April is Foot Health Awareness Month, and an excellent opportunity to turn our attention to improving and preserving all aspects of foot health. Your feet play a vital role in your daily life, but most people give little thought to their foot health until a problem arises.
Today, Kristofer J. Jones, MD, and our team are here to discuss the interconnectivity of foot and knee health. Many people are unaware of how foot issues can cause or exacerbate knee conditions. Taking great care of your feet and ankles can help reduce your risk of knee pain.
Here are four common foot conditions that can lead to significant knee pain, and what you can do to avoid discomfort and limited mobility.
People with flat feet have very low arches. In some cases, the bottom of their feet makes contact with the floor from toe to heel. The arch of your foot helps distribute weight, absorb shock, and support movement.
People with flat feet have a different distribution of weight, which often causes their knees to turn inward, creating additional strain on the knee joints that can eventually lead to pain.
People with unusually high arches often have problems with shock absorption. The impact from walking or running can run straight up the front of the leg to the knee.
Pronation is the normal inward rolling motion that your feet make as you walk. This movement helps evenly distribute the impact your feet experience when they make contact with the floor or ground.
When feet roll too far inward as you walk, the condition is called overpronation. This is common, especially among people with flat feet.
This rolling motion creates twisting in your calf, which in turn leads to strain on the knee joint. Over time, the knee joint can also turn inward, creating pressure on the inside of the knee joint.
People with high arches often develop underpronation, where the feet do not roll inward enough. This places pressure on the outside of the foot and causes instability, which can lead to knee pain.
Your plantar fascia is a band of strong, fibrous tissue that runs from your toes, across the ball of your foot, and down to your heel. This tissue connects the bones in your foot and creates your foot’s arch.
It’s easy to damage your plantar fascia by overusing your feet or performing motions that stretch the bottom of the feet too far. This leads to pain in the foot that is most prominent when you first get out of bed or when you put pressure on the affected foot.
The pain from plantar fasciitis can alter your movements to ease discomfort. These changes affect the muscles in your lower legs. The result is often knee pain as your knee joint is placed under new strain.
You have muscle tissue throughout your foot, which provides strength and flexibility in the many joints of the foot. If those muscles are weak, your feet cannot function normally.
Weak foot muscles, especially when combined with issues like overpronation or collapsed arches, disrupt the alignment within your lower body.
When your feet are weak, your knee has to compensate by taking on additional strain. Knee pain can develop, which can lead to a tendency to move less as you try to avoid knee pain.
As a result, your entire lower body can weaken, which can cause a cascade of additional problems with body mechanics.
If you’re experiencing knee pain, the first step is to team with Kristofer J. Jones, MD, to determine the cause. If foot health issues are to blame, you have options.
Pronation issues can often be resolved by a good set of custom orthotics, which are devices you wear inside your shoes to change the distribution of weight across your foot. Orthotics can also help with flat feet or high arches.
Plantar fasciitis can be resolved by wearing a special splint at night. Physical therapy is also a great way to improve plantar fasciitis. If weak foot muscles are a factor in your knee pain, our team can teach you exercises to perform at home that will build up strength in your feet.
If you’d like more information on any of these foot health issues, we encourage you to reach out to our office online or by phone to schedule a visit. We’re happy to discuss your symptoms and explain the best diagnostic and treatment options.
