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Fallen Arches Physiotherapy

Our feet carries all the weight of our entire body, so bearing that in mind, having poor foot position will cause damage, injury and pain in our feet, sooner or later.

Nowadays, patients are getting more educated and they know that:

  • they can either get shoes with more arch support or
  • they can get regular off-the-shelf or customized insoles to increase arch support

One of the most annoying thing about looking for shoes with arch support or using customized insoles is that there is almost always limited number of shoes (that we like) that is available.

insoles and orthotics are good but...

..they're mainly passive in nature.

Ie it's sort of easy for patients to just "delegate" their efforts and think that just with:

  • shoes with more arch support or
  • regular off-the-shelf or customized insoles to increase arch support

is enough, but that's not the case.

Overly-relying on these support isn't good, because in the mid to long term, they may weaken your feet (as it takes over the functions of the muscles in your feet).

(Basically if you don't exercise for a long time, your muscles will weaken), and as time goes by, you may become increasingly reliant and dependent on your orthotics.

The human body is a fascinating bio-system that works on demand and supply - if you increase the weight and load demand of your muscles, your muscle WILL increase in strength and stamina. If you remove the demand on your muscles, your muscles will soften and weaken.

Insoles are great to be used in the very early stages of pain and injury, but we would like to remind ourselves and patients that orthotics are short-term use to support your rehab, strengthening and return to sports/life.

If we become overly reliant/dependent on insoles and supportive shoes, that will further weaken our arch muscles and sooner or later...it'd lead to more foot conditions such as:

what we recommend instead of purely relying on insoles only

We don't want you to be overly reliant or dependent on customized insoles and supportive shoes - we know they're great, and we'd like to add value to you and your feet by recommending that we focus on mid and long term management for your foot and arch.

We need to spend time to

  • assess your foot
  • understand the biomechanics (how you walk)
  • what may cause/contribute to the fallen arches
  • what activities, sports and work demands you have

and then we will put together a customized rehab and exercise therapy program for you that is specific to:

  • strengthen the muscles in your feet that supports the arch
  • strengthen the supporting muscles of walking including core muscles, gluteus, foot, thighs

Done right, you can start seeing your arch naturally raising higher in a short period of time.

How long does it take for my fallen arches to be restored with physiotherapy?

The answer to this question is that it varies a lot from patients to patients.

Everyone's different when it comes to their:

  • fitness
  • pain tolerance
  • how committed they are to physiotherapy and home exercises
  • how their body and feet responds (some naturally faster, some naturally slowers)
  • age
  • strength
  • etc

Mild to moderate cases will see results within 8-12 weeks of exercise and physiotherapy.