One of the leading causes of lower back pain is bad posture. The sacroiliac, or “SI”, joints are the link between your spinal column and pelvis. They help absorb damaging shock forces, and they also help stabilize the body and transmit weight to the lower limbs.
When your sacroiliac joints are not moving effectively due to either stiffness or excessive movement, it is referred to as Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction, which normally results in sacroiliac pain.
But what do my feet have to do with it?
Special attention should be paid to the kinematic chain. Beginning at the foundation of the chain, the feet may exhibit excessive pronation or supination that can contribute to SI syndrome. Effects may manifest as muscular imbalance and skeletal distortion that transmit directly to the pelvic ring, leading to chronic lower back pain.
Orthotics corrects your foot function and posture by giving your feet – and your brain – a true read of the ground so your muscles can keep your feet and body balanced. Normal pronation, or “turning inward”, of the foot is necessary as the foot adapts to the ground. With over pronation, the arch flattens, collapses, and soft tissues stretch. This causes the joint surfaces to function at unnatural angles to each other.
The effects of heel-strike shock on the pelvic structure are also a big concern. When such massive amounts of force are present, hip and back pain are natural consequences, particularly in cases where SI dysfunction exists. A shock-absorbing material built into a custom-made orthotics can have a significant effect in reducing initial heel impact.
In a nutshell, this is how orthotics contribute to correcting your posture which in turn helps with the healing process of SI Joint dysfunction:
- Reduces pronation, which helps to decrease stress on the SI Joint
- Decreases the medial rotational stress on the sacroiliac joints
- Avoid excessive counter nutation
- Diminish ground reaction forces sent through the longer leg by correcting functional or anatomical leg length discrepancies
- Ease heel-strike impact (particularly necessary when there is instability, degeneration, or even inflammatory arthritis in the SI Joints)
You can check your foot posture for free at Chiropractic Dubai. If needed, we will do the necessary recommendations for you, and advise on the appropriate custom-made foot orthotics for your foot type.
