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| Custom Orthotics |
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| Restore
your body and optimize your health |
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The whole
world has heard of arch supports,
custom insoles or orthotics. They
are as common as sliced bread or
canned soup. And most of them are
fairly worthless. Why?
The foot is
actually a complex machine that
depends on all of its 26 bones and
even more joints to work in harmony.
When it works as designed, the foot
is capable of remarkable things
which all help insure not only
pain-free health of the foot, but
the parts up the chain, including
ankles, knees, hips and spine. The
foot unwinds to absorb shock as the
heel strikes the ground, changes
shape to accommodate to varied
terrain, then winds back up to be a
firm, propulsive lever to advance
forward.
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| Why
Orthotics?
There are two basic states of the foot that
should be very familiar: arch up and arch
down. The arch down state happens when,
after the heel strikes the ground, the foot
unwinds inside and the arch does a free fall
due to gravity. Most people are able to do
this so well they overdo it.
More on this later.
The arch up state comes next, because that
is what makes the foot a rigid lever for
push off. The foot must wind back up inside
to raise the arch and stiffen itself. If the
arch stays down you have to propel yourself
forward with a mushy foot. That is not only
tiring because your muscles have to work
harder, it leads to the common foot pains
and deformities that afflict millions every
day: bunion, plantar fasciitis, and
metatarsalgia to name a few.
The arch down state is important to absorb
shock and adjust to uneven floor surfaces.
But when it is overdone,
the arch can't get back up. Going down hill
is easy, but how does it get back up, into
the arch up state? About 90% of the
population can't get back up enough to have
normal foot function. Assisted by gravity,
body weight, muscle weakness and hard
floors, the foot learns to unwind and
flatten the arch ever closer to the ground,
getting flatter with age. You may have heard
this called over-pronation, which is just a
fancy name for flat, flexible feet.
There are many routine treatments for foot
problems, from anti-inflammatory pills to
cortisone injections, to a zillion different
pads, cushions, ointments and, of course,
surgery. All of these have temporary,
pain-relieving effects. But, if you want the
chance to permanently solve
the problem, you must change the way your
feet function on the ground. And the only
way to do that is to use a true custom,
biomechanical orthotic: Sole Supports.
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| Copyright ©2008 Whole Body Balance |
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