How to treat Flat Feet

If you already know how to train and eat, probably this section is the most important part of this website for you. Literally, there is barely anything useful on the internet, and that is kinda scary if I can be honest. We have the internet full of medical and fitness websites, forums and all the useless bullshit, while people just suffer and suffer, and sometimes end up undergoing some surgery, while the treatment actually does exist, and it is easily accessible and everybody can do it by themselves. For real! So don’t worry, science has always the answer!

What is Flat Feet?

The most common injury is tendonitis, or some call it tendinitis. Translated into a human language it means inflamed tendons. It happens when you overexert them, and they can’t regenerate. In contrast to the muscles, tendons heal much slower, and while you can recover from a super heavy workout in days, in tendon years the same would take weeks. However, flat feet is not quite just a tendon or ligament issue, but a much more complex problem. Nonetheless, without understanding the mechanism of tendon injuries it would be hard to grasp it.

Flat feet is a very common diagnosis, which is not always “earned” by hard work, aka thinking you are Hulk, but instead of destroying Sokovia you destroy yourself. People are usually predisposed to it, or more prone to it, but as Albus Dumbledore used to say: “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” But you don’t necessarily need a someone who looks like a minor-attracted Santa from Portland, because here I will explain you all the things you have to do, so even if you have the Guinness record of flat feet predisposition, even if you had a duck leg transplant, you will never encounter this problem ever again.

It can start at an innocent pain in your ankle, this is a signal that you have to intervene, otherwise it is going to be much worse…much worse! As you reach this milestone, there may come a time, when each and every step of yours will be painful, running will be just a memory from your careless childhood, and calf exercises will be more extreme sport than fishing with your own pee-pee as a bait.

After this, people realize that something is indeed not very kosher, and only now they go to the doctor, or just google their symptoms finding out they have brain cancer.

What will the doctors suggest?

  • physiotherapy with magnets
  • physiotherapy with a laser
  • stop working out completely

I guess I don’t need to say: you do not need to stop working out at all, and even in the worst possible scenario you need to skip only 1 or 2 leg days. I’ve been working in medical fields for a while, so I am definitely not against medical science, but there is a much easier way, and I will show you how to forget this menace completely.

The slippery slope towards late age suffering

If there is any deformity in your feet or ankles, then other bones, joints, tendons, muscles, etc. will take over the load to compensate. So yes, it can mechanically damage your huge heel bone, it will put unnatural pressure on your knees, hip joints, even on your spine, all by compensating that you were lazy to buy a shitty insole. Yes, that is one of the best guarantee to the painless old age!

What can cause Flat Feet or Ankle Pain?

In order to understand the healing process you need to get familiar with what causes your flat feet or ankle pain. Our feet are designed to walk on an uneven ground, yet society provided us with stylish unergonomic shoes and concrete all around us. Now imagine you are prone to it, and walk or stand a lot, even expose them to a huge pressure when lifting. You never walk barefoot, and if you do, only at home on your super smooth floor. Of course, it would be weird to walk outside barefoot stepping on sharp rocks, used needles and dog poop…what a price to pay for civilisation!

Repetitive positions

Repetitive positions occur, when your feet touch the ground in the same way all the time, especially if you put too much emphasis on your heel. Here, I will say it: you gotta learn how to walk! Yeah, you are not a toddler anymore, even if your cognitive abilities stayed on that level.

Bad shoes and keeping them loose

By bad I don’t mean cheap or idk, but the ones that don’t hold your ankle in a stable position and don’t support your arch. This will result in unstable ankle joint and unstable arch, therefore your feet tendons and ligaments will try to absorb and correct all the stress, by each and every step, which will make them inflamed on mid term, and deformed on long term.

Overtraining

Yes, you can easily overtrain your ankle joint as well, especially if it is not stabilized with good shoes. Remember: no shoe is better then a bad shoe!

Strains and sprains

It’s not a coincidence that usually the fitness-related tendinitis is also called repetitive strain injury. Many people think that they can maximize their exercise movement range by over-stretching the muscle, and while it also hurts the muscle itself yielding no benefit at all, it can be fatal for your tendons. This is why it is extremely important to execute every exercise properly, thus you can avoid any repetitive strain injury, and hear about them only from your uneducated friends.

You think you can have huuuge calves, and overstretch them multiple times a week? Baaam, injury!

The remedy

The most important part is prevention…yeah, it’s a cliche, but still. These methods work, and I have developed and tested them on myself. In my case, the pain did never go away, and regardless of how long I kept my tendons rested, no improvement occurred. That is why it is crucial to engage your tendons in activity, because only if you use them, only then they start to synthesise collagen again, and only then it will heal, and only then the pain will go away.

