Do You Have Flat Feet?

If you are having pain in the muscles behind your ankle, it could be as a result of your flat feet causing pressure and tension on your muscles and tendons. As a result, you could have pain behind your ankle and over the arch of your foot. This pressure can increase over time, because your foot structure will gradually cause your arch to collapse.

There are different stages of severity of this syndrome and your tendons will eventually cause you to not be able to stand on your toes. If this condition is caught early though, you will be able to treat your condition with a steroid injection to help relieve the inflammation and orthotic inserts for your shoes to help support your arch.

As the condition progresses though, your tendon can actually rupture as a result of the stress on your foot. Eventually your foot will become flat and your foot will be rigid. In these cases surgical repair of your foot is necessary in order to repair your tendon and to reform your arch. This is necessary to decrease the amount of pressure on your foot and to allow you to walk properly.

If you have been experiencing pain over the tendons or muscles of your feet, you should come in and see your podiatrist. You may be experiencing dysfunction of your posterior tibial tendon. This can lead to pain in other tendons as a result of them trying to compensate for your posterior tibial tendon. This will cause a general pain over the sides of your legs and over the top and bottom of your foot. This pain can inhibit your daily activities, but if addressed early, it can be prevented.

There are different treatments for this condition including inserts for your shoes, braces and surgery if necessary. We like to exhaust all conservative, non-surgical treatment first and give your feet the chance to heal on their own. We also can use laser therapy at the beginning stages of this condition to treat your tendon and help it to heal by promoting all of the healthy cells to come to the area and repair it.

If you or someone you know is having foot pain, please contact your podiatrist. If you live in the Tewksbury or Bradford, Massachusetts area, Dr. Wachtel would be more than happy to see you and help treat your foot pain. We are also happy to announce our Methuen and North Andover offices located at 451 Andover St. Suite 300, North Andover MA 01845 and 87 Jackson St, Methuen, MA 01835.