TELL ME ABOUT ORTHOTICS........

Orthotics are shoe inserts that are specifically molded to YOUR foot which help stabilize your 'pedal mechanics', meaning the position of the bones of your feet during standing, walking and running. 
 
Custom fitted orthotics help align your unique foot's mechanics.  Each pair of flexible and supportive orthotics are custom molded in our office and then prepared by skilled laboartory technicians to created a unique device to correct and support areas of weakness.  These are not like the "Dr. Scholl" inserts which are mass-produced for millions of feet at one time.  Additionally, custom-prescribed orthotics can address other anomalies, such as heel spurs, plantar fascitis and uneven leg lengths.

 
DO I PRESCRIBE THEM?  YES.....HERE IS WHY:
When a foot imbalance is present, there is a negative impact on the knees, hips, pelvis and spine.  Some patients must have these abnormal forces reduced before they can achieve improved spinal function.  Properly fitted spinal stablizers (orthotics) control excessive pronation and supination, improve shock absorbtion on the joints, reduce repetitive stress and often allow chiropractic adjustment to last longer and increase effectiveness.  If your feet aren't balanced, every joint (and the connecting muscles, tendons and ligaments) above may become injured over time due to unnatural twists and strains on your body. Pain may occur because of these postural imbalances. 
 
Consider your spine and pelvis as an upside-down capital "T".  Now drop 2 lines down from the ends of that "T" toward the floor to represent your legs.  As your legs move, your pelvis and spine need to be balanced in order to alleviate stress and abnormal physical wear to the spine.  If there should be an inherent problem which causes an imbalance, over time you can develop everything from ankle, knee, hip and back pain based on this "wheels-out-of-alignment" distortion.

An anatomically short leg causing the spine to curve toward the short leg side.
 
Leg Length Differences
The best way to determine if you have an anatomical leg-length difference is by taking an upright X-Ray of the lumbar spine and pelvis.  Given the above "upside-down letter T" example above, if there is an anatomical deficiency of length on one side seen on the X-Ray, the spine usually tilts toward the short-leg side and then will compensate, causing a scoliosis ¨C or lateral bend.  Many times these scoliotic discrepancies are first noticed by attentive parents. Scoliosis-screenings at schools have let too many of these go unnoticed, and because of this chiropractors are best at evaluating this. So, if you're serious about spinal correction, wear heels with less than a "2" lift.

If you have any other questions about orthotics, spinal stabilizers or Chiropractic care, please call our office at 561-731-4457.