What Are the Hazards of Flat Feet?
The harms of flatfoot include affecting normal walking, predisposing to leg-related diseases, easy heel injury, and potentially affecting the normal development of the spine. Here are some detailed explanations:
There are both inherited congenital flatfoot and acquired flatfoot caused by improper shoe wearing.
Prolonged walking or standing can make people feel more tired than usual. At the same time, the flattening of the foot significantly reduces the support function of the lower limbs for the whole body, shifting the body's center of gravity inward, which forces changes in the function of the whole body and spine, leading to diseases in related areas of the legs.
People with flatfoot walk with their feet pointing inward and toes outward, which can lead to heel injury due to wear and tear on the outer side of the shoe heel and the inner side of the shoe.
Due to the lack of arch support, the navicular bone collapses, the ligaments of the foot stretch, and the uneven pressure distribution affects the pelvis, causing the thighs and pelvic frame to tilt and rotate, leading to the downward displacement of the pelvis or coccyx, forming scoliosis and resulting in shoulder slant. Doctors will use imaging devices to examine the bones of children's feet to determine if they have flatfoot. This is mainly done by having the child step on a sheet of dark paper with bare feet coated in white powder, leaving a footprint. In a normal foot, the inner edge of the foot should not touch the ground, so it will not be covered with powder. However, in flatfoot, most or all of the bottom of the foot will be covered with powder. By measuring the distance between certain points on the child's foot, doctors can assess the severity of flatfoot. If the distance is approximately the same as the width of the narrowest part of the footprint, it indicates mild flatfoot. If it is about half the width of the narrowest part of the footprint, it indicates moderate flatfoot. If there is no indentation, it indicates severe flatfoot. Another method is to take X-ray images of the foot under weight-bearing conditions to measure changes in the angle of the foot arch.
