What are flat feet?

This is the 3557th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

The foot is one of the keys to our sports. Foot diseases can cause us to be unable to walk healthily, thus seriously affecting our colorful life. In the foot and ankle clinic, we often see some patients suffering from flat feet. Today, we will share with you the diagnosis and treatment of flat feet.

Flat feet, as the name suggests, means that the arch of the foot is flat, without the normal arc height. The foot is turned outward and the inside is collapsed, forming an outward-facing "eight" shape, and the contact area between the foot and the ground is significantly increased. So how do flat feet come about?

Flat feet are mainly caused by congenital heredity, foot trauma or chronic strain. Most flat foot patients have a clear family history of heredity. Chronic strain caused by foot trauma or excessive foot load is also one of the causes of flat feet.

What should we do if we have flat feet? How should we treat them? This is the top priority for everyone. Most flat feet patients have no obvious symptoms, especially adolescent patients. They will only find out during physical examinations, so they usually don’t pay much attention to it.

If you experience some foot discomfort, you need to wear flat foot insoles or flat foot orthotic shoes to raise the inside of the heel and move the weight-bearing line outward to prevent and alleviate foot deformities.

Foot physiotherapy and massage: Soak your feet in warm water every night, and use some Chinese medicine for fumigation and massage of the calf and foot muscles. You can put some small soft stones in the basin and grab them with your toes to move the foot muscles when soaking your feet. You can also train the outer side of your foot to walk on the ground to improve the pressure on the inner side of the foot.

If the patient is more serious, surgery is required, but the earlier the correction, the better the effect. I hope you can gain something from reading this and have a better understanding of flat feet. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I hope you will care about your foot health and pay attention to my foot and ankle clinic (joint surgery - foot and ankle specialty every Thursday morning).

Department of Orthopedics, Shanghai Seventh People's Hospital, Ju Yufeng

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