13 Reasons Why…. foot care is important

1. Increase proprioception and balance

The more contact your foot has to the ground, the more feedback the nerves from your foot send to your brain. This helps your muscles to know when to contract and relax, thus improving your balance and proprioception. The better your proprioception and balance. This can help anyone from athletes aiming for a PB, or decreasing the risk of falls in elderly.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3933423/

2. Foot care Injury prevention

Orthotics can offload structures that are often overloaded by poor gait patterns. By preventing overuse of these structures, you decrease your likelihood of developing overuse injuries such as plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendinopathy.

– http://www.jsams.org/article/S1440-2440(17)30371-7/fulltext?cc=y/

3. Relieve your knee pain

When the foot contacts the ground, it transfers movement upwards through the leg. An unstable foot means an unstable knee. Orthotics will help to reduce instability in your foot and thus decrease both the friction and instability between the bones in your knee. This can be particularly helpful in knee osteo-arthritis, a very common and debilitating condition.

– https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23328853

4. Less ulcers in diabetics

By redistributing pressure, the blood flow to the sole of the foot is increase, keeping the skin nice and healthy. – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7894408

5. Increase ankle stability

As mentioned earlier, orthotics improve proprioception. People who roll and sprain their ankles often tend to have significantly less proprioceptive feedback. By increasing contact with the foot, orthotics will counteract the loss of proprioception, creating a strong and stable feeling around your ankle joint.  – http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/036354659402200506 / https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4532179/

6. Decrease Back Pain with foot care

As with your knees, your back often suffers as a result of unstable feet. As a result, your back muscles can become tired and painful. Help to reduce your back pain by wearing a good pair of shoes with comfortable orthotics.

– http://physioedge.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/2009-Murley-Foot-posture-orthotics.pdf

7. Promote Muscle Activation

Realigning your feet will make the correct muscles work at the right time. This prevents overuse injuries, while increasing strength of your foot muscles.

– https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22142711 / http://physioedge.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/2009-Murley-Foot-posture-orthotics.pdf

8. Kiss corns and callouses goodbye

These painful skin conditions are caused by increased pressure under your feet. This can be due to your foot structure and gait. Orthotics help to redistribute pressure and realign your gait to make sure your corns and callouses don’t come back. 

 – http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/016882279501050N

9. Foot care in Children

Forget happy wife happy life, we all know the key to a happy household is healthy kids! Children’s’ bones, are soft and flexible. It is imperative that active kids learn how to minimise their risk of injuries as they continue to grow- orthotics can help! 

 – http://journals.lww.com/pedorthopaedics/abstract/1987/01000/prevention_and_management_of_calcaneal_apophysitis.7.aspx

10. Scoliosis Relief

People suffering with scoliosis often compensate with poor movement patterns. This tends to perpetuate their issues and often aggravates their pain. Leg length modifications and pressure redistribution can and will help to reduce symptoms in people with scoliosis.

– http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/15456049

11. Foot care for Juvenile Arthritis

We know how painful arthritis can be, but it’s even worse when it’s your child suffering! Keep them walking pain-free, by providing their feet with optimal support.

– http://www.jrheum.org/content/32/5/943.short

12. Plantar-what?

Orthotics help to reduce plantar fasciitis pain by decreasing the movement through the arch in your foot. This will allow an injured plantar fascia to repair. – http://www.jospt.org/doi/abs/10.2519/jospt.2002.32.4.149

13. Get your children off on the right step

Have you ever noticed that your child walks a little different than the rest? This is more common than you think! Orthotics can be very effective in preventing in-toe gait in children.

 – http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/107110079801900305