I was walking after work this afternoon and ran into a neighbor. He was complaining of back pain, hip pain, and sciatica. As a second thought, he mentioned that he had flat feet and after years of doing without them, finally had orthotics custom ordered. He wanted to know about what to do about the hip pain.
I told him that if one has flat feet, that can affect the rest of the body if uncorrected. If one foot is flatter than the other, the body can be affected resulting in all sorts of back, neck and sometimes even shoulder pain asymmetrically.
If you place a stack of books on a table and the table legs are uneven, it will tip. The body will as well. Anyone with any sort of foot problem should address it sooner with proper foot wear and orthotics or they may find it spreading to the rest of the body. Back pain can be a complication of flat feet. Orthotics can make a big difference in avoiding long term problems.
February 7, 2009 at 10:30 pm
hi,
Flat foot cause internal tibial rotation & compensatory hip muscle tensile changes. This may create a imbalence in hip muscles. Further the lumbo-pelvic mechanism is faulty that makes the dynamics of that area vulnarable to varity mechanical causes of low back pain.
satyajit