custom orthotics

Heel Pain in Children

Custom orthotics for severs disease
Custom orthotics for severs disease 600 400 Ace Health Centre

Custom orthotics for severs disease

Custom orthotics are widly used for severs disease. If done right they can have a great effect in help reduce pain in in childrens feet, alowing them to continue doing exercise and walking with less if not no pain.

Severs disease is growing pains in the heel of kids feet. It mostly occurs in in children aged 9-13. Although they will eventually grow out of it, it can be debilitating at times. The pain can make children avoid speding time on their feet, doing sport and activities. Keeping chrildren active, moving and therefore happy is the main objective. Nobody in pain and avoiding the activies they love is happy.

Orthotic prescription

When prescribing orthotics for sever there a a few things that we aim todo.

  1. To start, we are aiming to take pressure away from the heel area. This is done by providing adequate arch support. The more weight we can redistrobute away from the heel the less pain that they will experience.
  2. The next is providing extra cushiong. Hard floors and vibrating increase pain, and so adding extra lawyers of cushing can reduce pain.
  3. Adding a heel lift helps reduce pull of the achillies on the heel. This is done via footwear that have a heel pitch built in. The orthotics under the heel also add a slight heel lift to reduce pain.
  4. Pronation can cause strain on the heel. The foot rolling inward causes the calf muslce to pull on the heel bone. The orthotics can be used to reduce pronations to help reduce pain.
  5. Soft top covers on the orthotics can help further add cushioning.

We commonly use Custom orthotics for severs and found them much more effective than off the shelf ones. This is due to the range of customisation we have to aim the orthotics at the child at hand. Having the right support, the right arch height, the right amount of chsioning to maximises the effects of the orthotics. They are also much more durable than over the counter products.

If your child is experiencing heel pain then give us a call today to see how custom orthotics can help them.

 

Blog written by Mike, Podiatrist

Custom orthotics for hypermobility

Custom orthotics for hypermobility
Custom orthotics for hypermobility 804 750 Ace Health Centre

Custom orthotics for hypermobility

Custom orthotics are widely used for symptomatic hypermobility. This occurs in adults and children. Hypermobility is widely genetic. Passed down from parents to children. There are also other types of hypermobilty which are genetic abnormalities such as marfams, or Ehlers danlos syndrome.

Joint range of motion

Joint have a range of motion that is whithin normal limits. Hypermobilty is when these joints move much further than they should do. For example. The big toe joint is meant to have aprox 45 degess for walking and up to around 60 degress. More than 90 degress is considered abnormal and hypermobile. The are a few different tests that you can do in order to see how flexable you really are. The main tests are done under the beightons scale for hypermobility.

Here are examples of a few test that are used in order to diagnose your level of hypermobiltiy.

  • Bend forward and place your hands flat on the floor without bending your knees.
  • Straighten your elbows past a neutral position (hyperextend) (one point for each elbow).
  • Straighten your knees past a neutral position (hyperextend) (one point for each knee).
  • Bend your pinky (little) fingers back beyond 90 degrees (one point for each finger).
  • Bend your thumbs back to touch your forearms (one point for each thumb).

The Orthotics

The orthotics that this client has been made for has been suffering from aching legs, feet, knees and loweer back. When a joint it hypermobile it becomes very unstable. This instubility requires your muscles to work overtime in order stablise the joint. This results in fatique and aching.

Custom orthotics are commonly used for hypermobilty to help stabalise the feet which can help in reduceing overuse. This in turns helps reduce the aching and fatique.The orthotics are only as good as the shoes that they are put into. This is why it is important for the podiatrist to give footwear recomendations that are suitable to put the orthotics into.

If you think that you are hypermobile and experience aching feet or legs then book in with our podiatrist today.

 

Blog written by Mike, Podiatrist

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