Flat Feet and Over-Pronation

Do you suffer from fallen arches or flat-foot issues? In Canada, these problems are quite common since the “norm” is to not wear shoes as you’re younger. Whether you’ve kicked off your shoes for far too long after school or you love lounging during the holidays, you may want to know how you can safely and comfortably combat these painful foot issues. Didn’t take your shoes off so much that it caused you problems? You may have inherited your foot problems.

One of the primary ways you can help your fallen arches or flat feet is through inserts that will support your feet in your shoes. These are called orthotics. In wearing the proper footwear, you can correct overpronation in the feet and relieve pain in those common trigger point areas. When you don’t, you run the risk of suffering from knee pain, lower back pain, and more because of poor posture and pained feet.

What is Overpronation?

A normal foot is one that is in line with your leg, and doesn’t lean one way or the other. When your ankle ball leans inward or outward, this is called overpronation and can cause issues with your stance, pain in your legs, and cause pain to radiate up your leg and into your back.

In short, overpronation has three categories:

• Flat feet
• High arched feet – an overly arched foot, causing the front and the back to be higher than normal. You may have more foot cramping and aching than most.
• Pronating feet – also known as “fallen arches”, this happens with 70% of the Australian population. While you may have not done anything wrong, these arch problems could come from weight bearing issues. Over time, when weight is continuously placed on them in a not-so-great position, the arches collapse and the ankles “roll inwards”. It’s not like injuring your foot and won’t happen that quickly. Overpronating isn’t the problem in itself, it’s when we bare weight for too long, too deep, and too hard, disabling the “shock system” of our feet to recover.

When the overpronation is excessive, we begin to walk much differently, which can harm our posture and our backs, causing us pain elsewhere, and more. There are other causes, too, like obesity, repetitive pounding and walking in a certain manner, pregnancy, and more. Those that run or are athletes otherwise may find themselves with more of these foot issues than others. Other complains include:

• Foot pain in the ball of the foot
• Heel and shin pain
• Bunions
• Lower back and knee pain
• Feet always sore and aching
• Achilles tendonitis
• And more

There are ways to naturally correct overpronation without looking towards surgery, and you may have to re-learn to walk specific ways and invest in the proper footwear. Without taking care of your feet, you may end up needing foot surgery because of the severity.