Understanding the Importance of Your Feet
Walking, running, and jumping are among numerous activities that are affected by the health of your feet and their ability to balance the body. Injury, aging, or stressful activities can all cause a misalignment. Depending on their current state, your feet can turn these simple motions into actions that affect your quality of life.
Chiropractic adjustments and Foot Levelers’s custom-made stabilizers help in bringing your body back to a natural alignment.
If you are considering individually designed Functional Orthotics, we will perform a foot scan to show you how imbalances in the feet can lead to problems in the knees, hips, back and shoulders. The foot scan will show how functional orthotics may help. Following a foot scan, a report will provide you a Pronation/Stability Index, a Foot Assessment, and a Body Assessment.
Pronation
Pronation occurs when feet roll inwards, placing weight on the inside of the foot. People who pronate may experience an inward rotation of the knee and forward tilting of the pelvis.
Pronation ranges from mild to moderate to severe – the higher the pronation, the more likely you are to experience pain in the feet, knees, hips, back, shoulders and neck. Common injuries with people who pronate include shin splints, plantar fasciitis, and bunions.
Functional Orthotics may help relieve pain caused by pronation. Untreated imbalances of any level may lead to chronic problems throughout the body. Below you can learn more about the different severities of pronation and the impact each has on the body.
| Optimal | Mild | Moderate | Severe |
|
Optimal feet have normal arches. Functional Orthotics can be worn for preventative care to avoid pain or injuries. |
Mild pronators have some arch collapse. Functional Orthotics are recommended for people with mild pronation to avoid further arch collapse, which can lead to pain throughout the body. |
Moderate pronators have a nearly full arch collapse that could result in knee, hip, back or shoulder problems. |
Severe pronators have complete arch collapse and have possibly had knee, hip, back or shoulder problems due to this collapse. It is vital severe pronators wear Functional Orthotics. |
What is Supination?
Foot supination or under-pronation occurs when feet roll outwards, placing weight on the outside of the foot.
Supination of the foot is a rare occurrence, as less than 10 percent of people have the condition. It is usually found in people with high arches, often called a “cavus” foot. Supinators have a higher medial arch resulting in more weight being placed on the outer edge of the foot.
People who supinate may experience an outward rotation of the knee and the pelvis may tilt back. The supinated foot is also a tighter, stiffer foot that doesn’t flex and bend to accommodate variations in terrain. The poor absorption of shock and lack of flexibility cause biomechanical disorders, which lead to various problems throughout the body.
Similar to pronation, people with higher levels of foot supination may experience pain in the feet, knees, hips, back, shoulder and neck. Inversion ankle sprains, heel spurs, hammer toes and stress fractures are common in people who supinate. 
Functional orthotics may help relieve pain caused by a supinated foot. These work by maintaining the structure of the plantar vault. Here at Foot Levelers, we make sure to create products that don’t only support one arch, as over the counter orthotics do; we create products that support all three for best results.
And since every individual may have varying degrees of supination, our products will be custom made to an individual’s foot arches to ensure optimum results. Moreover, our products will also be designed based on your lifestyle. We’ll take into account the type of shoes you wear, the activities you participate in, and other special considerations.