Flat feet, do you need orthopedic insoles?

Flat feet means collapse or elastic disappearance of the foot longitudinal arch resulting from abnormal foot bone morphology, muscle atrophy, ligament contracture or chronic strain due to some reasons.

The symptoms of flat feet:

1. Pain:

People's pain is getting aggravated after standing or walking for a long time, and often with progressive aggravation. The pain is usually located in the medial plantar, and is also occasionally located near the lateral malleolus of the ankle joint.

2. Swelling:

It swells at painful joints, especially at scaphoid node.

3. Abnormal gait:

Suffering from foot pain and arch collapse can cause running and even walking ability decline and gait abnormalities, such as splayed gait.

4. Other joint pain:

For example, excessive eversion and pronation of the foot and compensatory pronation of the hip joint may lead to pain and arthritis in the knee, hip, lower back and other parts.

5. Severe deformity of flat feet:

It can be seen that other joints of ankles and feet are involved, for example, subtalar joint and transverse tarsal joint's flexibility is reduced or even stiff.

6. flat feet disease:

It can be accompanied by plantar fasciitis and tarsal sinus syndrome at the same time.

So, what kind of flat feet can use orthopedic insoles?

Flat feet can be divided into functional flat feet and structural flat feet according to whether the arch of the foot disappears or not. When the foot is pressed by gravity while standing, the arch of the foot disappears, but when sitting down, the arch of the foot reappears because the arch pressure disappears. This is a type of flexible flat feet, also known as a type of functional flat feet.

Functional flat feet can be treated with orthopedic insoles. This foot type accounts for 2/3 of flat feet. This type of flat feet can be confirmed by plantar pressure distribution and ligament tightness detection, causing good mobility of subtalar joint and ankle joint, which can be improved and restored to normal state through orthopedic insoles.


However, structural flat feet will not form arch no matter sitting or standing. Structural flat feet are morbid. Given no treatment in a long term, it will cause pain in some parts of the feet, which will lead to degenerative arthritis and other problems. Although orthopedic insoles cannot help this type of foot to restore to a normal state, other physical problems and diseases caused by biomechanical compensation of this type of foot can be avoided.

Therefore, no matter with what kind of flat feet resulting from various factors, if you want to walk as easily as the average person, you must work hard on your feet. In addition to understanding the medical history of flat feet, the stability of shoes is the most important factor when you choose shoes. Shoes with high stability can reduce foot shaking and relieve foot soreness and fatigue caused by large movements of flat foot during walking or sports.

Hope it can help you.