The feet are an important structure in the body. Their job is to distribute our body weight evenly in every possible weight-bearing position. 

When our feet are working at their best, they are strong, stable and mobile enough to support our body weight on tip-toes and on our heels. They are also able to work evenly in every possible variation the legs can be in relative to the torso. Lunges, squats, warrior 2s, standing on one foot, leaning off to the side, arching back over the pelvis, hopping, jumping--whatever mobility is possible, when our feet are at their best, they are adapted to evenly distribute forces along their 3 arches (think of a triangle of arches: Two that run up both sides from the heel to the ball and connect along a third arch that spans the line across the base of the toes). 

And of course, the feet don’t work in isolation. A fully mobile and stable foot also requires a fully mobile and stable ankle, and so on and so forth up the chain of the skeleton, in order to be working at its best. However the foot distributes forces is precisely how the joints above will distribute forces. So if we have a pattern of carrying more weight to the inside or outside of the foot, we will usually tend to carry more weight on the corresponding inner or outer ankle and knee, with additional effects in the joints above.  

Foot Pain Problems

When it comes to foot pain, there are many factors at play. 

One factor can certainly be genetics. Genetics determine things like bone shape and size, looseness of tendons (connects muscle to bone) and ligaments (connects bone to bone), and the structure of our connective tissue (muscles, fascia). Pain resulting from osteoarthritis, bunions (if inherited), and flat feet might fall into this category. 

Another common factor is our lifestyle and movement history. Whether we’ve been injured before, what sports we grew up playing, how much exercise we do on a regular basis, what kind of exercise we do, how much we weigh--all of these factors contribute to how our foot works. Pain resulting from plantar fasciitis, bunions (if caused by shoeware), and achilles tendonitis (among many other things), might fall into this category. 

Regardless of what factors go into our pain, we are usually able to influence our pain for the better if we’re looking for solutions in the right areas. 

Foot Pain Solutions

It’s important for us to understand what’s going on with our body. One of my favorite Steve Job’s quotes is: “When you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution.” When we understand our pain, our next steps are more obvious and are usually more effective. Understanding is what turns wishful thinking into tried-and-true strategy. And when it comes to foot pain, I’ll take tried-and-true strategy over wishful thinking any day. 

When looking for a solution to common foot pain problems, our best bet is to find experts around us who can help us understand the form and function of the foot. But more than that, we’ll also need help assessing our experience: What’s going on that’s creating pain and what types of therapeutics movements or tools might I benefit from?

Physicians, physical therapists and movement specialists are all wonderful resources and we can gain something different from each one. 

Physicians, in the case of our feet likely a podiatrist (or even the internet because let’s be honest it’s 2019), can help us diagnose and assess the problems we have with our feet. They are trained to ask specific questions to narrow in on the causes of our pain, and usually work with us individually to ensure our situation is being clearly understood. They may suggest tools like shoe inserts, splints, etc, where appropriate, recommend certain treatments, or refer us to other specialists like physical therapists. 

A physical therapist often works with us individually (although again, there are physical therapists teaching on the internet) and will help us restore range of motion and strength to different areas of the foot. They’ll teach us what ranges of motion are possible in our foot and ankle and gives us exercises to bridge the gaps between our current mobility and the potential full range of motion. This can help us address pain created by lifestyle factors and our movement history, as we seek to restore balance and stability in all tissues of the foot and ankle evenly. 

We might also reach out to movement specialists to aid in our recovery. Movement specialists often teach in a group setting (although again, there’s always the internet) and are trained to understand one particular movement modality really well. We can seek out the expertise of our yoga, pilates, olympic lifting, etc. teachers in using best practices for our feet in whatever exercise we choose to do. We also want to choose movement modalities that stimulate the foot in all directions. Yoga is particularly effective at this, especially we have foot pain from other activities like running or cycling. In other words, we need to find the right balance so that we’re loading and moving our tissues in a balanced way. 

The more proactive we can be about our foot pain, the better results we’ll likely get. For some, foot pain may be something we experience from here on out, and in these cases we strap on a smile and soldier through. What does soldier through mean? We continue to educate ourselves about our bodies, we make intelligent movement decisions, we remain open to the possibility of a life without foot pain, we remain content even if we always have it. This is the only recipe I’ve found for flourishing in the midst of life’s hardships.   

Takeaways

Common foot pain problems can result from genetic factors to lifestyle to movement history. Because we are each built differently and have a different personal story, it’s important to empower ourselves with education and roadmaps to recovery from our physicians, physical therapists and movement specialists.

We can’t expect our growth to be linear, but we can expect to become more educated in how our body is designed to work, less afraid of our pain and empowered to make smarter movement decisions. 

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