Often, a patient might ask, “What can I do to help my adjustments last longer?”

What they’re really asking is, “What can I do to speed this up so I can stop coming here and get on with my life?!”

It’s an important question. You see, only half the benefit of chiropractic care comes from getting adjusted. The other half comes from getting to the point where you don’t need to be adjusted because the spine stays in alignment.

How do you get to that point?

Well, what we’re trying to achieve through your chiropractic care at Integrity Chiropractic is LONG-TERM CORRECTIVE CHANGES. We not only want to help you get pain relief, we also want to improve the structure of your spine so that you get LONG-LASTING RESULTS. Sometimes chiropractic adjustments alone just aren’t going to be enough to do the trick. When this occurs, one of the things we must do is look to the feet.

The reasoning is simple:

Our feet are the foundation of support for the pelvis and spine as well as the whole weight of the body. The feet provide balance, propel us, act as shock-absorbers and adapt to walking stresses. The feet provide the necessary stability to perform daily activities.

Central to the success of the feet is the vaulted structure the foot forms, which is made up of three arches: the medial longitudinal arch (inner arch), the lateral longitudinal arch (outer arch), and the anterior transverse metatarsal arch (across the balls of the feet).

Each arch consists of several bones bound together by tough, elastic ligaments and tendons. Together, these three arches and the strong connective tissue bond to form an extremely strong, supportive “plantar vault” that distributes the weight of the entire body while remaining flexible.

BUT…if ANY of these three arches is compromised, the other arches must compensate. Then they become subject to additional stresses, which leads to further compromise until the entire plantar vault begins to lose its structural integrity.

It’s a chain reaction

Some of the things that could cause an arch to collapse are ankle injuries (they compromise the soft tissues that hold the arch in place); excessive weight gain (everything gets bigger except for your feet, which now have to support a much heavier load. It becomes a form of chronic physical stress on the feet); long periods of standing/walking (repetitive overuse); old age (the ligaments and tendons in the arch and the entire body begin to lose their tensile strength); and improper support of the feet from constantly wearing bad shoes (yes ladies, I’m talking about high heels, flip flops and clogs).

Usually, it’s a combination of these things over time.

Collapse of the plantar vault can have detrimental effects on all weight-bearing joints above the feet. Interestingly, the symptoms of a collapsed arch can manifest themselves anywhere in the musculoskeletal system – from the legs to the pelvis, and even into the back and neck.

So, what do you do when the arches of the feet aren’t quite doing the job they once were? The answer is custom-fitted, flexible orthotics.

Please note that I stress that the orthotics must be custom-made for YOUR FEET! Your foot is unique; no one else has a foot exactly like it.

That means the store-bought arch supports aren’t gonna cut it!! These arch supports typically only support the inner arch of the foot, but remember, your foot has three arches, and if ANY of the three arches go bad, the whole thing becomes compromised. YOU MUST SUPPORT ALL THREE ARCHES OF THE FEET.

Second, the orthotics must be FLEXIBLE. Rigid orthotics aren’t gonna cut it either!! Remember, the job of the arches is to distribute body weight while remaining flexible. Rigid orthotics take the flexibility away. Literally, the 26 bones of the foot, which move from heel to toe in a wave-like motion during a single step, are rendered immobile with rigid orthotics. Without motion in the feet, the body compensates by having the movable, weight-bearing joints above the feet become hypermobile (that is, they will move too much). Over time, this leads to instability. The point of orthotics is to SUPPORT the arches, NOT to try and brace them into place.

Remember, the arches are held together by tough, partially elastic ligaments and tendons. Once the elasticity of these ligaments and tendons is gone, no amount of bracing will cause those soft tissues to fully go back to their original strength. Therefore, bracing will be unsuccessful.

This is NOT just my opinion. Numerous scientific studies over the years have shown that the arches are maintained almost completely by these ligaments and tendons. These soft tissues have limited elastic properties that do not reform after stress due to overload. This is the reason why strengthening exercises have never been successful in re-developing a poorly formed or collapsed arch.

In our office we have a digital foot scanner that is designed to take a weight-bearing image of your feet. Then, a special software uses the scans to create a 3-D image of the foot. It only takes five minutes to find out if you need orthotics!!

Once the scan of your foot is complete, you will get a printed report that gives you the results of the scan along with recommendations.

Without having a foot scan, here are some signs that indicate the need for orthotics:

• You stand or walk on hard surfaces for more than four hours daily.
• You participate regularly in any physical sport (basketball, baseball, tennis, golf, running, etc.)
• You are age 40 or over.
• You have injured your ankle, knee, or back multiple times (or even just one time).
• Your shoes get “out of shape” or wear unevenly, especially on the outside of the heel.
• Your feet, knees, hips or lower back hurt while standing, walking, or running.
• You have knock knees or bow legs.
• You have bunions, corns, flat feet, etc.
• You have regular lower back pain, hip pain, knee pain, or foot pain.

If one or more of these describes you then you should seriously consider orthotics.

It’s a simple thing to do; just come into the office and get your feet fitted for an orthotic it only takes 5 minutes!!

If you decide that you want to give orthotics a try, here’s what you’ll get:

• A custom-fitted, flexible orthotic that provides support to all three arches of the foot.
• A choice of the kind of style you want based on the type of shoe you wear most often. The great thing about orthotics, though, is that they can move from shoe to shoe. Full-length and Dress length stabilizers fit a wide variety of shoe styles.
• Your lifestyle, age, weight, activity level, and condition are all considered when we create your custom-made stabilizers.

And the best of all is this:

We want you to be happy with your orthotics, but after wearing them for a couple of weeks if you are dissatisfied in any way, shape, or form then we will give you a complete refund (I bet they don’t do that with the store-bought orthotics).

Bottom line: your body is an interconnected system of specialized parts, and improving the support structure of your body will help bring long-term alignment to the knees, hips, pelvis and spine to help your care progress quicker and last longer.

Below is just a short list of conditions that see improvement with the use of orthotics.

• Poor posture
• Lower Back Pain
• Hip Pain
• Knee Pain
• Shin Splints
• Ankle Pain
• Heel Spurs
• Plantar Fascitis
• Foot Pain
• Sports Injuries (ankle sprains, knee injuries, etc.)

Take me back to Integrity Chiropractic