Hello, my name is Alex and I’m from Canada.
This is my first blog so I hope I’m doing it right.

Problems in childhood
I have always had flat feet. When I was a kid I used to stumble and fall a lot, and I mean A LOT because my feet were pointing inwards; but that’s OK, I was never bothered by it although my folks seemed to be…so I had to try arch supports which I couldn’t stand and did not wear and the same goes with walking barefooted – didn’t really do anything.

As I grew up I figured out a way to straighten out my feet – I put the weight on the exterior of my feet and managed to keep them pointing straight when walking. This caused another, pretty frequent, problem which was ankle spraining; but I could live with it and it doesn’t really happen that much these days. Oh yeah, I remember two other minor problems: sharp pain in my calf muscles for a few years while I was growing up and also, my knees gradually started to make a clicking noise when sitting and standing up. Not a big deal, really. If you are wandering why I’m busting my brain to remember all these details, you’ll see it will all make sense later, and BTW, this blog IS about flat feet so keep reading and it will all come together.

Sports
About three years ago I bought a pair of rollerblades (I never ever skated before) and tried them out….horrible aching pain in my (almost absent) arch; at first I thought there is something wrong with the rollerblade’s shoe but after trying a different pair I figured it’s my foot.
At this point I started researching to see what I can do about it. Of course the only thing I could find on the web and elsewhere were countless types of arch support and/or heel cup orthotics like the ones you see on TV every day. I tried two different kinds of arch supports: a fairly cheap one from Wallmart and another more sophisticated one with adjustable levels of support with the same end-result – very painful to my feet; I couldn’t stand wearing either one for more than 2 days and ended up returning the more expensive ones. So..I kinda gave up at this point and figured rollerblading is not for me.

Now comes the tipping point. I’ve been hiking, skiing and playing tennis or squash fairly frequently without having any problems. Last summer, after a day hike my right knee started hurting pretty badly..and it continued to be bad. I couldn’t really run, it even hurt while walking not to mention climbing stairs. Hiking was out of the question, and almost any other outdoors activity for that matter.
After a few weeks I saw a doctor who treated my knee and recommended a couple of exercises which alleviated most of the pain. Good. He also explained to me the problem: my adductor muscles are not in balance and one of them is pulling stronger on the kneecap, moving it slightly out of its place which, in turn, creates more friction and inflammation of the surrounding tissue…end result: PAIN.

Anyway, as long as I kept exercising things were not bad, but as soon as I would stop for a week or so the pain would come back. Let me tell you that at this point both my knees are not just clicking but also squeaking pretty badly when going up and down the stairs. And I’m only 30 so I really had to do something about this. And I kept wandering why the heck is one of my adductor muscles stronger than the other? I-m not doing anything at work or otherwise that would make one muscle stronger. I just walk.

DING!! Yeah. My walking is not right. That’s right!! I have flat feet. So if I exercise things are good but as soon as I stop my bad walking takes over and I’m back to where I started. So I kept looking for something else since arch supports were out of the question.

Are you bored? Don’t worry. We’re there. I FOUND IT. 3 weeks ago I found a website that sells insoles that are based on an entirely (I mean TOTALLY) different concept: no heel cup…good, no arch support……goooood. What then?

The insoles
These insoles look like a regular thin insole, but have have raised wedge under the big toe and the first metatarsal (picture) and a lot of good research backing them up. There is a lot of scientific information on their website, may be boring for some of you, but not for me and,Metatarsal Introduction if you decide to check it out, I suggest you read everything patiently and click on all their links as there is good information almost everywhere. It’s not your regular shiny and all flashy website trying to grab customers; and they needn’t to. They are decent people selling a good product and that’s what should grab your attention. And it is a good product as you will shortly see. This website is Morton’s Foot.

