Feet are important because feet control how the knees move. The feet don't move right then the knees don't move right. Then the muscles get damaged, the knee becomes deformed, the cartilage wears out and you're looking at knee replacement surgery.

Foot pain can come from the feet not moving correctly or from lack of proper support. Ankle pain, heel pain, pain under the foot and between the toes can all come from lack of proper support.

Silicone heel pads, injections from the medical doctor, pills... none of this fixes the problem. Proper support under the foot and care to the muscles, tendons, ligaments and cartilage usually can fix the problem.

At the GTHC we understand these problems and have been treating them for years. If you are having problems with your feet, knees or hips, we are the people to see.
       
    Any foot can have problems but feet that are too flat or too high are at extra risk. Orthotics and proper treatment can fix foot problems and keep good feet from going bad.
       
 

Left foot: Rolled in, "Pronated"
Right foot: Straight, Correct

 Look at the foot on the left. See how crooked it is? This is a problem that will cause other problems all the way up the leg and into the back.

Now look at the foot on the right. See how straight it is? This is how the foot should look. Why is it straight? Because it's being properly supported.

Nature designed us to walk on natural surfaces like grass, dirt and sand. We were never meant to spend our lives walking on hard, ungiving surfaces like stone or cement. If we don't follow natures way we pay the price.

The price is pain and problems from our feet all the way up into the rest of the body. This is what is meant by the Kinetic Chain.
See the red arrow on the left? It's in the middle of a ligament called the Plantar Aponeurosis. If you have heel pain this ligament is probably pulling away from the heel bone. If you take an x-ray of the foot you might see some bone growing off the heel called a Heel Spur. This is very common. The cure? Orthotics, Ice and proper treatment.
     
 

Orthotics for foot correction

These are orthotics. These give you back a natural surface (grass, dirt, sand) to walk on and correct for the surface you usually walk on (cement). You just wear them and forget they are there. They do all the correction. The secret is to wear it all the time.

Go to our Orthotic Movie Guide. We have several movie clips explaining how orthotics help get rid of pain from the feet to the back.
       
 

Shin pain is very common with people who play sports. It has, basically, two ways of occurring.

The first way is ripping of the ligament between the tibia and the fibula. This happens when the two bones are forces apart because of fixation in the ankle joint or because of abnormal foot motion.

The second way is improper stress and inflammation of the Tibialis Anterior muscle. Note how the tendon goes down and under the foot. One of the jobs or this muscle is to help hold up the arch. If you have flat feet, that puts a constant pull on the muscle and it becomes painful.

Both of these problems can be corrected through Orthotics and rehabilitative care.