What Causes Flat Feet?

The next time you out of the bath tub or shower, notice the tracks made by your wet feet. If the tracks are kidney-shaped, your foot is normal.

If the prints your feet make have the shape of a sole, because the entire sole touches the floor, you have flat feet. The foot is a tripod, because it stands on three points. One is the heel in back. The other two are the two supporting points in the ball of the foot. Over these three points the foot forms an arch. This arch is not firm, but is elastic and springy. This is due to the arrangement of the bones, cartilage, ligaments, tendons, and muscles of the foot.

Actually, from an "engineering" point of view, a springy arch is the best type of construction for a structure that has to support weight. The space beneath the arch in the foot is filled with fat. Through this fat go the blood vessels, nerves, and tendons of the toes, without being squeezed during walking. 

When man went about barefoot outdoors, he probably never had any trouble with his feet. The reason is that the irregular and "springy" nature of the earth forces the foot  to take a new position with every step. In this way, the entire foot, including the delicate muscles and ligaments of the arch, are always active. This gives all parts of the foot plenty of exercise. 

When we walk on smooth city streets and hard floors, only a few points of the foot are constantly stimulated. So the foot adapts itself in a special way to this uniform stimulation. It actually remains in a state known as "spastic tension". This spastic state of the foot disturbs the process whereby all parts of the foot are fed and exercised as they should be. Certain tissues, where the blood circulates poorly, become tired, anemic, and weak. Then the arch of the foot becomes unable to bear the weight of the body and it drops down. The result is flat feet! 

Of course, some cases of flat feet are due to the fact that certain people are born with naturally weak tissues. They are just born with weak arches.

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