A person with flatfeet have feet with decreased or absent arches. The inside aspect of the foot appears to be more bowed outward than normal and the heel bone appears to be turned outward. This is usually an inherited trait passed from parents to their children.

Although babies feet look flat, their arches are just filled with excess fat. As the child grows, the bones become more prominent as the fat decreases and the foot starts to show more of a characteristic shape. If by the ages of two or three, your child still has undeveloped arches, consult your podiatrist. Weight baring on young feet without arches places excess force on the developing bones, which may lead to bone and joint problems in the future.

You should consult your podiatrist if your child is complaining of pain in their arches, heel or ankle. Excessive inward rolling of the arches also makes the leg and knee turn inwards and pain may also develop in the knees, lower back and hip.

Foot orthotics are moulded from your individual foot and are worn within your shoes. Foot orthotics limit the abnormal flat arch shape and rolling in of the heel bone during weight-baring. This helps improve the mechanics of the foot and often alleviates the pain associated with flatfeet.

A quick way to indicate if you may be flatfooted is uneven shoe wear towards the inside of your flat foot. Also observe the prints left behind from your wet feet. Are you flatfooted? Ask your podiatrist……

From left: Flat foot, 'normal' foot, high-arched foot

Click here to go Back