In plain language, here is the catch: based on research by Dr. Dudley Morton, Doctor Brian A. Rothbart DPM, PhD, discovered that in many patients, when the ankle is positioned to best support the body, the big toe is raised, bearing little or no weight and the first metatarsal bone is also slightly rotated. In order for the big toe to become weight bearing while standing or walking, it has to travel down and by the time it gets there the ankle rolls inward and the arch of the foot collapses. This medical condition is called hyperpronation or over-pronation. This foot structure originates from birth (congenital) and it’s called Rothbart’s foot structure.
Now, if you’re thinking – No way!! My big toe is not raised, this is not for me – the key words are: “when the ankle is positioned to best support the body” – and if you have flat feet chances are your ankles are not positioned to best support your body; they are rolled inward (bad position) all the time and you see your big toe staying firmly on the ground.
hyperpronatingfoot1 Introductionhyperpronatingfoot2 Introduction
In brief, this is the mechanism and if you have flat feet it’s very likely you have Rothbart’s foot. Apparently about 80% of the population has Rothbart’s foot, ranging from milder to more severe forms. Hyperpronation also causes your body’s center of balance to shift forward and causing a full range of related problems in your body.

If you do a simple search in Google with the good doctor’s name you will find he also has a Webpage presenting all his research. In my opinion it is sound research and lots of it; but you be the judge. If you have the patience, go ahead, you have the link. By the way, Dr. Rothbart is mentioned in Wikipedia’s definition for Orthotics in the heading for Proprioceptive stimulation orthotics. The Posture Control Insoles are a type of proprioceptive stimulation orthotic.

How it actually works:
Going back to the Posture Control Insoles, here is how they work: You have the raised wedge of the insole. The moment your big toe touches it and the nerves on the toe sense it, the nerves tell that to the brain. The brain is tricked into thinking that the big toe touched the ground. In response, in the same split-second the brain tells the foot muscles to contract as if the big toe did touch the ground and, when they do, other muscles in your body contract too and that changes your posture to a normal one. Pretty smart isn’t it. And simple too, as many genial ideas are. So, as you can see, a simple solution – the raised wedge in the insole – causes a big change. Really cool!! I’m glad I found this site.

What else….after reading all there is on the Morton’s Foot website I know a few more things about my symptoms:
1. Remember what I told you earlier that in order to be able to walk straight I am using mostly the outer part of my foot…that is called hypersupination; apparently many people are unconsciously doing it to compensate for hyperpronation.
2. My knee problems are caused by my flat feet. It is called runner’s knee: the kneecap is not tracking properly over the knee.
3. Neck pain…sometimes I do have a sore neck…same cause..Although indirectly, hyperpronation causes your body to bend forward, the neck too, and since the head is not fully supported by the spine anymore, gravity pulls it down and strains your neck muscles.
4. Clicking jaw – have that too and never thought it’s caused by my feet. It is! Same cause as the neck pain.

So, after researching the Morton’s Foot website pretty thoroughly I Introduction decided to order a pair of insoles and see how it goes. Their insoles come in two different wedge thicknesses: 3.5mm and 6mm.

First of all they tell you to check the soles from a pair of frequently worn shoes and match it with pictures on the website. Different wear patterns lead to different conclusions about your foot condition and insole wedge thickness. Here is one of my old hiking shoes it is very worn on the outer edge and outer heel. That’s hypersupination and the site indicates I need 3.5 mm Posture Control Insoles.

Secondly I had to check my foot mechanics by doing a series squats to track the movement of my knees, first normally and than with two 1/4 inch high stacks of post-it’s placed under the first metatarsal of each foot. Normally my knees drew closer together while squatting but, with the post-it’s wedged under the foot, my knees stayed in-line with the foot. Conclusion: that confirms I need the 3.5 mm insoles.
Introduction
There are also other indications that you might have a problem: If your second toe is bigger than the first toe or you have a deeper web space between your first and your second toe, than you have Morton’s foot structure. Everyone who has Morton’s foot structure also has Rothbart’s foot structure discussed earlier. BUT you may still have Rothbart’s foot even if you don’t have Morton’s foot – that’s why they have those other tests where you check your shoes and do the squats!!

That’s as far as I go with the explanations. You can check out Morton’s Foot website for more detailed info and, as I said, try to check all the links, even the ones inside the text.

So here we are, I placed an order for a pair of 3.5mm Posture Control Insoles.

I’ll post more (including pictures of the insoles) when I receive the package.

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