Wearing the right shoes can reduce back pain
As strange as it may sound, shoes and footwear can affect a lot more than just our feet. Every time we take a step, our knees and hips react to how our feet are positioned and to the surface we push against. For example, if our foot arch drops, our knees and hips will react accordingly, often causing the knee to rotate inwards, which in turn affects our hip position, which in turn affects our low back. Unfortunately, these make certain muscles and joints work in ways they shouldn’t – the muscles and joints are compensating for the foot arch dropping. If this compensation goes on for too long, it can eventually lead to foot, knee, hip or low back pain.
You can see examples of this when comparing footwear with good and poor arch support. Wearing flat shoes or high heels might feel unremarkable for a short period, but if you were to walk a long distance or run with them, chances are your feet would become sore faster than if you were wearing shoes with good arch support. This then leads to the compensations described previously. It’s why we don’t recommend wearing heels if you suffer from low back pain. Keep in mind that walking or running on harsher surfaces can also impact our ability to keep good form. Running on a more cushioned surface will often allow our feet to be in a better position for longer, when compared to running on a hard surface like concrete. The same goes for even and uneven ground.
While good arch supports inside a shoe can help, sometimes further intervention is needed. At North Adelaide Chiropractic, if we suspect footwear or poor arch support is causing your back pain, we may decide to tape the arches of your foot to give extra support. If your pain improves, we need to think of a long term approach. For most cases, adding an innersole into the shoe can help greatly. For more extreme cases, a gait scan or custom made orthotics from the podiatrist may be required.