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Your feet are composed of bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons, nerves and blood vessels. The surrounding ligaments and muscles provide support for all the joints of the foot and ankle. They also stabilise the foot while walking. Most importantly for the knee, a hip, spine and pelvis, the foot absorbs shock. Both the foot and ankle must provide shock absorption while at the same time balance the body. They must be able to adapt to varying terrain. They support your body weight and make it possible to walk, run, stand and jump. Therefore, dysfunction at the feet may have serious, consequences for other neighbouring joints and the entire spine.
Foot pain can be due to inappropriate footwear, which lacks support or due to ill-fitting shoes. Any injury especially to the hip, knee, foot or ankle that results in an inability to walk correctly or that results in a limp will also have consequences for the entire spine. Sports injuries, stress fractures to the bones in the foot and recreational overuse can result in compensation in the knee, hip, spine and pelvis.
Foot pain can cause you to modify the way you walk, which in turn, places significant stresses on the knees, hips, spine and pelvis. Your body has to compensate and this can lead to limited movement in other regions of the skeleton. Some of the more common problems seen in practice include: plantar fascitis; hallux valgus; pain under the metatarsal joints; heel spur; arch collapse; Achilles tendonitis; recurrent ankle sprain and shin splints.
Absolutely anybody can suffer from foot disorders during the course of their lifetime. Overweight individuals, diabetics, gymnasts, athletes and dancers are more susceptible to foot problems as they place huge demands on their feet.
Gymnasts and dancers are prone to stress fractures and ligamentous/muscular sprain/strain injuries due to their extreme flexibility and ability to move their joints beyond their normal range of motion. Athletic patients must examine the wearing pattern on their training shoes as this may provide clues to various foot deformities. Excessive wear on the outside heel, together with a caved-in appearance of the inside of the shoe would suggest pes planus, or more commonly known as fallen arches/flat foot. The shoe should also be checked for flexibility and shock absorption. The fit of the shoe is also important as it must provide support to the arches and allow sufficient toe room.
If you are plagued by recurrent foot pain and/or dysfunction, you should consult a chiropractor. Your chosen chiropractor will take a thorough case history; employ a vast number of orthopaedic and neurological diagnostic tests; assess your gait and examine the range of movement in the joints of your feet and ankles.
By employing such a thorough investigation of your foot complaint your chiropractor will identify what is causing your pain and determine the best method of treatment. Your chiropractor will also examine your knees, hips and spine, which may have been affected by your foot complaint. Chiropractors have experience in relieving such pain and preventing it from causing even more problems in other areas of your body.
Your chiropractor may recommend orthotics to help solve some of your foot problems. Custom-made, flexilile orthotics may be employed in addition to foot and spinal adjustments and prescribed exercise. The need for orthotics is most crucial for patients with knee, foot or ankle disorders that impact on their spine or pelvis. The use of orthotics will often complement and improve the chiropractic adjustment, while assisting the body to return to an improved state of function and health.
Ankle instability
Who has not twisted their ankle at some stage in their life? If you have, then you might still have some weakness, which could still be causing problems. The most common injury to the ankle is turning it in, such as when wearing high heels and turning it over by stepping on a stone or edge of a kerb. This is the common ankle sprain. Occasionally the end of a bone on the outside of the ankle breaks. Most often, the ligaments of the ankle on the front and side get torn and produce massive swelling and bruising. It usually takes 4 to 6 weeks to recover from the immediate injury.
However, the ligaments very rarely repair satisfactorily and often become full of scar tissue which is not elastic. For this reason it is very common to roll the ankle over again and sprain it several times after the initial injury. Such repeated traumas will influence the mechanics of the ankle and cause some insult to the joint and the structures above such as the knee and spine. These usually tend to become obvious after jogging or long walks. Because the symptoms may not be in the ankle but in some distant joint, you do not necessarily think of that old ankle injury being the origin of it. Your chiropractor will, by careful case history and examination, be able to discover the possibility of this cause and remedy it accordingly.
Pronation
This is a weakness of the feet and often produces distortion such as flat feet, bunions, hammer toes and widening of the forefoot. Although pronation is often a consequence of ankle instability, it can happen on its own through various other factors such as prolonged standing, bad shoes or inherited tendencies. Much is now known about foot pronation and many chiropodists or podiatrists specialize in its correction. The most important factor however is to recognize the condition and your chiropractor is ideally suited to diagnose the problem. Your chiropractor may offer to correct the problem or may refer you to a podiatrist. She/he will also advise you on correct shoe wear and on the right type of exercise which will not strain your feet or make the condition worse.