Are Your Feet to Blame for Low Back Pain?

Over 80% of the population in the United States complains of back pain, making it a very common occurrence. Most likely, you've suffered from back pain, so you know how debilitating it can be. With so many back pain sufferers, it is important for us to understand what is causing it. For many, our feet are the culprit.

Though our bodies are slow to evolve, technology isn't. Our feet were not designed to walk on hard surfaces like wood, concrete, marble, and tile. Our feet do better on natural terrains like sand, grass, dirt, and mud. Softer surfaces have more forgiveness and better conform to the structure and shape of our feet. This supports the arches of the foot, and causes the tendons, ligaments, and muscles of the foot and ankle to work in a supportive manner.

Your Feet and Low Back

Your body has three parts that work to absorb shock: your feet, knees, and low back. If your feet are flat, they cannot properly absorb shock. That leads to your knees working double time to absorb shock. Your body can only handle that for so long, and eventually the lower back begins to take on the majority of the work. This will cause wear on your back relatively quickly, especially if your spine or pelvis is misaligned.

We've put together some tips to prevent this from happening to you:

1. Avoid shoes that provide limited support, like flip flops. Your ideal shoe will have good arch supports, and will help absorb shock.
2. To ensure proper support, consider custom orthotics. If you are interested, ask us about foot levelers.
3. Come in to our practice for regular adjustments to your spine, pelvis, and lower extremities.

If you are looking for more ways to combat lower back pain, ask us during your next adjustment!