Can I still run with flat feet?
|“I’ve been struggling with bad tendonitis in my leg because of my flat feet. I’ve had flat feet my whole life. You would know what I’m talking about.”
This was a comment made to me yesterday outside of the office by a friend of my wife. I hear this a lot and it’s extremely hard for me to restrain from making an attempt to straighten out their thinking in regards to flat feet and why it probably has nothing to do with their injury. It’s not a simple explanation and usually time will not allow for me to thoroughly explain as was the case yesterday. So I’ll make an attempt to briefly discuss flat feet and why it’s not as detrimental as most think.
Are flat feet really pathological?
Meaning do they really lead to all the horrific injuries that many people say they do? The answer is not really. Sure there are some cases of feet where the structure of the arch is so bad that the person may have a difficult time with normal walking and functioning but this will be something that has usually been present their entire life. Meaning the difficulty they are having.That’s why investing in a pair of good shoes for flat feet can be a good idea. In other words you typically won’t have someone who’s has lived with flat feet their whole life and then all of s sudden at age 30 develop severe tendinitis that is directly a result of the flat foot. If it were truly related to the arch’s structure this person would have had tendon issues their whole life. Constantly.
I like to use the generalization of feet falling into three categories- flat, normal, and a high arch. There is a large misconception in our society of what a flat foot truly is.
In all reality, there are small degrees of flat feet that really lead to a problem. When present they are obvious structural abnormalities that overtly evident and more often than not the person would not even be able to walk without difficulty let alone run. The prevalence of different foot those can be summarized by the following picture.
Only a small percentage of individuals have a severe enough flat foot to result in injury as is the same for a high arch. The remaining foot types are variances of normal feet which themselves do not directly relate to any increase in injury.
So where did this stigma arise from then? If answering this question were possible, we probably not have the high incidence of foot pain and injuries that present to our offices. I would presume it is multifactorial beginning with the idea that treating a severe deformity by reducing motion with an orthotic will help relieve pain. It then becomes easy to say if it worked for that one let’s try in this one. And so on and so on until you reach a point where orthotics are being placed into shoes of individuals who really don’t have a deformity. There becomes no fine line of who will actually benefit from the use of an orthotic. It developed into a situation of let’s try the orthotic and see if the symptoms resolve. Some will respond to this by saying that’s not the case and that there are true biomechanical deformities which can be measured and defined which can be corrected with an orthotic. The problem with this statement is for every person who presents with this deformity and whatever the symptoms that may be associated with it, there are “x” number of patients who have the deformity with no symptoms. What’s the explanation? Is it really the fault of the foot’s structure? Why in some cases have these individuals lived all their lives with no symptoms and then suddenly they develop pain?
The literature does not support the theory that flat feet as described above inherently causes injury. Our society is fixated on the foot’s appearance and as soon as any lower extremity problem arises, they blame the foot. We all want a “good shoe”, with “good support”. Even those with high arches will sometimes say, “I have a high arch so I need to support it”. Do they?
Very rarely do people blame their training patterns. Consider the the person who just ran a 5k and had a great experience and now wants to train for a half marathon. They present to my office asking for advice on shoes or if they need orthotics because they have knee pain from training. They completely ignored the fact that they just doubled the amount of miles they have been running without slowly transitioning and allowing a gradual adaptation to occur. Or the runner who suddenly adds speed workouts or intervals to a training program to get faster. I can assure you I see more runners who have developed an injury from their training patterns rather than from a biomechanical condition such as a hypothetical flat foot.
Pronation. I have “pronation” or I “pronate” is frequently described by many runners. In fact, this was just discussed in a recent Runner’s World article focused on selecting a running shoe. Not only are these statements using the term pronate or pronation completely out of context, but they are implying that pronation is bad. Our foot was made to pronate. Pronation is the innate shock absorber for our bodies during locomotion. Placing the term “pronation control” on a running shoe is analogous to having a catcher’s mitt that doesn’t bend. Your hand needs the ability to move freely to squeeze the mitt to grab the ball, just as your foot needs to bend and flex to absorb shock. Why do we have 26 bones and multiple joints in our feet if they weren’t meant to move?
Prior to the 1970s we would not even be having this conversation because running shoes with motion control and rigid supportive midsoles did not exist and runners were still breaking 4 minute mile and running 2:10 marathons.
Focus on training patterns and form. Not shoes. You may be surprised as to not only how your pain miraculously resolves, but more so at how much your running will improve.
Flat Foot Solutions Review
New : No More Pain from for FlatFeet simple, flexible, and it works
Like clockwork, Feet have 25 bones, ligaments and muscles that transfer
body weight from heel to toe. Any wrong position creates friction and pain.
Flat and Hollow feet need support to function the natural way, without pain.
Many are not helped with foot exercises or custom made orthotics.
With or without weigh loss and overpronation ( legs/ankles lean inside) you need support.
Most footwear shoes and boots have flat bottoms, offering no support for Flat and Hollow feet.
Standard shoe inlays are too flat, not high enough under the arch and do not
support the body weight on the feet, contributing to the malfunctioning and pain.
Running with flat feet may be very painful and increases the injury risk
Custom made inlays produced by digital foot scanners often do nothing else than
comparing your feet to a standard foot model and thus not solving the problem.
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The PodoPad Arch support from Pododirect.com can be placed in any shoe and boot and always fits
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The PodoPad makes it possible again to walk miles, stand for hours, do sports without pain.
Nowadays there are some super comfy running shoes with good cushioning that flat footed runners can run without any pain. I found some good running shoes here http://comfortingfootwear.com/best-running-shoes-arch-support-flat-feet/ that have some great arch support from moderate to maximum support
Hi, not sure if anyone can help, just stumbled across this blog whilst searching for help as I have a flat foot and horrible knee pain when I run. Went to see a Dr, then Physio, then Podiatrist a few years ago when I first had this pain from running, they put it down to having a flat foot! Got some insoles but then didn’t do much running after that. I have since taken it up again and joined a running club, and was pain free until I wore some old, quite cheap trainers with little support for my foot. Half way through my run I was in real agony and can’t run without pain since (it’s been a few weeks), even though I’m back to wearing my “good” trainers and insoles. I’m intrigued by reading your blog as you say its not down to the flat foot! I wondered if you had any suggestions, as I now really want to keep running, but the pain is almost unbearable! Thanks…
Supper explanation man! We have seen few footwear companies has came out with comfortable shoes for flat feet. They are allowing people to run even with flat fee or high arch. 🙂
its great sir
I have seen many people using tennis shoes for flat feet they are comfortable with shoes and these guys have good reviews about those shoes.
flat feet can run most people with flat feet think that they are unable to run because of there flat fleet but this is not true i am seen players they are able using tennis shoes for running.One thing that i want to mention that it is also about mindset you can do good despite of any worst scenario.I would recommend nike and asic shoes for flat feet.