CUSTOMIZED ORTHOTICS
Did you know that foot and hip misalignments are associated with ongoing lower back pain? Well, it's true.
If a patient's lower back pain persists despite a series of chiropractic adjustments, the culprit may lie in the foot.
The foot is actually a complex, biomechanical structure made up of 28 bones that work together to enable standing and upright walking and running. If any one of these bones gets misaligned with respect to adjacent bones, it can subtly change your gait (your walking dynamics) which in turn can adversely affect your lower back muscles and joints.
For example, let's say your metatarsals drop, or flatten out (fallen arches). This makes your plantar fascia (the strong band of ligament that forms the arch, connecting your calcaneous (heel) to your metatarsal-phalangeal joints--the joints that allow you toes to flex and extend) less effective, as it acts like a spring to assist forward movement of the foot when walking. People with fallen arches may experience foot and ankle pain, hip pain and lower back pain.
Patients
with foot bone misalignments can be prescribed orthotics, which are
custom designed shoe inserts designed to counteract the misalignments.
They are usually made of leather, or high density foam, or plastic.
The chiropractor first gets the patient's foot impression using pressure
sensitive foam. The impression is analyzed for areas of abnormal or
uneven weight distribution, and a corrective orthotic is manufactured.
Orthotics can be made to help reduce the effects of fallen arches, heel spurs, ankle pronation (turning inwards of foot during walking), and uneven pelvis/leg length problems.
A secondary use of orthotics is to help reduce lower back pain in persons who have uneven leg lengths. If one leg is shorter than the other, even by 1/8 inch it can cause a bending effect at the lumbosacral joint when standing (think of a wobbly chair with one short leg), resulting in back pain and accelerated joint degeneration. In this case, the orthotic for the short leg side would be thicker by a few millimeters to even out the discrepancy, reducing the forces to the lower back.
We
use the Amfit brand of orthotics at our clinic. They are high quality
orthotics that are designed to last several years. You can select the
level of firmness (soft, medium, firm) and the lining. Orthotics work
best when placed in shoes that have removable manufacturer insoles.
Chiropractic extremity adjustments and joint mobilization can also be done to the various joints in the foot to help "break it in" for orthotic use.
To schedule an appointment, call (415) 627-9077 or use our self-service, online appointment scheduling application, Genbook.
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