Flat Feet Treatment

A flat foot or fallen arch can have a serious impact on your movement & posture.

Our Doreen & Reservoir Podiatrists are expertly-trained in dealing with a wide-range of flat feet causes and symptoms. They will help devise a flat feet treatment plan unique to your personal needs.

A flat foot also known as fallen arches is a condition which allows the entire soles of your feet to touch the floor when you stand up. At Muscle Joint Bone Podiatry Clinic we combine multiple podiatry modalities to treat your feet.

While Flat feet are common and often painless, they can present a number of issues affecting your everyday life. Flatfeet can occur when the arches don’t develop during childhood. In other cases, flatfeet develop after an injury or from the simple wear-and-tear stresses of age.

Flat feet most commonly contribute to problems with knees, ankles, hips and lower back and can affect all these areas in terms of alignment and imbalances. Flat feet can place great stress on the medial side of the ankle leading to a susceptibility to eversion ankle sprains.

Causes of Flat Feet

• Genetic factors
• Abnormality that has been present from birth
• Weak arches
• Arthritis
• Weak surrounding areas such as ankle and knees
• Foot or ankle injury
• Nerve problems
• Reoccurring injury
• Damage or rupture of the posterior tibial tendon

Flat Feet Symptoms

Flat feet symptoms will be fairly easy to diagnose, you may even be able to make an early guess that you have flat feet by looking in the mirror. You will notice in feet where an arch is present that there will be a discernible difference.
Often however, people will not experience any pain or discomfort and can live uninhibited for many years.
If any of the following symptoms are present, you may have flat feet

• A noticeable difference in appearance, with arches touching or almost touching the gorunf when standing
• Pain, especially in the arches of the feet
• Fatigue
• Pain or feelings of misalignment in feet, ankles, knees, hips or lower back
• Minor swelling

Diagnosis of Flat Feet

Diagnosing flat feet will examine firstly whether you do infact have flat feet, which is the easy part, the more difficult part is determining the cause. Our expert podiatrists do this by conducting the following

• Analysis of the soles of your footwear to see any unusual wear patterns’
• Health history that could be linked to flat feet
• Observing the biomechanics of your movements
• Using medical imaging tests such as X-rays or MRI’s

Flat Feet Treatment

Flat feet can vary greatly in severity. If there is no pain or discomfort present, our podiatry team may recommend strengthening exercises or an orthotic insert. If however there is pain our team may recommend the following:

• Rest and ice
• Pain relief medications, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories
• Manual therapy
• Injected medications to reduce inflammation, such as corticosteroids
• Surgery (only in extreme cases)

If you have any questions in regards to this condition do not hesitate to call our team to arrange an appointment.

For more information on how Podiatry can help you, or to book an appointment at our Doreen and Reservoir locations, contact us on (03) 9442 2912