How to Distinguish Flat Foot?

Everyone's feet have a perfect arc, which is often called the arch of foot. The arch of foot can help people walk to cushion concussion, adapt to terrain and maintain stability. The flat foot will cause the arch to collapse. When jumping or landing at a high place, the body's elastic buffer is small, the corresponding impact force is large, and it is easy to damage the bone structure. Flatfoot can affect the knee joint, hip joint and even spine, so there are a variety of symptoms, such as X-shaped legs, pelvis forward tilt, high and low shoulders and so on. Flatfoot may don’t show any symptoms in childhood, but it will gradually become more and more obvious as it grows older. You must pay attention to the problem of flatfoot. How to judge whether you have flatfoot or not?

1. Method of Flatfoot Self-test

Step 1: barefoot, wet the sole of the foot with water.

Step 2: find a newspaper or white paper and step on it with normal force.

Step 3: observe the arch of the foot to see if there is bulge on the inside of the foot. 

2. Congenital Flatfoot & Acquired Flatfoot

Flatfoot can be divided into congenital and acquired.

(1) Congenital flatfoot means that the arch does not exist in the case of non weight bearing (i.e. foot off the ground) and weight bearing (i.e. foot on the ground). Congenital flatfoot is caused by congenital dysplasia, heredity or foot skeletal muscle abnormality, which is relatively rare. To a lesser extent, it will return to normal when growing up. If serious, the patient will start to have complications in adolescence. The correction of congenital flat foot requires the use of orthotic insoles to prevent the body.

(2) Acquired flatfoot is defined as having arch in the condition of non weight bearing, but no arch in the case of weight bearing. Due to long-term incorrect walking posture, or wearing inappropriate shoes for a long time standing and running will lead to acquired flatfoot. For acquired flatfoot, it can be corrected by some training or using orthotic insole. Generally speaking, before the age of 8, wearing corrective insoles has the chance to cure completely. If over the age of 8, only functional insoles can be used to be corrected. 

The orthotic insole is made of polymer material and gives certain support to the patient's foot through a certain degree of flexibility and strength. The common insole is a flat plate, and the orthotic insole has increased the thickness at the arch of the foot, which can correct the patient's foot shape. 

The foot bears all the weight of human body when standing, and plays the function of movement and shock absorption when walking. Flatfoot not only affects health, but also brings great inconvenience to work and life. A pair of professional orthotic insoles can improve the condition of the flat foot.