Every day we see patients with serious alterations in their hips, knees and feet, as a result of many years walking incorrectly, or with footwear or harmful working conditions.
For example, there are professions that require workers to spend long hours on their feet, or in the field of sports, athletes suffer a large number of injuries as a result of the continuous and constant repetition of the same gesture on the same surface.
Some of these frequent injuries are directly supported by the foot, such as plantar fasciitis, in which poor support or poor foot biomechanics causes a chain imbalance that can lead to other injuries, such as periostitis, tibial tendinitis, pyramidal syndrome, low back pain, etc.
The insole: an essential tool in podiatry
The foot is the sufferer and transmitter of the highest percentage of locomotor system injuries. Every day many patients see their level of health increased thanks to the incorporation of the plantar support, which in many cases could have been placed at an early age, from 4 or 5 years of age, avoiding multiple problems in adulthood.
The insole is the great therapeutic tool of the podiatrist, although it is more correct to call it “plantar support”, since it is a corrective orthosis of the articular structure that must support the weight of the patient. This function is not easy to fulfill, especially in high-heeled and narrow-toed shoes, which are incompatible with effective orthotic treatment.
Fortunately, the revolution in materials makes it possible to adapt thermoformed plantar supports with low thickness and high resistance to fatigue.
The foot is the most abused part of the human body. In previous decades, metal, cork, leather and rubber-type insoles were used. Often the treatment was based on a pedigraphy that contemplated the foot in only one dimension, which is not at all orthodox.
Currently there are several techniques that capture the pattern of the foot for the correct development of orthotic treatment: phenolic foam, live casting, plaster cast in loading and unloading, 3D scanning and the most innovative based on three-dimensional photography and 3D printers.
Most common foot injuries in children
Children at birth have genu varus (bowed knees), which they usually maintain until they are 3 years old, and then change to the opposite, genu valgus, until they are 5 years old. From that age, the position of the knees should normalize, as well as the physiological valgus of their feet.
In the period between 5 and 14 years of age, it is necessary to try to correct the articular errors. Although some alterations should be corrected with the normal development of the child, this will not always be the case and the correct thing to do is to try to maintain congruent joint parameters and, if this is not achieved, at least the child will be able to walk in the most physiological way possible, as is done at this age with the correction of eyesight or teeth.
Most frequent foot injuries in adults
In adult patients it is common to find alterations and pathologies that could have been avoided with preventive measures in childhood, which again involve the adaptation of specific plantar supports for the structural alteration.
The family doctor usually recommends to his patients to go for a walk to improve their health, improving cholesterol or glucose levels, but many of them will not be able to do so because of the alterations that their feet have acquired over the years.
Most common foot injuries in the elderly
Life expectancy is getting longer and longer and consequently there are greater morphological and structural changes in the organism, for example in the form of deficits in blood flow, loss of muscle mass, reduction of plantar fat, neurological or metabolic alterations, etc.
For this reason, supports with shock-absorbing elements are very useful in elderly patients, helping to improve plantar support, thus reducing pain and optimizing ambulation.
Most frequent foot injuries in athletes
Although they usually have a balanced locomotor system, athletes suffer injuries due to the intensity of the effort, especially after 30 years of age. In these cases, the plantar support must be specifically designed for the sport in question, taking into account the type of footwear, the surface on which it is used and the characteristics of the athlete. In addition to correcting any deficiency in terms of support, the plantar support will also try to optimize the sporting gesture.