Are Your Feet To Blame For Your Back Pain?

Anyone who has suffered from back pain knows how debilitating it can be. With over 80% of the U.S. population complaining of back pain, it is a pretty common occurrence, and therefore, important to understand what causes it. Your feet are likely the culprit. Here's why:

Technology has evolved faster than our bodies can. Your feet were not designed to walk on hard surfaces like tile, marble, wood, or concrete. Feet do better on grass, dirt, sand, mud and other natural terrains because these softer surfaces conform to the shape and structure of your feet. This supports your arches and causes the muscles, ligaments and tendons of the foot and ankle to work in a supportive fashion.   

Your Feet & Your Low Back

There are three parts of your body that absorb shock, your feet, your knees, and your lower back. So it only makes sense that if your feet are flat they cannot properly absorb shock. What then ends up happening, is that the knees have to work twice as hard to absorb shock. But that can only go on for so long. Eventually the lower back takes on the bulk of the work. This will wear your back out pretty quickly especially if your spine or pelvis is misaligned. 

So what can you do? Here are a few tips:

1. Wear shoes with good arch support and shoes that help to absorb shock

2. Consider custom orthotics to ensure proper support. Ask us about footlevelers if you are interested

3. Have your spine, pelvis, and lower extremities adjusted at our practice.

Wondering what else you can do to combat low back pain? Ask us at your next visit.