Flat Feet? A story of my own.

[syinx 139]

Now, a lot of us on this forum have flat feet, or less-than-average feet. We've resorted to wearing different skates, adding footbeds, getting orthotics, and the like. But how many of us actually get professional, medical advice from a orthopedic doctor (note, not podiatrist).

Here's my tale.

I grew up throughout life not really caring much about my foot type, until I started skating and playing hockey. I have always had a foot that spread out and became flat as I walked and stood, and always thought that was how things were. I began getting pains in my arch, my calves and my shins (feeling like shin splints) when I took up skating again at the age of 17 (after having stopped 8 years prior) and soon learned from my skate fitter that I had a flat foot, that my arch would collapse and the entirety of my foot would touch the floor. There was no room in the arch to put any fingers into.

After going through a ridiculous amount of solutions, like getting a skate re-fitted, trying Superfeet, trying the Sidas footbeds, everything lessened the pain, but not remove it entirely. After all of this, I thought I'd finally hunker down some money on a pair of orthotics for my skates. Being in Hong Kong right now, not many podiatrists make skate footbeds, so I ended up going to Dr. Julian Wong, the consulting sport doctor during the 2008 Olympics, as he was the only reputable sport doctor in the area (I wasn't going to be in Vancouver, my home for months, and with residency and citizenship in Hong Kong, medical care is cheaper).

I soon found out I had a perfectly normal arch, in fact, neither low nor high. My foot naturally collapsed to provide me with maximum contact with the floor due to my unique skeletal structure, and it was perfectly normal. Apparently, this was not the source of my pain. There are actually two.

For one, I seem to have been looking for solutions to my flat feet - the skates that I was fitted in were imperfect due to the fact everyone, including myself, operated under the premise that I had flat feet, and I ended up with foot support in the wrong area.

Secondly, it was because of my excessive participation in track and field during my growth spurt years (I'm 19 now) that has caused my muscles to strengthen too fast and stiffen, and thus my feet, legs and ankles are not flexible enough to go into the correct hockey skating stance, due to my calve tendons inhibiting my forward flex at the ankle. According to the doctor, I need not have spend upwards of 300 dollars (700 if you include the new skates) on solutions, when this whole ordeal could've been fixed with some daily, targeted stretches (God they're painful and weird) for the next month.

So all in all, I spent a hundred bucks at an orthopedic surgeon to find out I spent 300 dollars on useless solutions.

My advice to all of you? Get some reputable, professional, medical advice. There could be a completely unseen and unexpected root to your problem that can't be seen by anyone but the most qualified.

[romdj 26]

Interesting, let us know how it turns out in the future :)

[hunterphfr 12]

I have a similar issue and have heard the terms overpronation and highly mobile arch used to describe exactly the same issue. My skate issues have been related more to my A heel coupled with a EEE forefoot though.

[elubes 0]

this post and how it relates to me.

been playing hockey for 16 years now. 4x a week about. my feet ALWAYS hurt in ice skates in high school. the only skates that work for me now as an adult are Graf skates (im 32)

i just had some crazy knee problems come up in the last two weeks. never had knee pain in my life.

went to the one of the best orthopedic surgeon in my area for a diagnosis.

i have runner's knee. my kneecap has not been moving correctly for maybe almost two decades. and it just caught up to me. now i'm being treated for that.

literally went to my first physical therapy today. i told them that i have flat feet and they said, that's probably a major cause of my knee pain right now (in addition to some other factors).

i went to walmart and got some orthotics from this dr. scholl's custom fit stand. my PT said try that option before spending 400 bux on plastered orthotics. dr scholls custom fit orthotics are 50 bucks. he said people have had good experiences with it.

so i did. so far wearing them home, i can feel the pressure evening out all along my foot...and my shins have (im guessing) rotated very slightly back to their normal positions. now it's just a waiting game for me to see if my patellas will start tracking correctly over my knees.

but it's just crazy to me, because all of these problems that im having, knee & back, maybe future hip problems -- it's cause flat feet has probably been a big contributor and i never really took it seriously.

[hunterphfr 12]

Elubes, I have had similar issues lately as well and as I stated above I overpronate/have mobile arches. I'm now 44. I've played hockey my whole life, used to play lacrosse, ran cross country, jogged and was in the infantry/paratrooper for 8 years. All with no major issues. I just began to develop left knee pain and blew it off as an age related thing. Then my left knee started to click every time I went up a step. That got me in to see the ortho pretty quickly as I thought I might have partially torn something. Diagnosis was the pain and now the clicking with every stair step is a direct result of my left patella (kneecap) not tracking properly over the knee.

[hardflip177 1]

For those of us that don't have the cash, I follow the Sock Doc (google him) and his methods are working. Walk barefoot as much as possible and work out in flat shoes. Balance exercise has worked for me. I have had problems with shin splints/posterior tibial tendonitis and its changing my life. Check your diet too. I'm a believer

[Meals 2]

I just got Graf Cusomt Foot beds....they rock, and fited some problems...so far...

[SirJW 207]

My go to footbeds are Sole. I have them in my skates, shoes and wear the flip flops.

http://www.yoursole.com/us