Heel pain and Custom made Orthotics

Plantar fascia is a tough band of connective tissue that connects your heel to toes. It functions to support the arch in your feet and prevent excessive stress coming on tiny joints in your feet when walking over irregular surfaces. Also, it stabilizes the feet when engaged in prolonged walking or on uneven surfaces. There are several common causes of heel pain-

• Plantar Fasciitis
• Sprains and strains
• Fracture
• Achilles tendonitis
• Bursitis
• Ankylosing spondylitis
• Osteochondroses
• Reactive arthritis
• Heel spurs 

Plantar fasciitis is a condition that involves inflammation of this band secondary to overuse or micro-trauma. Causes for plantar fasciitis include excessive walking, sudden change in your training intensity, low or high arches in feet, use of poor footwear, lack of flexibility in calf muscles, previous injuries to feet. 

When plantar fasciitis continues for a long time, a heel spur (calcium deposit) may form where the fascia tissue band connects to your heel bone. Your doctor may take an X-ray to see the bony protrusion, which can vary in size.

 

Registered Physiotherapists in Mississauga location use different treatment techniques such as strengthening exercises, hawk tool, passive/active stretches, proprioceptive exercises, LASER therapy.  Plantar fascia when subjected to excessive strain can lead to pain in the heel/ bottom of your feet. 

If your job requires you to be on your feet for long hours and you feel your feet are sore and achy at the end of the day you might consider the option of having a custom made orthotics. So, orthotics are insoles that come in different lengths and sizes that are meant to provide additional support to your feet when engaged in prolonged standing/walking/running/jogging activities. 

Your feet are meant to have arches on the inside that provide stability to the ankle while walking or standing. At birth, arches seem to be underdeveloped and you have a lot of fatty tissue to cushion your feet. Once you start walking arches tend to develop and not much fatty tissue is required to support your ankle. However, some of us don’t develop enough arch support (pes planus) due to congenital disorders or poor muscle development around the ankle. On the contrary, some people tend to form an exaggerated arch (pes cavus), either of which puts additional strain on your feet. Tight calf muscles, previous foot fracture/injury, plantar fasciitis, limb length discrepancy, supinated feet (slightly scooped in position of ankle), pronated feet (slightly scooped out position of ankle) are some of the factors that might further contribute to your aching feet. 

Customized orthotics support the arches in your feet and decrease the stress coming on your feet with dynamic activities such as brisk walking, running or jogging. They also tend to correct any faulty positioning of your ankle that might be demanding increased workload on your calves. This typically leads to inflammation in your calf and tendoachilles. Correction of these faculty positions drastically reduces the stress coming on tiny joints of your ankle and supporting muscle/tendons. 

Custom orthotics allows you to add additional modifications such as full heel support which is an approximate 3mm thick foam pads placed underneath your heel to offload/or equally dissipate the stress coming on your heel. This takes off the excessive pressure around your heel allowing you to walk more comfortably. Registered Physiotherapists do a thorough assessment of your ankle and gait pattern. Depending on the type of shoes you are looking to order your custom orthotics, full length or ¾ length of orthotic is decided. The best part about the orthotics is that they can be used in multiple shoes.  Superior quality of materials used to manufacture these orthotics makes them more breathable and durable. 

The support your feet receive with custom orthotics decreases the shearing force coming on your plantar fascia when it does get inflamed secondary to overuse. A small upliftment to the inside of the sole supporting the arch and extra heel cushioning does wonders with plantar fasciitis pain. It also minimizes the pressure coming over the calf muscles which if sustained for a long time can affect the flexibility of muscle. Tight calves can be a source of additional pain for your feet.

Our registered Physiotherapist uses the latest 3D scanning technology to provide perfect custom orthotics for your patients. We use a 100% digital process to design orthotics using the state of the art Ortho-model software for automated manufacturing. We believe in using the latest technology to deliver our clients improved, high quality products that contribute to the improvement of your patient’s health.