How Custom Orthotics Can Help Relieve Your Pain

Custom Orthotics May Be the Right Tools Your Feet Need

When we are considering custom orthotics to help relieve a patient’s consistent pain, biomechanics are what we are aiming to influence.

Think about a healthy, pain-free foot for a second. How does that foot optimally operate?

The arch is a pivotal part of your motion. It acts like a spring within the foot.

When you place weight on the foot, the arch compresses to spread that weight and force out over a wider area and longer timeframe. This lessens the overall strain experienced by any one specific area of the foot. When you push off your foot, the arch expands again, releasing some of that stored up energy to help you move forward. 

The foot is constantly working this way as we move, but we barely even think about it! That is, of course, until something goes wrong.

Some of us are born with the likelihood of developing an abnormal foot structure, such as flat feet or high arches. This can affect the biomechanics of our feet and alter the way we move. An overload of weight or pressure can remain focused in spots where it otherwise wouldn’t, and muscles may need to overcompensate or fire in new ways to keep us stable under these abnormal conditions. Any of these factors can lead to strain and injury that we feel as chronic pain.

On top of that, modern living has placed hard and flat surfaces everywhere, adding even more stress to arches. Whether you are spending your days in shoes or not, such environments can take their toll.

For patients whose pain is based in biomechanical or environmental factors like those above, custom orthotics can become a very effective part of a treatment plan.

A Prescription Treatment for Long-Term Pain Relief

Custom orthotics can provide the exact amounts of cushioning and corrective support a patient may need to counter an abnormal foot structure and other bad influences. Every custom orthotic is made specifically to meet the needs of one patient and one alone.

They are very much like prescription lenses in this regard. Like orthotics, glasses and contacts provide balance back to eyesight that has been misaligned – often due to an abnormal structure within the eyes. When you wear corrective lenses, they work to counter that abnormal structure to provide clarity. Custom orthotics work in a similar matter for the structure and needs of your feet. Precision is very important for best results.

Another important similarity is that neither custom orthotics nor prescription lenses will ever permanently “fix” the problems they are countering. Remove your glasses and your vision is blurry again. Stop using custom orthotics and there is a chance that pain may return as well.

The only reasonable way to permanently correct foot structure is via reconstructive surgery. This may be recommended in some rare, severe cases. But if custom orthotics can provide the results we need without surgery, they will almost always be preferable. 

Let’s Find You Relief from Your Foot Pain

Custom orthotics may be exactly what you need to help counter the forces that are leading to pain in your feet, ankles, or even places farther up your body. They might also be just one piece of a multi-part plan, or they might not factor into your specific situation at all. 

But whatever may provide the best results against your foot pain, it will always be better to know what they are sooner than later! The sooner a problem is identified and begins to be addressed, the less risk there is of that problem becoming more severe and difficult to treat.

Schedule an appointment at our Carson City office by phone or by filling out our online contact form. We’ll be happy to see you.