In my 45 years of practice fixing foot issues, by far the number one impediment in healing and staying healed is addressing the subluxations in the foot. Subluxation just means that a bone is in the wrong place causing lots of trouble.
Conditions include: Plantar Fasciitis, Neuroma, Metatarsitis, Metatarsalgia, Ankle pain and instability, Achilles tendonitis, Arch pain. Chronic knee, hip, and low back pain is commonly a factor and impedes healing when the foot is misaligned.
Why don’t more physicians address this?
Because there are 26 bones in the foot for a total of 52. Each bone is important for the function of your “kinetic” chain all the way up to your Jaw! This is a complex study to master and there are many specialties out there and areas of study for doctors to choose from.
Homo Sapiens have so many unique attributes that no other animal has. Just standing erect defies the laws of physics and is a very delicate balance at best. Wearing shoes or walking barefoot on floors at home and cement sidewalks only make it harder for our kinetic chain to function. We evolved to walk on the dirt, grass and sand in our bare feet which allow the foot to grab the ground and maintain it’s structure. (Not bare feet on synthetic floors/streets). Lots of money is made off of foot problems these days and checking to see if you can have a simple, cheap, safe answer to painfully debilitating foot problems is worth checking out.
Orthotics-Custom Foot Inserts
Over the years I have had thousands of patients who have spent a lot of money on orthotics that either help a little or not at all. There are some that do work for patients as well. Knowing the whole story and not just a bit of information helps to make orthotics much more successful. A simple cheap arch from the drug store may have helped more in many cases. Hard orthotics lock up your foot bones and interfere with your feet absorbing shock, as well as function in your leg muscles. Firm is fine – just not the hard plastic ones that never wear out and do not take in to account that your foot does change over the years and the old ones may not be helping any more .
The big take home is you wouldn’t think of putting a cast on a broken or dislocated bone without lining it up first for the best results. Nor would you think of just getting a sling for your dislocated shoulder instead of putting it back in place first. Why would you have an orthotic made that is a mirror image of your messed up foot? When I put the bones back in place and then make an orthotic, every time you walk on it your feet , knees and hips are correcting and adapting to the place they used to be in before the injury, bad shoes or disease happened and the result is not having to revolve your life around your feet. (Like I did as well before I learned these techniques from my mentor Dr Kevin Hearon in Boise ID.
