How To Prevent And Treat Flat Feet In Children Without Using Insoles
Ask yourself the following question: Do you still have a baby foot or have you already developed foot muscles? Find out how to identify it and adopt natural strategies to correct it.
Children have flat feet up to four and even six years of age, since from that moment most of them stop having them due to the development of the plantar arch. Therefore, it is not necessary to be excessively aware of the feet of our children, unless a problem is detected when walking or with their stability.
In general, a foot that is considered normal is one that rests on the ground on the tips of the toes, the heel, and on the outer side. The internal part has a small arch that only rests on the ground if you have body pressure; a subtle way to see it is by the wet footprint on cardboard. If the foot is healthy, the inside of the foot will not be marked.
However, in children this characteristic is not fulfilled, so it is not advisable to draw conclusions ahead of time. A four-year-old child rests the entire sole of the foot on the ground, hardly appreciating the plantar arch, but not because it is morphologically flat but because the foot at that age is full of fat and the ligaments are still very flexible.
How to know if our child has flat feet
As the child walks, at home, on the beach, climbs stairs, etc., the muscles of the foot are strengthened, the fat deposit is disappearing and the plantar arch is forming.
To really know if the foot is flat or a developing foot, simply put the child on tiptoe: if the arch appears, the foot is normal; if it does not appear, we are dealing with a rigid flat foot. At this time is when we should seek professional help, because the templates recommended by the specialist could be useful to prevent possible support problems.
Alternative therapies to insoles
Even if the child has support problems, before thinking about using prostheses and insoles, it is a good idea to consider other alternatives that can help rehabilitate the foot.
For example, a great help within alternative therapies can be RPG (Global Postural Reeducation), which analyzes the muscle chains involved in the genesis of this problem. It is an essentially preventive treatment, and not just a curative one, that remedies flat feet with personalized gymnastics.
A useful tip for plantar arch training is to walk barefoot on the beach sand, as it facilitates movement of the foot. Walking barefoot is a good way to train foot brace awareness. We must tell the child to feel how the foot rests.
Choosing good footwear helps
Also, choosing the right children’s footwear is of great importance when it comes to preventing flat feet. A good footwear will allow a growing foot, an optimal movement of the foot joints respecting the physiology and biomechanics.
The essential thing is that the shoes allow the correct movement of the child’s foot: they must be comfortable (that they are not baggy or too narrow), be sufficiently flexible and have an elastic sole that does not limit movements (in general, soles that can be folded with your hands).
In addition, the back of the shoes, the buttress of the footwear, should not be excessively high to facilitate movement of the ankle, although it should cover the heel well. It also helps that the sole of the shoe is not slippery and that it does not have a heel (or that it is as low as possible).
