Flat feet, or low arches encourage the foot to roll inwards towards the arch and collapse against the ground. This places stress on the foot, ankle and subsequently, the hips and back.
Postural weakness can apply to the entire chain of biodynamics in the human body. It can start with poor foot positioning, foot pronation ( rolling inwards to absorb shocks ), the positioning and twisting of our lower legs, all the way up to excessive stress on the knee and hip joints. This is where it then connects to the posture habits in our lower and upper back area. So, looking at your posture problem is about looking at your overall health.
Heel pain or ankle pain can be caused by a number of things and here at 'BodymattersMotion' we build better bodies, from the feet up !
The Plantar fascia is a strong band of tissue underneath the foot, between the heel and the ball, which maintains the strength and integrity of the foot and can affect the entire kinetic chain potentially leading to problems with knee, hip, low back and even as far up as the neck.
When the tissue is strained, small tears can occur and they can become inflamed and pain is felt along the arch of your foot.
Another condition also linked to plantar fasciitis is a heel spur, whereby there is additional bone growth under the heel bone.
Posterior Impingement syndrome relates to ankle pain caused by soft tissue pressing up against the bone and pain is felt at the back of the ankle. It can be caused by specific activity in your daily life, overuse in sports or just day-to-day routine activity. The syndrome may also be caused by- believe it or not- an extra bone at the back of your ankle. We normally have 26 bones in the foot but some of us were given an extra bone at birth, or sometimes the extra bone, at the back of the ankle, is there because of a previous trauma.
The structure of the ankle complex can change over time and those athletes or dancers who subject their ankle to a pressure that is higher than average, may be at risk of this syndrome.
The fascial lines in our bodies connect 'head to toe' or in other words, all the joints, bones and muscles are interconnected. When one area is out of balance, it affects our posture, the pressure we put on our other joints and muscles, and this is why it takes a professional to make an accurate assessment to look at the bigger picture.
So, if you have any postural issues, pain or problem feet, feel free to discuss this further or book a free 15 min consultation with me, Tina at BodymattersMotion.