Do you get treated by your chiropractor for low back pain only to have it come back a few days later? Because your low back pain keeps recurring, it’s a major annoyance. It’s preventing you from doing the activities you love to do for long periods of time. Activities like running, walking the dog, working out, and gardening are stopped short because of your low back pain. Find out how custom foot orthotics can help get rid of your low back pain and get you back to the activities you enjoy.
You get temporary relief by getting your spine adjusted by your chiropractor. A few days later your low back pain comes back again. Perhaps this pattern has been repeating itself for months or years. While it’s a healthy habit to get your spine checked and adjusted on a regular basis, you might want to consider other treatments to support the chiropractic care you are getting. You have heard the quote by Albert Einstein, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”
Your feet are supposed to provide solid stability and alignment to your knees, hips, and spine. Humans are designed to walk in bare feet and grasp the earth. Walking bare foot on earth keeps the arch of the feet upright, aligned, and strong. Strong, aligned foot arches create a strong “foundation” to help keep your spine strong and aligned.
However, walking bare foot on earth 100% of the time is impossible in the modern industrialized world. Human beings have not evolved to walk in shoes and on hard surfaces like concrete or asphalt. As a result, 26-70% of the population have “weak”, dropped/misaligned foot arches or over-pronated feet. (1, 2)
Over-pronated feet can lead to misalignments in the knee, hips, and spine. These misalignments can cause extra stress on the spine which may lead to low back pain. (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
Custom foot orthotics are “insoles” special made to help correct and realign over-pronated feet. There are a variety of foot orthotics that can fit into different types of shoes and sandals. Correcting and realigning the feet with custom foot orthotics can help realign the spine. This can help hold your chiropractic adjustments for longer periods of time and can help prevent your back pain from recurring.
Recent research shows patients who wear custom foot orthotics had significant improvement in their chronic low back pain and their regular daily activities. Furthermore, the addition of chiropractic care with the custom foot orthotics led to further improvements in patients’ ability to perform daily activities. (9)
Recent research shows patients who wear custom foot orthotics had significant improvement in their chronic low back pain and their regular daily activities. Furthermore, the addition of chiropractic care with the custom foot orthotics led to further improvements in patients’ ability to perform daily activities.
My professional observations would concur with this research. However, not everyone’s chronic low back pain is improved with the addition of custom foot orthotics. Treatment of chronic low back pain often requires lifestyle changes and further investigation into other underlying causes.
Chronic recurrent low back pain is one indication you may need custom foot orthotics. Here are some other signs and symptoms you may want to consider when deciding whether to purchase custom foot orthotics:
- the soles of your shoes wear out unevenly
- your arches hurt when you are standing on a hard surface for a long period of time
- when you look in the mirror one hip looks lower or higher than the other
- your knees bow or knock inward
- if you stand on one knee and squat your knee buckles inward versus staying over top of your ankle in a straight line
- when you walk your foot or feet turn out
- your achilles tendon (big tendon just above your heel) bows inward
- you are developing bunions (the joints on your big toes are getting bigger or swollen)
Summary
You don’t have to live with chronic low back pain and give up doing the activities you enjoy. Consult a chiropractor to see if you would be a good candidate for custom foot orthotics.
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