As mums we stand for long hours. Additionally if you have a job that involves hours at a standing desk or otherwise, there are chances that this could be contributing towards your flat feet. Having flat feet, also known as a pronated foot, is a condition where one or both feet have little to no arch. When you stand you should be able to see these arches in your feet and their absence can lead to pain in the foot or changes in your walking pattern. Lets discuss more about flat or pronated feet in this blog.
Feet are the foundation of our body. They bear the weight of the full body on them. If they are not evenly placed or the body weight is not equally distributed on the feet there can be a cumulative effect, leading to pain in your feet and ankles, knees and hips and can your lower back and subsequently the whole spine.
When babies are born they have flat feet with no arches. As they stand and walk the arches gradually develop by the age of six or so. Sometimes these arches are not fully formed and donot form at all. However there are some people who develop these feet arches in their childhood but later in adult life these arches start to flatten due to prolonged standing or injury or obesity, etc.
In order to determine if you have flat feet, stand with your feet shoulder width apart and observe the inner border of the feet. If it is completely flat on the floor you may have a flat foot. If you observe that the arch is quite high you may have high arches or supinated feet. But we are not going to focus on high arch in this blog.
Another fun way of detecting a flat foot is to walk on the floor with wet feet so that you can observe the imprint of your foot on the floor. If you see the inner edge of the foot in the imprint that indicates that it came in contact with the floor and you may have a flat foot.
You can also observe the sole of the shoes that you have worn for a few months and see if it more worn out on the inner edge. People with flat feet tend to put more weight on the inner side of the foot , thus putting more stress on the inner birder of the shoe. Sometimes if the feet are very flat the heel cup (back part of the shoe that sits right above your heel) maybe tilted towards the inner aspect of the shoe.
Kids feet are still developing and can be gradually moulded if they have a flat foot, as compared to adults who have rigid feet. However it is advisable for adults to address the muscular imbalances in and around the foot, especially if they have any pain or calf cramps due to the flat feet. Orthotics work well for long term management for flat feet by providing artificial arches to the feet and working on pain relief in the area.
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