Do I Need Foot Orthotics?
Our Adelaide Hills podiatry clinic offers various ways to assist clients presenting with foot and leg problems.
Foot orthotics are just one of the many effective treatments we use, especially when they are used as part of a personalised management plan tailored to your individual needs.
This blog will go through 3 reasons why you may need custom-made foot orthoses.
How do foot orthoses work?
Firstly, I will explain how foot orthoses work:
- Every time your foot hits the ground, the ground hits back with an equal but opposite force.
- The forces generated by this collision will cause stress on all the different tissues in your foot, leg, and body.
- Different tissues (bone, ligament, fascia, tendon, etc.) cope with different forces in different ways, and, if some of the tissues in your foot or leg are damaged, weak, or traumatised, these ‘normal forces’ can cause pain and dysfunction to be produced.
- Foot orthotics change the way the forces generated by your foot hitting the ground, load the various parts of your foot, leg, and body.
Do you need foot orthoses?
Foot orthoses can be prescribed for a range of medical conditions of the foot and lower limb. Here are 3 reasons why you may need them:
1. Foot and leg pain
Depending on the cause of your foot or leg pain, foot orthoses can help in offloading the damaged tissues to allow the structures to heal and therefore decrease your pain.
If your foot or leg pain is caused by excessive force, foot orthoses may help with foot and leg pain by decreasing the forces on the damaged structures in the foot, and redirecting those forces.
2. Previous lower limb injury
Recent injuries to your lower limbs can change the way your body functions during walking and exercise.
It is important to make sure your feet are properly supported to be able to move efficiently.
Orthotics can help with this and reduce the likelihood of further pain or injury.
3. You have flat feet or high arches
If you have flat feet, meaning you have little or no arch, you may experience foot pain or overpronation (inward rolling of the foot).
Orthotics can help to relieve pressure on the arch and prevent any problems long-term.
Similarly, orthotics may be prescribed in the case of high arches, which can lead to corns, calluses, foot pain, and ankle instability.
Orthoses Are Part of the Treatment, Not All Of It
One of the most important things to remember is that when we prescribe an orthotic to help a client get back to doing the things they love without pain, we do so as part of a larger, holistic management plan.
Our client’s management plans are written documents that explain the pathway of care they require to get them better and usually include:
- Pain management strategies
- Hands-on care to heal damaged tissue
- An offloading strategy (orthotics or something else) to reduce the stress in the damaged tissues an
- A long-term strengthening plan.
We are here to help
You can book an appointment to see a Podiatrist who can perform a biomechanical examination to see how your body and feet function in a range of settings.
After this, they can customise a pair of orthoses to manage the abnormal stresses causing your foot and leg problems.
Just call us on 8330 0004 or book online and we'll show you how we can help you build an amazing life from the feet up!
Anthony Robinson
Director of Complete Podiatry