Related Foot Health Topics

Children's Feet A child’s still-developing feet have to carry their entire body weight through their lifetime. Many adult foot ailments, like other health problems, have their origins in childhood and are present at birth. Periodic professional attention and regular foot care can minimize these problems later in life.  Consultation between the podiatrist, pediatrician, and other medical specialists helps to resolve these related problems.

Foot Surgery Many foot problems do not respond to "conservative" medicine. Your podiatric physician can determine when surgical intervention may be helpful. Often when pain or deformity persists, surgery may be appropriate to alleviate discomfort or to restore the function of your foot.

Footwear Proper podiatric-prescribed or recommended footwear can reduce foot problems.

Orthotics are shoe inserts that are intended to correct an abnormal, or irregular, walking pattern. They are usually custom-made to your foot type and structure.

Walking Foot and ankle problems are sometimes associated with a person’s walk or gait. Addressing the problem with shoes or orthotics can help correct the underlying issue.  If you have leg, knee, hip or back pain, it may be due to the biomechanics of your foot. You may have heard of the term "pronation." Pronation is a normal motion of your foot involving inward rotation. In general, pronation is one of the ways our foot absorbs shock and if you are an overpronator, your foot is an excellent shock absorber but does this at the expense of stability. Overpronators tend to develop conditions such as pain on the inner side of the ankle, anterior knee pain (patellofemoral syndrome), and low back pain. If you are an underpronator (supinator), your foot tends to lack efficient shock absorption; therefore, you are prone to conditions such as stress fractures, shin splints, outside of the knee pain (Iliotibial Band Syndrome), and/or hip pain.