Flat Foot

When we stand, the pads present in our feet hold the pressure on the ground. There are several types of flat feet like a flexible, rigid, fallen arch, and vertical talus. Genes can inherit a Flat foot as they start forming at the initial birth years; however, some people develop a flat foot in adulthood. Several problems result in increasing your risk of having a flat foot. The reasons that increase your risk of the flat foot include issues like broken bones, cerebral palsy, diabetes, down syndrome, pregnancy, obesity, and high blood pressure.

What is a Flat foot?

A flat foot or Flat Fleet is where both feet have no gap or arch. When you stand on your feet, the pads of the feet get pressed to the ground; basically, there is no arch present in the foot. If you have flat feet, you can have a slight arch when you lift your foot.

All human newborns have a flat foot. By the age of 6 arch gets formed. About 20% of children have flat feet as adults; while some adults have a condition called fallen arches, it is another type of flat foot in which arches collapse. Flat feet are not the problem for many people, but for some, it is. It can be cured by treatment.

Types of a flat foot 

Flat foot can be classified into the following types:

Rigid – A person suffering from Rigid flat feet has no arches when standing or sitting while putting the weight on the feet and zero weight on the feet. This condition mostly catches during the teen years and gets nasty with age. Flat feet can affect both or one foot. Sometimes your feet may hurt and get very painful, and, sometimes it also gets difficult to move your feet up or down.

Flexible – They are the most common issue present nowadays. In this, the arch can be viewed while you are standing, but all the weight gets on your feet, and the arch is not there when you get on your feet. It affects both the feet and gradually gets problematic for tenders and ligaments as they can tear, swell, and stretch.

Vertical talus – Some newborns have a congenital disability, in which arches avert from forming. It is also called vertical talus. The vertical talus is also known as a rocker-bottom foot. The talus bone and the ankle are in the wrong set of positions.

Fallen arch – In this, at the age of an adult, the foot’s arch gets to collapse unpredictably, and the fallen foot causes the foot to turn outwards, resulting in too much pain. The most common problem in this type is inflammation or tear in the leg tendon, affecting only one foot. 

What are the problems with the flat foot?

Having flat feet as a problem from the day they are born is due to genes. Some people had a very high arch in childhood, and some had a very little or negligible arch, resulting in flat feet. In some people, flat feet occur later with age. There are many problems resulting in the increased risk of flat foot;

• Cerebral Bones
• Diabetes
• Down Syndrome
• High Blood pressure 
• Achilles tendon injuries 
• Broken Bones 
• Pregnancy
• Obesity
• Rheumatoid arthritis

Characteristics of Flat Foot

The Characteristics of flat feet and the most identifiable indication of flat foot are lack of arches in your feet, mainly when you are standing or putting weight on your feet, which causes pain on your inner side of the arches and feet.

Some problems caused by flat feet are:

• Ankle, heel, foot pain
• Rolled-in-ankles
• Shin splints
• Inflammation of soft tissues
• Foot, arch, and leg fatigues
• PTTD
• Leg cramps
• Toe drift

What is the treatment for a flat foot?

Flat feet can be cured by treatment; your health care provider can make detection by watching your symptoms and by checking how your arches are when you stand, walk or sit. You can also be advised to get an X-ray of your foot to examine the bone structure. Many people don’t have major problems with flat feet as they don’t require surgical treatments; they can be cured by the standard treatment provided by health care. 

Some of the flat foot treatments include:

Physical therapies strengthen tight tendons and muscles, making them stretched for improving stability and flexibility.

NSAID’s – (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), using some ice and rest to get relief or ease the pain and inflammation.

There are some exercises for the treatment of flat feet. They are below:

A physical therapist or health advisor may endorse some specific exercises to manage the pain and cure or prevent the issue from developing more from that point.

Heel cord stretching

This exercise helps stretch the Achilles tendons and posterior calf muscles, as Achilles tendons tend to move the foot to roll inwards.

The Golf ball roll

The Golf Ball roll requires a chair and a Golf ball. Firstly, you sit on a chair and put your feet on the ground and, when you put the golf ball under your feet, keep it moving forward and backward under the arch. A person should do it daily for 2 minutes as a minimum time.

Conclusion

A Flat foot is a commonly occurring problem. It is mostly inherited in genes. However, one can suffer from a flat foot in their adulthood. Several reasons result in a flat foot, like wearing a wrong or deformed sole shoe. A flat foot refers to a state of your feet where your feet do not have an arch in the lower part of your feet. This problem is not a harmful or dangerous problem to some extent. However, if you face problems like disbalance or falling while standing, you should consult a doctor.