Dealing With Flat Feet

First of all, take a breath. Having flat feet is not the end of the world, and you can live as good a life as anyone else with flat feet, and even work on training your foot arch to deal with flat feet.

What Are Flat Feet?

A person is said to have flat feet when their foot arch is practically non-existent, when their foot lies flat on the ground and there is no place under the inside of the foot.

Where Does It All Start?

Every human was born with flat feet. Babies are not born with an arch in their foot, and they develop as we grow up.
Arches typically form at the age of 6 years.
The arch depends on multiple factors including genetics, lifestyle and injuries (if any)

Types Of Flat Feet

Now most people with flat feet do not experience any pain but there are chances of problems in the future and it is important for us to understand what group of flat footers do we lie in.

1. You may have a flat foot by design (by birth)
               
Fun fact: Usain Bolt has flat feet.

There is a good chance that in this case, you will not face any major challenges when it comes to your foot health if you take care of your feet by keeping them active and training them regularly.

2. You may develop a flat foot over the years due to weak muscles or injuries.

If you are one of these people, we have work to do. And by work, I mean exercise.

Avoiding Obvious Pitfalls

Most doctors on diagnosing flat foot would suggest rest and orthotics. Super expensive insoles and special shoes that will “support” your arch. Now this may be useful in case of an injury or while you recover, however this is only a band aid.
The real cause lies in your muscles.
You wouldn’t wear a cast all your life if you fractured your arm. You would wear it for a while and then get back to living a full life.

Understanding The Biology Of Faller Arches

The arch of the foot is supported by multiple muscles - Tibialis anterior and posterior, Peroneus Longus, Flexor Digitorum Longus, Abductor Hallucis, Flexor Digitorum Brevis and Platar Aponeurosis.

All these muscles are muscles that run from the calf to connect to the arch ensuring the entire foot movement at the ankle.

Returning To A Pain Free Life

While an orthotic may work as a great band aid to solve temporary pain. The only true long term solution for pain free life is training these muscles to perform optimally.

Our sedentary lifestyles and high reliance on external support leave our muscles weak and unable to perform.

Long term use of highly cushioned shoes and tight shoes leave the foot in a bad shape leading to even more problems.
Tight shoes cause our big toe to rotate inwards leading to an even further collapse of the arch leaving us in constant pain.
So it is time to switch to training either barefoot, or in barefoot shoes to develop foot strength and a natural arch.


Exercises For Your Training

Here are some exercises that can help strengthen all the muscles we mentioned above:

1. Release your arch by rolling a ball under your foot

2. Walk on uneven surfaces
3. Grass pulls with toes - pull your toes in and out
4. Lift arch - squeeze the arch and lift it up
5. Calf raises with ball in between your ankles
6. Heel walks - walk on your heels
7. Toe walks - walk on your toes
8. Tibia raises - stand against a wall and pull your toes upwards with heels on the floor
9. Big toe presses - press a cosco ball under your toe with your feet on the ground

There are a lot of exercises that you can mix up and practice regularly to train your muscles.
Slowly and eventually you will see benefits with pain as your muscles get stronger and can support your body better.

Most importantly, ensure you do not wear shoes that squeeze your toes together so that you can use your feet freely and to the best of their ability with no compromise on health.