So what exactly can our children’s shoes tell us about their posture? Actually quite a lot. Let me explain…
One of my parent’s pet hates was the fact that I would constantly wear out my shoes as a child/teenager. I was a very active child and I lived for the outdoors, which meant I ran and walked everywhere! My shoes would approximately last 3 months or so if I was lucky before I had to get a new pair. If you looked at my shoes you would have seen that on both sides the insides of my heels and the inside of the sole near my big toes were completely worn out. My parents took me to their Chiropractor and we spoke about the importance of foot mechanics and how it affects the rest of the body.
If your child’s shoes are wearing down on the outsides or insides then they could have some irregular foot mechanics. When there is evidence of abnormal foot mechanics this can pre-expose them to foot problems such as muscle inactivation, joint pain, muscle pain and later on arthritis due to the increased wear and tear on the body.
In our clinic we assess your child’s gait (walk) and perform functional tests to see how well their mechanics are working throughout their body and we have a big focus on their spine but also their feet. Most children are very active and love running around whether its playing with friends or playing sport. To keep our kids active and without minimal potential for problems to occur, have a look at your child’s shoes, see if the wearing on them are even or is one side worse, are they wearing down in the middle of the shoe or more out to one side? The problem could well and truly be in their feet, but as Chiropractors we have found that when there are pelvic misalignments in the body it can affect the mechanics above and below the area, therefore it could be affecting the feet below the pelvis. If that is the case it is possible that your child’s feet are experiencing extra mechanical stressors due to something else going on in their skeletal structure.
There are many factors that can cause postural stressors in children, and looking at their shoes is a good way for us to identify if there are things going on in their body that isn’t quite ‘normal’.
Therefore, it is important for children/teenagers to get regular check-ups to see if we can reduce the stressors in their bodies and make them function to the best of their ability. Plus who knows, it might save you from buying 4 pairs of new shoes a year.
Have your child assessed today by one of our experienced Chiropractors… we’ll have them put their best foot forward in no time! BOOK HERE
Written by Dr. Georgia Lowe, Chiropractor.
References
Riskowski, J., Dufour, A. B., & Hannan, M. T. (2011). Arthritis, Foot Pain & Shoe Wear: Current Musculoskeletal Research on Feet. Current Opinion in Rheumatology, 23(2), 148–155. http://doi.org/10.1097/BOR.0b013e3283422cf5
