life.
Patients with certain types of spinal problems can benefit from custom-made orthotic support. These devices stabilize the foundation of the pelvis and spine by first addressing structural problems with the feet, thereby reducing abnormal forces and stresses, while enhancing structural and functional relationships.
Understanding Human Biomechanics
The joints and muscles of the body function most efficiently when they are in physical balance. Principles of engineering have shown that with any physical entity, whether it is a bridge, a building, or the human body-structure dictates function.
The body is a biomechanical kinetic chain where abnormal movements at one line or joint, can interfere with proper movements at other joints.
During standing and walking, our bodies are subjected to natural forces and postures that can inflict mechanical stress and strain throughout the interrelated chain of joints and muscles.
When foot imbalance is present, there is a negative impact on the knees, hips, pelvis, and spine. Some patients must have these abnormal forces reduced before they can achieve improved spinal function.
Postural Effects From Imbalances in the Feet
- A loss of arch height will cause a flattening and rolling in of the foot-this is termed pronation. Because everything is connected, the bones of the leg also inwardly rotate.
- High levels of heel-strike shock can result from a breakdown of the body’s natural “shock absorbers.” The shock wave then transmits up the kinetic chain causing painful symptoms all the way up to the head, slowed recovery of leg and spine injuries and aggravation of other conditions.
- Tilting of the pelvis places tension on muscles and connective tissues, which can eventually lead to chronic back problems.
- Excessive rotation of the bones of the leg (tibia and femur) will cause unnecessary stresses on the knee as well as twisting of the pelvis and spine. If the pronation is more prevalent on one side, there can be a resultant unleveling of the pelvis and functional scoliosis.
Benefits of Custom Fitted Orthotics
- Properly fitted customized orthotics support the foot to control excessive and unwanted pronation and supination. This helps to reduce unwanted stress on the body.Benefits of Custom Fitted Orthotics
- Improved shock absorption reduces repetitive stress on joints and muscles, permitting smoother function and decreasing arthritic symptoms.
- Use of customized orthotics represents a long-term, yet cost-effective intervention for many types of functional and structural problems.
How Spinal Pelvic Stabilizers Work
Wearing customized orthotics inside your shoes is similar to placing a shim beneath the leg of a wobbly table: it adds support to eliminate unwanted motion in the entire structure.
The foot is formed of three distinct arches which create an architectural vault. The result of supporting these three arches is improved stability and postural integrity.
Flexible customized orthotics encourage optimal muscle and nerve function by guiding the feet through a more normal pattern with each step taken.
Custom Fitted Orthotics
Premier Healthcare can have custom-made, flexible orthotics created to match your unique individual needs. Using weight-bearing impression images of the feet in the position of function, along with instructions from the healthcare professional, a skilled laboratory technician creates your unique orthotics designed to correct and support your areas of weakness.
The combination of flexible, yet supportive and durable construction materials ensure that the stabilizers will both guide the feet when walking and provide support during long periods of standing.
This functional stabilization is unlike other technologies which may use rigid materials to force the feet into a theoretical “ideal” position which could result in muscle atrophy and abnormal nerve proprioception. Custom Orthotics allow controlled, supported movement of the dynamic human body.
Ask your Chiropractor if orthotics are right for you.
Article from ProAdjuster Lifestyle