Aging Affects Foot Alignment and Balance
As we get older maintaining good foot alignment becomes more important than ever. Our feet and ankles have endured many years of movement while carrying our weight. That can cause misalignment resulting in loss of balance and lead to falls.
Falls are one of the main causes of injuries and health problems for seniors. Falls cause broken bones and, sorry folks, you don’t heal fast at your age if you even heal at all. Falling down will also cause a loss of confidence. Fear can take over. You could start thinking you’re too old to do much of anything. We don’t want to find ourselves lying on the floor asking someone “what happened?”
Here’s how to take action and prevent falls from happening.
To Achieve and Maintain Good Balance You Must Start With Foot Alignment
Your feet must align with your knees and hips. That requires straight ankles. Look at your ankles and feet while standing barefoot. Do your ankles turn inward or outward? Are they vertical and correct? Do they look the same? Very few people have perfect foot alignment even when young. Over the years normal wear along with injuries will alter alignment. You may benefit from the support of these elastic ankle braces.
Custom Orthotics Corrected My Own Foot Alignment
My ankles turn inward, a condition that is known as over-pronation. My right ankle was injured when I was young. The basketball trick shot that caused it didn’t even go through the hoop! Showing off doesn’t always work out for the best. Oh well, I was 17 and knew no limits. Then I spent the next week on my back. Ah, youth.
So now my right ankle turns inward even more than my left. When that happens as my ankle turns inward my right knee turns and drops. That causes my right hip to turn and drop. Even worse, my back is then crooked. Is it any wonder that an out of alignment body has trouble balancing and suffers pain? My custom orthotics move my feet to their correct angle. That change aligns my ankles. My knees and hips become vertical to my feet and my back is straight. This is the first and most essential step to begin balance training.
Watch How Custom Orthotics Correct Posture
Your Feet, Like the Rest Of You, Are Unique to You
The wear that has affected your foot alignment has occurred over a long period of time. It resembles the mechanical wear on the steering linkage of a car. We may notice that our car doesn’t track quite as well as it once did. The steering feels loose. By replacing the steering linkage we become aware of how worn it was. We can’t replace our feet. Not yet anyway.
The best solution for correcting the wear on your feet and ankles is custom orthotics. Don’t use off the shelf shoe inserts to correct problems. You should visit a podiatrist who will examine your feet, ankles, how you stand and how you walk. After evaluation molds will be made of your feet. From those molds, the podiatrist will design your personal orthotics. They slip into your shoes and will set your feet at the best position. They’re very comfortable. Nothing else can work as well. You will feel the difference as soon as you start using them. This is your first step to a good balance. Do this for yourself. I promise you’ll be glad you did.
Your Human Foot
A human foot consists of 26 bones 30 joints and over 100 muscles tendons and ligaments. The design of the human foot is a marvel of Mother Nature’s engineering. It provides mobility. That allowed our ancient ancestors to come down from the trees and move fast over open terrain. I would make the argument that without that foot design modern humans would not exist. As with other intricate designs, it’s easy for damage to occur. Prevent damage by wearing properly fitting shoes. Replace worn shoe heels. Don’t bang your heels down when walking or running. Be especially careful when walking on concrete or other hard surfaces. Always use your custom orthotics – there’s really no reason not to.
The bones in your feet
Your Feet Can Make Your Back Hurt
Walking can place a force up to five times your body weight on each foot. Your foot must then absorb and redistribute that force. As you walk your leg bones knees and hip joints rotate. If you don’t have proper foot alignment the rotation becomes excessive. That excess force is transferred to your back.
Learn More About Feet and Back Pain
Tension in Your Feet
Do your feet hurt when you walk? Do you have foot pain even when sitting or lying down? Tension might be the cause. We take over 2,000 steps to walk one mile. That’s over 1,000 steps for each foot. Even with their great design that’s a lot of flexing. Each time we push off with our toes to move forward is one repetition. Is it any surprise that thousands of repetitions can cause tension?
Feel Good Solutions to Foot Pain
Foot rollers feel good and relieve tension. You can use these small inexpensive devices anywhere. Take one with you when you travel. You’ll find that 5 minutes of rolling will relax you all over. The top ten rated foot rollers can be found HERE
Foot Massage helps you feel good all over. First, it will stimulate circulation to the feet ankles and lower legs. Relieving that tension helps foot alignment. That improved blood flow starts rushing through your whole body. The good feeling reduces both physical and mental stress. Some studies show foot massage can help to lower blood pressure. Men – pay particular attention to this; Foot massage can cure headaches! I can vouch for the other benefits a man receives when he applies a great foot massage. Besides the physical aspects, you’re proving your dedication to making her happy.
Learn How to Apply a Foot Massage HERE
Good Foot Alignment = Good Balance at Age 72 good.
Summary
- Aging affects foot alignment and balance.
- Compromised foot alignment can cause loss of balance and falls.
- Falling down is a major cause of injuries for seniors.
- We can realign our feet and ankles with custom orthotics.
- Only a podiatrist is qualified to check your feet.
- The human foot is a great design that is subject to wear and damage.
- Foot rollers and foot massage improve foot health. And they feel so good!
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