Causes of flatfoot. How to treat flat feet: a set of measures

The name of the disease flat feet speaks for itself. It is a deformation of the foot, which is expressed in its flattening, that is, lowering the arch. A normal foot has one transverse arch and two longitudinal, and therefore it is common to distinguish three types of the disease: transverse, longitudinal and combined.

Before talking about how to treat flatfoot, first consider the possible causes by which it develops.

Causes of flatfoot

Typically, the appearance of flatfoot contributes to an incorrect load, and it does not have to be too strong. Disease can develop and from its lack. But there are other factors.

1. Incorrectly selected shoes. And this factor on the development of flat feet can have an impact even in early childhood, when the baby is just beginning to take the first steps. Of course, this may be due to the fact that the baby's unsteady legs are forced to keep on themselves the mass of his body. But most often parents (due to lack of financial resources or simply from ignorance) get their child unsuitable footwear, for example, too large ("for growth"), without a supporter and a soft back.

And in adulthood provokes the appearance of flat feet or aggravates its development walking on stilettos, in narrow and uncomfortable, but very fashionable shoes, when there is a redistribution of load from the heel to the transverse arch. That is why most of the people suffering from this disease are women.

2. Excessive stress on the legs as a whole. It is characteristic for athletes who are systematically forced to face excessive loads in training and competitions, as well as for people of "standing" professions (hairdressers, sellers, waiters) and people with excessive body weight.

3. Insufficient load on the legs. It is characteristic for persons of "sedentary" occupations and leading sedentary lifestyle. In this case, the flatulence provocateur is weakness, underdevelopment of the muscles of the foot and lower leg.

4. Injuries. Flattening can be one of the consequences of a fracture of the calcaneus, ankle, tarsometric bones, or the result of paralysis of the calf and foot muscles (for example, after poliomyelitis). Extension and bruising of the foot can also lead to the development of the disease.

5. Specific diseases. Flattening can become a consequence of such diseases as poliomyelitis, diabetes, rickets.

6. Other reasons. Here one can distinguish a hereditary and anatomical (X-shaped form of legs) predisposition. They are not the causes of flatfoot, but greatly increase the chances of getting ailment if a person is exposed to one or more of the above factors.

How to treat flat feet? If you find symptoms of a disease in your life or you have already been diagnosed with it, then this question should not be postponed to a "long box". After all, the consequences of your frivolous attitude towards your health can be scoliosis, osteochondrosis of the spine, radiculitis, halus valgus ("knobs" on the legs that grow and periodically ache), a herniated disc, osteoarthrosis of the joints. And all this will be accompanied by painful pains in the feet, legs, knees, hips, back.

Flatness: how to treat

Such a simple-looking illness as a flatfoot is treated not so simply and not so quickly. Moreover, the patient, alas, will never wait for the moment when it will be with relief to say: "I am healed!" Flat-footedness will persecute a person all his life, and his complete cure is possible only in childhood. However, in the forces of modern medicine to slow down the development of the disease and prevent it from spilling over into one of the severe pathologies. Moreover, the earlier an adult thinks about the question of how to treat flat feet, the more favorable conditions are created for stopping the progression of the disease and for its successful correction.

The treatment of flat feet begins with a trip to the orthopedic surgeon and represents a whole complex of measures aimed at both eliminating the pain syndrome and strengthening the muscles of the foot. In order to relieve the pain, doctors use various drugs and prescribe physiotherapy procedures.

The basis of treatment of the disease is therapeutic gymnastics, which the patient can fully carry out at home, but it must be done daily. Thanks to exercises, muscles are trained, the ligamentous apparatus is strengthened, the right type of walking is formed. There are several gyms, the choice of which depends on the type and degree of flat feet, the age of the patient, his complaints.

In addition, it is very useful in the question of how to treat flat feet, pay attention to attendance of massage sessions , manual therapy, the purchase of home massagers, special orthopedic shoes (today it is possible to individually make it on a human foot) and insoles to it.