Everything You Need to Know About Flat Feet: Their Effect on Your Shoe Heels

Did you know that flat feet can affect your shoe heel and may also influence your lifestyle? Flat feet are not just a foot deformity since they may also limit your activities. If you have a favorite shoe and over time you realize that only one of your heel gets worn out, it is time to examine flat feet closely. If you want to preserve your shoes, it is important to understand the relationship between flat feet and shoes. This article discusses the meaning of flat feet, their major causes, symptoms and how they impact your heels. More so, the insights will help to make informed decisions on how to deal with the heel wear and tear issue. So, let us take a look flat feet are and how do they work!

Defining the Concept of Flat Feet

In simple terms, flat feet means one has no arch as the condition results in one’s arch collapsing. Such individuals’ soles completely touch the ground devoid of any arch ANGLE. This is a common condition especially when a person has one or both feet with an arch.

Based on statistics, flat feet don’t bother most individuals. But for a subset of the population, it’s a different case as standing or walking can lead to discomfort in their feet, ankles, knees and hips. Flat feet can be seen in children and adult women too who have obesity or some foot injury. 

The most common medicine to combat this situation is genetics; if one of your parents has flat feet, its better to take precautions. And climate settings such as routine habits and activity levels become rather useful.

By having the correct shoe before hand can also aid with getting support and alleviating strain from other parts, this is in regards to understanding flat feet. This also allows to curb further problems in future. 

Common Causes and Symptoms 

For a aforementioned plethora of reasons, some individuals have been diagnosed with flat feet. The most common medicine to combat this situation is genetics; if one of your parents has flat feet, there are high chances you’d inherit it. Not to mention, going through the aging process also alters the structure since the ligaments becoming more and more lose.

You also add foot or ankle injuries into the mix as well, they make for a great contributor of flat feet. By having trauma, you weaken all of the absorption system, also known as arch height. Furthermore, arthritis and diabetes are examples of other ailments that one can have that can change the mechanics of one’s foot.

Symptoms of flat feet differ from one patient to another but they commonly include pain at the arch area and the heels. For some individuals, it becomes uncomfortable to remain standing for long hours or to perform some physical activity. There can also be swelling along the inner side of the ankle from a lot of strain that acts upon it.

Those who have flat feet are several times unable to find shoes to wear since they lack enough support and can be considered uncomfortable. The arch of the foot simply collapses due to a lack of support and these conditions worsen the problems such as lack of balance and weight being unnecessarily exerted on certain areas of the foot rather than being evenly distributed.

Identifying Symptoms Related to Excess Heel Wear

Wearing down of the heel bone is quite common in flat foot individuals but it can be an indicator for other underlying problems too, excessive heel wear can be an indicator for these problems. The prominent indicator of the use and wear off of shoes is the degree of stress concentration, for instance, if one shoe or side of the shoe gets worn off faster, it means there’s improper weight distribution leading to flat arcs.

Pay attention to heels or the lateral side of the foot, because their degeneration can serve as an indicator of other degeneration and abnormalities of other anatomy structures of foot or of the ankle joint. This does not only affect the durability of shoes but also the comfort of walking. Also, take notice of how your shoes fit, if that region always feels tight, then it may mean your shoes are badly worn out.

Squeaking noises while walking could also be an indicator of the worn-out heel. Keep track of how often you need to change shoes. If there is a regular pattern in which you need to replace the shoes, take a look at how foot structure affects the way you choose your footwear and how comfortable you are during other activities which involve the feet.

Coping with Heel Wear for Flat Feet

Coping with wear and tear of the heel for flat footed people is not that hard and in fact has a number of practical strategies. One of the foremost is a footwear selection. A shoe with an adequate support for an arch can be effective in evading excessive pressure on the heel and allow even distribution of the body weight. Consider options that offer support and structure postural control system.

If heel pain becomes unbearable, orthotic inserts can help. Both custom made and non prescription orthotics can easily be purchased and worn and allow you to exert the required pressure on your heels while allowing you to perform daily work with ease.

Another preventive approach is seen with the regular follow up of a podiatrist. He can observe any alterations in your feet structure and advise a change if appropriate. Exercises to target the muscles which support the arches may help in enhancing comfort and stability furthermore.

Consciously thinking about body position and posture prevents two flat footed people from excessive wearing out of the heel. Noticing how you walk enables you to make the right adjustments before something goes wrong.

By embracing these measures, individuals with flat foot deformity can manage the Achilles tendon wear off in their favorite shoes while having better foot health. 

How Flat Feet Affects The Heel of The Shoe

Shoes that flat footers wear, over a period of time will wear out and become flat. This is mainly because the arches of the foot are collapsed or depressed which cause irregularities in the pressure across different parts of the shoe, leading to excess stress on already unsupported parts, which in this case is predominantly heels. 

These individuals would have a rather wide gait position while standing which over time causes their feet to pronate more than overactivity to be healthier, genotypically flat footed individuals as a result may roll their ankles more than genetically normal footed people, thereby increasing the pressure on the heel and the shoe. 

This misconception about flat footed people needing more collapse to pronation was proven wrong. In fact, by neutralizing the support in pronating fashion of the shoes due to poor biomechanics of flat people who wear them, automatically preserves the shoe cover and brings comfort to the individual. 

In summary, flat footed discrimination is tough where biogenetically induced habit change are neuroplastic in nature and where heel strength and toughness are lacking.

To determine if a patient is flat footed, a healthcare provider would most likely commence with a physical evaluation. They may check your feet’s arch while you are standing or walking, which allows them to evaluate its shape. It is possible to identify if the arches are weight bearing and collapse or if they remain standing.

It is also reasonable to consider X-rays or magnetic resonance imaging tests. These may show the extent of the bone displacement and also point out structural deficits of the foot responsible for the flatness. This assists with establishing how bad the condition is which is paramount in coming up with suitable treatment.

Severally, the treatment method adopted depends on the affected person’s symptoms and the severity of the disease. Many people complain of pains which can be relieved by the use of custom-made orthotics, as a non-invasive method. Additional suggestions that people may be given are strengthening exercises that are meant to stabilize the feet.

In more serious situations, restructuring operations may be carried out to rectify the abnormalities in the foot. However, this is most often regarded as the final option when more conservative therapies do not provide adequate pain relief.

Impact on Shoes

Flat feet can have a strong effect on the wearing of shoe heels. This is caused by the absence of or low arches which may mean that weight is not spread out evenly across the foot. This weight shift results to even more weight applied on specific parts of the shoes, mainly the heels.

Hence, the individuals with flat look to be wearing out their heel faster than people that don’t have this condition. Even people that do not have that condition usually suffer tearing or degradation in their shoes due to constant friction against surfaces, this condition just increases that rate. The most important point to note is that always checking your footwear might help you better understand how the flat feet affect the shoes.

The pathological content is of style and looks The not only influence comfort and support. Over a prolonged period of continuous wearing, a damaged heel can have a long term affect on your posture and gait causing pain in most parts of the body.

Addressing these concerns timely is the key to getting both the shoes and the feet in good health. Monitoring the wear and tear of the heel helps in making sound decisions regarding which shoes to buy next given that you have flat feet.