Spinal Decompression

How Feet Cause Back Pain and Affect Total Health

Dr. Leo Potetti Spinal Decompression , , , ,

We’ve all been there—you’ve had a long day on your feet, and when you get home and sit down to take your shoes off you find your feet sore beyond belief. But while your feet aching is bad enough, have you considered what other effects stress on your feet has?

You may remember that old song, “foot bone connected to the heel bone, heel bone connected to the ankle bone,” and so on and so forth. While the mechanics of how the foot supports your body are a bit more nuanced than that, there’s a basic truth here that all of your body is connected, and something going wrong with one part will affect the others. And your feet have a particularly strong influence on the rest of your body, especially on the back, potentially causing painful conditions that require spinal decompression therapy to remedy.

Here are the basics of how your feet affect your total body health, and what you can do to prevent health issues they may cause.

How Feet Support the Body

back-pain-caused-in-feetAbout 25% Of All The Bones in your body are in your feet. The feet are a complex network of structures designed chiefly for one thing: for minimizing the impact of every footstep.

Each footstep creates a shockwave that travels up your feet and disperses throughout your skeleton. The structures of your foot are made to facilitate maximum shock absorption so that less stress is placed on the rest of your body, especially on your spine. But an irregularity in your gait or in the form of your foot can impede this shock absorption.

Excessive shock, poor joint function in the feet and ankles, and collapsed arches can all affect how your spine moves as you walk and how it absorbs shock. These conditions can lead to chronic back pain, while your feet don’t hurt at all. Alternatively, if you do get a pain in your foot you will naturally Alter Your Gait To Minimize The Pain. This shift in the way you walk can also negatively impact the way walking affects your spine. In many cases, you’ll never even suspect that this is the root cause of your back and neck pain.

Spinal Decompression and Other Solutions

If these irregularities persist, they can cause serious problems with your spinal health. Eventually you may need corrective procedures, such as Spinal Decompression. Spinal decompression is a nonsurgical procedure where the vertebrae are gently separated to create negative pressure to realign herniated or bulging discs and relieve pain in the back and neck.

But while spinal decompression is an effective treatment, in the chiropractic profession we prefer to advocate for prevention over reaction. Treating pain is all well and good, but if you continue to allow the issues with your feet to continue, the pain will only return. Instead of treating these conditions that have developed over time by addressing the symptoms, it’s better to treat the root cause.

Getting your feet looked at and potentially treated can help alleviate many issues. If you have an irregularity like a collapsed arch or irregular leg length, a professional can provide you with special inserts to minimize the impact this has on how your feet absorb shock, as well as teach you proper walking posture. Shoes are important as well—shoes with Rigid Heel Counters and good arch support, particularly sneakers, are your best bet, and women should avoid wearing tall heels too often.

If you’re experiencing back and neck pain, maybe your feet are what’s causing you so much hurt. If you suspect this to be the case, or if you’re considering spinal decompression therapy, it’s good to get it checked out by a healthcare provider who can give you the attention you need. Back in Shape Chiropractic has been providing quality care in northern Illinois for 27 years and are capable of finding out what’s really causing your condition. Simply give us a call at (847) 249-2225 and we can schedule an appointment. From your feet to your neck and everything in between, we can get your body Back in Shape.
Back in Shape Chiropractic
4673 Old Grand Ave
Gurnee, IL 60031
(847) 249-2225
backinshapechiro.com


Chiropractic Care is First, Non-Invasive Option

Dr. Leo Potetti Spinal Decompression

The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (F4CP), a not-for- profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the value of chiropractic care, calls for chiropractic care as the first approach for addressing low back pain and many common conditions before the utilization of drugs-OTC or prescription. According to a CNN report, Let’s End the Prescription Drug Death Epidemic, a significant danger of prescription medication is overdoses which have become a primary cause of unintentional deaths in the U.S. – surpassing car crashes – with claims of one death every 19 minutes. Read more