{"id":7127,"date":"2016-09-23T06:47:01","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T06:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ferebres.com\/?p=7127"},"modified":"2021-06-14T21:21:42","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T21:21:42","slug":"arches-of-the-foot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/beta.ferebres.com\/arches-of-the-foot\/","title":{"rendered":"Arches of the foot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Foot arch is a bone in our feet formed by metatarsal <\/a>and tarsal <\/a>bones. They are naturally shaped in an angle and supports the weight of the body. <\/p>\n

\"foot<\/p>\n

Why do your feet have arches?<\/h2>\n

Humans developed foot arches evolutionary. Apes have flat feet and no support to walk up straight. It takes huge amounts of energy to walk without arches. A normal arch is naturally the best structure you can have in order to be able to stand, walk and run. <\/p>\n

\"normal<\/a><\/p>\n

As we see from the illustration with normal arched foot, stress from the body weight goes vertically down to the arch and is absorbed by the arches. In case of collapsed arches more stress goes to the bones and joints of the leg, hips and the spine. This will cause more wear and injuries to the skeleton with time.<\/p>\n

Types of feet arches<\/h2>\n

There are three main foot arch types: normal, high and low.<\/p>\n

\"foot<\/a><\/p>\n

Normal or medium arch<\/strong> is an arch where approximately half of your arch area touches the ground. This is the best and most common type of arch. Around 60% of people have normal arches. <\/p>\n

Low arch, collapsed arch or flat foot<\/strong> is a type of arch where most of your arch area is on the ground. If you have this type of arch you may notice that your footwear is usually worn down on the inwards. This is an imbalanced foot arch that tend to give more foot problems with knees or arch pain and plantar fasciitis. Around 20% of people have flat feet. If you have low arches you should take proper care of your feet by choosing the right shoes and wearing orthotics<\/a>. Children with flat or normal-to-low arches should wear footwear<\/a> that will strengthen their arches.<\/p>\n

High arch<\/strong> is an arch where little to no area is touching the ground while you walk. Such arches are more rigid and don’t absorb stress as well. Most of the pressure goes on to the rear-foot or the ball of the foot. Around 20% of people have high arches. Your footwear tend to wear out on the outside of the heel area. If you have high arches you should choose cushioned shoes with good arch support. The arch support will take some of the stress from your body and prevent the damage of your feet. <\/p>\n

To find out what type of the arch has your foot take a wet test or look at your shoes that your wear very often (typically soft home slippers).<\/p>\n

Wet test<\/h3>\n

The wet test is easy to perform but may be inconclusive. Unless your have very high or low arch it may be difficult to understand the result.<\/p>\n

Here is how you do it: <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Wet your foot in the shower.<\/li>\n
  2. Take a piece of paper and place your foot on it for 30 seconds.<\/li>\n
  3. See the result.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Take the test one more time if the shape of your foot came out strange. Here is an example of wet test of the same foot. See how different the shape is:<\/p>\n

    \"same<\/a><\/p>\n

    Here is another example of high arch foot along with a normal-to-low arch. It’s difficult to see that the left footprint has a high arch:<\/p>\n

    \"high<\/a><\/p>\n

    Slippers may be a better indicator of a high arch. See how these are worn out on the outer side of the heel:<\/p>\n

    \"home<\/a><\/p>\n

    How high should your foot arch be<\/h2>\n

    So, what is the normal arch? A normal or medium arch fills about half of the arch region. It is more desirable to have a slightly flatter (or pronated) foot that rolls inwards. There have been some military studies<\/a> that showed that it is slightly more damaging to have a high arch, than a low one. <\/p>\n

    High arched feet versus low arch feet<\/h2>\n

    High arches feet<\/h3>\n

    As we’ve seen earlier cavus foot or a high arched foot is a type of foot where the bottom of the foot touches the ground mostly at the front and at the heel areas. There are several causes to high arches:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Natural. Some people inherit high arches. If your father or mother have high arches chances are you will get too.<\/li>\n
    2. As a result of a medical condition. Several movement disorders like cerebral palsy may give high arches. Other examples are a club foot deformity or various neuromuscular diseases like poliomyelitis.<\/li>\n
    3. Nerve trauma.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      There are several problems with high arches:<\/p>\n