How to prevent it?

  • get ergonomic shoes
  • get insoles
  • do mild stretches and take breaks
  • don’t overstretch in calf exercises
  • quit smoking
  • cut down omega-6 fatty acids (sunflower oil, grape seed oil), use healthier oils
  • sleep enough (seriously, it’s the most important dietary supplement ever)

You may not even realize, but your fancy shoes and stylish sneakers orconverses can literally make you disabled. Ergonomic shoes are one of your most important investments. The ankle’s position should always be supported as well as the arches’, otherwise they get unnatural pressure, which is not ideal even without pain, but with them it should be completely avoided. Some people keep walking constantly on their heels without even noticing. This may lead to long-term damages, so just pay attention, and then your subconscious will quickly adopt the healthy state. Breaks are always welcomed, especially if you are standing a lot, just make some circular movements with them, stretch a little (not too much!). When doing calf exercises your ankles and you overstretch them thinking it’s the proper way, you may put too much pressure on them. Remember, that you use your ankles throughout your entire day, so they engage in almost all the activities, so they can’t just rest after a traumatic injury. Smoking decreases blood flow and increases inflammatory activities. I mean, it’s unhealthy on default, but when it’s with a little exaggeration about life and death, then it’s the perfect opportunity to get rid of an addiction, thus building a stronger personality as well. Omega 6 fatty acids increase inflammatory activities in your body. There is nothing wrong with using sunflower oil once in a while, or using grape seed oil (for example for steaks due to its higher smoke point), but in general, try to use them as less as possible, and look for more balanced fatty acid profiles, like olive oil. Check the Ingredients page for more info, you won’t regret it. I cannot emphasise enough the importance of sleep. You may get by by sleeping less, but you will eventually pay the price for it. 8h is good, seriously, just do it. And don’t tell me you don’t want it, lol!

How to treat it?

Phase 1.

  • get ergonomic shoes
  • get insoles ASAP!
  • do mild stretches and take breaks
  • NO calf exercises
  • minimize standing and running
  • icing and anti-inflammatory creams and medication ONLY at the beginning, as long as it is still swollen

When you reach the 1st healing phase there are two things to keep in mind: leaving your tendons to rest and then taking care of the inflammation. Inflammation is a natural process that is designed to provide the much needed blood flow for the injured tendon, however, the swollen tendon tissue may damage your surrounding tissues, and that damage could be irreversible. Moreover, your arch will become deformed, and ALL of your steps will become unnatural damaging your knee, hip and spine joints on long term. Stretching is not recommended, only very mild ones, because your tendons are very sensitive and vulnerable right now. This is why ditch the calf exercises, because this phase is about nothing else but healing. You can easily battle inflammation with icing and anti-inflammatory creams. I would not quite recommend anti-inflammatory tablets, but if the problem is way too severe, couple of days of tablets won’t do any harm. Keep in mind that while anti-inflammatory treatments reduce inflammation, they also inhibit healing, since they interfere with collagen synthesis, thus with rebuilding the damaged tendon tissue itself.

Phase 2.

  • increase the circulation (massage, put something warm on it, sauna, etc.)
  • gradually start to engage them in exercises gently (avoid exercises that cause pain)
  • no shoes without insoles anymore

And this is why the 2nd phase of healing is about actual healing. The 1st phase was your Stalingrad to stop the nazi inflammation, and now is your turn to march all the way to Berlin! Now is the time to rebuild your war-torn tendons. At first, increase the circulation by every way possible. Massage your ankles and feet, drown them into a warm water, go to sauna, etc. Sauna is an excellent way for “this type of cardio”. You have to realize that increased collagen synthesis that is desperately required for your recovery will be stimulated by stimulating the given tendons themselves, hence you will have to engage it in activities again. If calf workout or running are too much for them, you can just walk, engage them in thigh exercises, etc. Also, never get rid of your insoles, get as many as possible. Have one in your gym shoes, and at least one of your street shoes. Your body will be grateful for you at old age!

And that’s it, if you pass these steps, you can gradually return back to the normal, and can be stronger/faster/etc. more than ever! Happy healing!

What about light therapy?

Light therapy won’t do any harm, but it is mostly intended to kill malignant microorganisms on a healing scar, it’s not some healing magic beam. Basically a flashlight could do the job better, since it provides more warmth.

How about visiting a chiropractor?

Dude, I love Harry Potter too, but magic doesn’t exist, and giving tons of money to charlatans is a transgression against civilization.