Get the Most Out of Your Sports Performance with Sports Insoles - By: Fred Salomon

Over-Pronation, Sports, and Shin Pain

If you love to run or taking part in team sports, you’re at risk for shin splints, painful knees, Achilles tendonitis, and other lower body injuries. Medial tibial stress syndrome, as it is called by the Mayo Clinic, is a pain that travels down the distance of the shin bone and is caused by too much stress on the bones, muscles, and ligaments of the lower extremeties. This stress can be made possible by running activities in any setting and can be aggravated by flat feet and insufficient foot arch support.

Many sports therapy experts recommend using ice, resting from running or sports, and using better shoes, preferably with the use of sport orthotics. Putting ice on the shin and supporting structures of the lower leg help ease pain while decreasing the amount of swelling soon after an injury. Relaxation is always recommended because it allows for the bones, tendons and muscles to repair themselves. Finally, using better shoes can drastically help deter re-injury to the lower legs and feet by providing better cushioning and arch support. This allows for proper foot position and takes in shock. Sport orthotics can make all the difference in endurance and performance because they offer arch support as well as additional cushioning. For people with flat feet, these special sport orthotics support the arch properly and realign the feet.

Overpronation due to flat feet can cause more than just shin splints to occur. Plantar fasciitis, heel spurs, knee, ankle, and low back pain, as well as Achilles tendonitis can be attributed to flat feet. If sport orthotics are not utilized during physically stressful sports activities, reinjury and serious foot issues can occur. The technicalities involved in these problems are connected to the plantar fascia tendon, which is the main structure that supports the foot arch. It is a band-like structure that stretches to absorb the shock triggered when the foot carries our body weight during sports activity. In people with flat feet, this tendon has been over-stretched and has lost its lengthening abilities. Its capability to absorb shock has been severely diminished. This condition also causes overpronation of the foot, or the inclination for the ankles to roll toward the center of the body. The weight of the body is then oddly centered on one area rather than being equally distributed over the entire area of the foot. This is how orthotics for sports can be of significant help in cases of flat feet and other foot ailments; they provide support and cushion in all the right areas.

About the Author

Podiatrists agree that the most common cause of heel pain and heel spurs is Plantar Fasciitis. This pain can be avoided if Plantar Fasciitis is prevented. Footminders biomechanical arch supports were developed by podiatrists, and have helped thousands of heel pain sufferers around the world.

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