Our health is largely dictated by the way we choose to interact with the world around us. We wear masks to protect us from what we breathe in, wash our hands to protect us from what we touch, but most people often overlook how to give their feet that same level of protection. With thousands of daily steps and constantly being put under some form of pressure, it’s easy for our feet to feel the stress of daily lives and without proper attention, they’ll get sick and start to hurt. As the part of our body most often coming into contact with our surroundings, once our feet start to feel pain in can move up and negatively affect your whole body. Thankfully, the simple step of investing in a quality pair of custom fitted orthotic insoles allows your feet and body to avoid the numerous ailments that can wreak havoc on your health

Arthritis

One of the worst kinds of pain that seem almost inevitable as we age is Arthritis. Unbearable inflammation spurring from the breakdown of cartilage, the vast majority of people pay the most attention to treating it in their immune system. What people don’t know, per the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare, is that osteoarthritis which affects the feet is the most common form, found in almost 10% of the population and equaling to about 60% of all arthritis cases. As your cartilage breaks down, your bones begin to press against each other at the joints and could eventually result in certain joints not working the way they should. With 26 bones and 30 joints per foot, taking action to prevent it with orthotic insoles custom made for your feet can help prevent the wear and tear that your feet might be impacted by through cushioning the foot, absorbing a large amount of the tension cause by impact. 

Balance

Something so apparently simple and often overlooked as an “issue” that you might experience, having bad balance can cause more issues to your health than people are aware of. As described in a Harvard medical journal, having bad balance can make you feel dizzy, causing you to fall and hurt yourself, as well as putting pressure on muscles and bones in your legs and torso. Balance is a complex process, using countless different joints, bones, muscles, and nerves coordinating effortlessly to achieve it, and none is more important than your feet. Using orthotic insoles that are carefully molded to your feet not only protect the mechanoreceptors (nerves responsible for our balance) as well as bones in your feet and ankles, but they also help distribute your weight across your body, relieve pressure off your muscles, and allow you to absorb the impact against solid ground when you move. Balance starts at the base, and when it comes to your body your feet act as the core of the whole system. Keeping them healthy lets your body continue to work effectively and prevent you from feeling pain or illness.

Tendinitis

The actions we put our feet up to rarely change in any sort of dramatic way, we walk and run and jump the same way for years at a time. What we don’t take into account is that this repetitive motion, when done improperly, can cause a negative impact in one focused area time & time again until it eventually breaks down. This impact usually occurs in the tendons of our body, and our feet carry as much as 100 tendons in each foot. Tendons connect the bones to the muscle of our body, and the largest of these, the Achilles, is responsible for our capability running, jumping, and even climbing up stairs. When the tendons in your feet are injured and suffer inflammation, it not only can cause a great deal of pain but make it incredibly difficult to stand or walk. Protecting them with orthotic insoles, tailored to make sure they suffer the impact rather than your feet, prevents tendinitis and lets them do their job of supporting your bones and your muscles to allow you to continue doing the activities that you enjoy.

Back Pain

While it may seem odd to think that your feet have anything to do with the pain you experience in your back, the connection is more prevalent that many realize. Your body is one unified system, and when one part begins to fail, others suffer as well. When you experience feet pain of any kind, you’ll body will be able to understand where in your foot the pain is coming from and unconsciously walk in a different way to try and minimize the pain. What we don’t realize is this “new” method of walking we instill actually misaligns our walking patterns which in turn misalign the way our spine moves. The Australian BetterHealth channel identifies poor posture and sudden awkward movement as two of the most prevalent cause of back pain, two things that are largely determined by the biomechanics of your feet. Rather than attempting to fight through the pain and cause your body to hurt in more places than just your feet, using custom orthotic insoles, tailored for your feet with the care that StepBetter takes, you can prevent the pain in your feet to begin with, not allowing the rest of you to have to suffer.

Organ Function

Have you ever stepped on something, and it hurt way more than you thought it would (Lego’s being infamous examples)? This is because your feet, especially the soles, are for more sensitive than you knew, and it’s this sensitivity that can cause your feet to be the root of how the organs in your body function. In a way similar to how it affects your back, the podiatrists at Martin Foot & Ankle acknowledge that a very similar phenomenon occurs in the rest of your body’s organs. Your feet are sensory goldmines, with as many as 200,000 nerve endings in per foot, each sending signals to your brain constantly. If your feet send a signal that something is wrong, your body reacts by sending that same signal throughout your body and make adjustments to try and help you, causing changes in places such as your immune system. By wearing orthotic insoles, the sensitive soles of your feet are protected, and your brain doesn’t receive negative signals that impact the rest of your body’s health.

Final Word

 While it may make sense that for the countless health benefits they give, custom made orthotic insoles must be painfully expensive, the truth is the folks at StepBetter give you the same quality insoles you’d get ordered at your doctor’s office for a fraction of the price. Meaning both your feet & your wallet don’t have to suffer any unnecessary pain.