Know about the causes and treatments of Collapsed Arch

What are flat feet? Collapsed arch or flat feet is the condition of the feet where the arch of the feet is so small that it makes the feet completely flat. It is very simple to determine, whether you have flat feet or not. For this, you need to make your feet wet with water and stand on the flat dry surface like concrete. Then step out of it. If your feet impression is complexly in the shape of a foot, then you have flat feet. If the impact is partially visible, then you have right feet.
This test can be only applicable to adults. This is because many children have adjustable feet. Arches may appear when they grow old. Flat feet can cause many health problems. For many people, it can cause pain even when walking.
What are the types of flat feet?
There are two conditions of flat feet. One is flexible flat feet, and the other one is rigid flat feet. Medically flat feet is known as pes planus.
• The flexible flat foot is observed in children. Babies are not born with the arch. The arch develops with age between the ages of 7 to 10. There are also cases when adults have the flexible flat foot. Many nerve functions are responsible for this condition.
• The rigid flat foot causes more pain the flexible one. There are many causes responsible for this. Birth may dislocate the foot bones. Or two or more foot bones may be fused together. The rigid flat foot can also appear as an effect of any accident. There are also some rare cases when there is a reverse arch.

What are the causes of Collapsed Arch?

• There can be multiple reasons behind the collapsing of feet arch.
• Most of the time it is inherited from the parents.
• It can also occur due to stressed tendons of the foot.
• Accident or any damage to the posterior tibial tendon can cause this type of problem.
• Dislocation of bones can flatten your feet.
• There are many conditions which can result in flattened feet like rheumatoid arthritis or any nerve problem.
• Factors like obesity, aging, pregnancy and diabetes can increase the problem of flat feet.
• Wearing uncomfortable shoes, especially walking on heels for the long period also causes this type of problem.

What are the symptoms of the Collapsed arch?

Many people have flat feet, but it does not cause any problem all throughout their life. While some people suffer from multiple symptoms due to flat feet. Some of them are
 Flat feted people feel tired very quickly, especially during long hours of standing or walking.
 There can be a pain in the arches and heels. Sometimes, even the bottom of the feet becomes swollen.
 A flat footed person finds running, dancing, jumping or another type of physical activities terrible.
 Usually, when the flat footed person runs, they tend to move their fingers inward. This may help them to grip. But this can be very dangerous in the long run; there can be muscle pain of the feet, ligament pain or back pain.

What are the tests for flat feet?

There are many exams and tests to detect Collapsed Arch. The health history of a person tells whether there is a problem with the feet arch or not. Even the depressions on the soles of the used shoes can tell whether you have flat feet or not.
 To detect flexible flat foot, the doctor will ask you to stand on toes. If any arch formation takes place, then you have flexible flat feet. There is no more test to assure it.
 If there is no arch formation, even after standing on toes, then you have rigid flat feet. An x-ray can determine the position of the foot bones; CT scan gives the more precise position of the bones. An MRI scan provides whether there is a problem with tendons or not.
What are the treatments of fallen arches?
Many people do not need any diagnosis, even after having flat feet. If you experience no pain at all, then there is no need for any diagnosis. The treatment varies with the severity of the problem. Some of the common treatments are:
 Proper rest and putting ice on the swollen parts, so as to reduce the pain.
 Pain killers or anti-inflammatory are conventional medicines to reduce the pain.
 Physiotherapy and stretching exercises can reduce the pain to a huge extent.
 There are many devices and shoe medication prescribed by the doctor.
 If the pain is very severe, then it can lead to surgery. The fusing of ankle bones, changing the shape of the bones, clearing or adding tendons, bone grafting, and other methods can be performed by the doctors to prevent such condition.

What are the measures that you can take to reduce the pain?

You can follow self-care measures to reduce the pain.
There are hundreds of shoes, designed especially for a flat footed person. Running shoes with arch support are the best thing for flat feet. There are many medicated soles, which you can use with any shoes. You must avoid heels.
You can take the medicines like pain killers or anti-inflammatory if there is a sudden pain
Physiotherapy at home can be a lot of help to reduce these types of problem.
You should maintain your body weight. Obesity can worsen the problem offlat feet.
Avoid activities like running for long distance, outdoor sports that include high performance of legs. There are many devices which you can wear all the time to reduce the pain, and bring back the bones to their original shape.

Conclusion

It is nothing to worry if you have flat feet. Most of the time there is no symptoms. If you are experiencing constant pain in your foot, legs, or back, then you must consult a doctor. Both surgical and non-surgical treatments had helped a lot of people to overcome such problems. Problems with can be prevented through self-care also.