Flat feet – a crisis?
When I was a student, a doctor told us a story about a tribe in the Carribean who were all born with club feet, yet all the children and adults had normal feet. A research team went to explore and found that the grandmothers were massaging (did fascia release) the baby’s feet every day until they would face forward (neutral) and therefor all the children have normal feet.
I see so many athletes in my practice with quite extreme ‘flat feet’, with no problems. Many of the top marathonners in the world have flat feet and yet they beat all the ‘normal’ feet in the race. The only time it becomes a problem is if it is due to weakness, which then will cause pain in the ankles, knees and hips.
To find out if weakness is the cause, you should do the Bunkie Test for the medial line. All normal functional bodies should be able to hold this position for 30 seconds without discomfort.
If weakness shows to be a problem, it will help to get a lynotherapist to release the fascia (just like the grannies in the Caribean), which will put the muscles in a neutral position. Muscles need to be in a neutral position to be functional. If the foot is stuck in the ‘clubfoot’ position, the muscles are unable to work. Once the foot is in the neutral position, the muscles become functional and can be strengthened. It is therefor inportant that whenever you experience weakness in any area in the body, to find out where the fascia is stuck. Stuck fascia always causes an alignment problem, which will result in weakness.
If you try to strengthen muscles that are not in a functional position, it becomes a long discouraging process. So do make sure that you always first have the fascia released and then start the strengthening.
Orthotics support weakness and is no solution for flat feet. Operations add even more scar tissue, leading to more stuck fascia and will eventually even cause problems in related areas.
So do your Bunkie Test, release the fascia and strengthen what shows up weak and your flat feet will never be a problem.
November 10th, 2011 at 20:21
My son 4 years old has flat feet. How can he be treated?
January 2nd, 2012 at 11:37
Hi Roger,
Flat feet is not a condition, but just an indication of possible weakness. Best is to keep him out of shoes and barefoot, to develop the muscles around the foot. Do not give him orthotics or dress him up in supportive shoes, since that will increase the weakness.