How do Foot Arch matter

Why do foot arches matter?

The arches of your feet play an important role in the mechanics of walking upright. This is why they’re unique to human primates. Your arches are made of bones and connective tissues. They:

• Act as a springboard and shock absorber
• Store and release energy as you walk
• Adapt your foot to uneven walking surfaces
• Protect nerves and vessels in the soles of your feet

Flat Feet – Also called pes Planus is a very common condition in which the Arch of the foot flattens when pressure is applied on them. This could be hereditary or could have collapsed later due to a medical condition like osteoporosis, overweight or trauma

Types of Flat Foot

• Flexible flat foot. Flexible flat feet are the most common type. With this type, you can see arches in your feet when you aren’t standing on them, but they disappear when you stand.
• Rigid flat foot. If you have rigid flat feet, your feet have no arches whether you’re standing or sitting. You may find it difficult to flex your feet up and down or side to side. This type is rare.
• Congenital flat foot. Some babies have a birth defect that prevents their feet from developing arches. Some hereditary connective tissue disorders can make your arches too weak to hold up.
• Acquired flat foot (fallen arches). Also known as progressive collapsing foot deformity, this condition happens in adulthood, or after your feet have developed their natural arches.

The flattened arch causes your heel to point outward and your ankle to roll inward.

Your talus bone, a bone on the inner side of your foot, sticks out.

Impact of Flat foot on the major joints:

With the foot being pronated it not only impacts the joints in the feet,it has significant effect on other major joints like the ankle, knee,pelvic,lower back ,shoulder and neck.

With the arches collapsing, the foot bones drop to the floor and the tibia internally (medially) rotates. As the tibia internally rotates, the patella moves medial, and the femur bone follows suit. The fibula bone is also stressed at the lateral malleolus and the head near the lateral knee. As seen in the picture once the knee moves medially there is increased risk of friction on the lateral knee joint (Genu Valgus) which could lead to knee pain and osteoartritis

The internal rotational stress on the femur hits the acetabulum, tipping the pelvis inferior.The diagram helps you see how the dropping of the pelvis towards the side of worse pronated left foot creates the functional levoscoliosis. There may also be some accompanying dextroscoliosis in the thoracic spine to compensate. This leads to functional scoliosis.

High Arch (Pes Cavus)

This is a condition when the Arches are higher than normal. This also leads to foot instability and foot supination. When you have a high arch, the foot hits the ground more laterally and develops callus and corns. The lateral pressure on the 5th MTP joint also leads to bunion Ette (The little finger moving inwards and development of a bump at the 5th metatarsal) in some. The talus moves inwards also could lead to Ankle sprains and gait changes.

The impact on joints is opposite of flat foot but results in similar joint issues. The knee joints move outwards leading to varus deformity and knee starts to have increased friction on the medial aspect causing pain and osteoarthritis.