Walking is an excellent way to exercise outdoors and improve physical and mental health, but it can also affect various body parts, including the feet.
Foot pain becomes a problem when it affects your job and everyday activities. Many factors play into foot pain and aren’t always an injury or medical condition.
At the Spine and Orthopedic Center of New Mexico, we understand the connection between how you walk (gait) and foot pain. Dr. David Ball is a board-certified foot and ankle surgeon offering various foot and ankle treatments to patients in Roswell, New Mexico.
Your gait is the way you walk. It's a combination of the hips, knees, ankles, and feet working together to help you move forward. A normal walking gait distributes weight and pressure evenly to keep stress off one specific area or joint.
Many factors influence walking, including muscle strength, coordination, and balance. Certain conditions and injuries lead to abnormal gait patterns, stressing the muscles and tissues in the legs and feet.
The feet have various functions while walking. The three primary functions are heel strike, midfoot stance, and toe-off. During a heel strike, the heel makes ground contact, absorbing the initial shock.
The midfoot stance occurs as you shift your weight forward, allowing the arches to distribute weight and pressure evenly. Lastly, the toes push off the ground, moving your body forward during the toe-off.
When any of these functions don't happen properly, it affects your gait, leading to chronic pain.
An abnormal gait puts excess stress on the tissues in the foot and ankle, contributing to acute and chronic pain.
Injuries and medical issues aren't the only cause of foot pain; certain factors that affect how you walk also lead to foot discomfort. The following are factors that play into foot pain with an abnormal gait:
Toe deformities can occur if your toes don’t align well or move appropriately while walking. Hammer toes and bunions often happen due to a poor gait pattern.
The plantar fascia is an integral aspect of foot structure and walking. An abnormal gait puts excess pressure on the tendon, causing inflammation and the formation of plantar fasciitis.
A proper walking pattern distributes weight evenly, taking pressure off specific areas of the foot. A poor gait causes certain areas of the feet to take on more stress, potentially causing pain and the formation of calluses and corns.
An abnormal gait affects how the feet align while walking, putting stress on the arches. The result is flat feet or high arches, both of which contribute to foot pain.
Over time, an abnormal gain puts pressure on specific areas of the foot, which causes shoes to wear unevenly. Uneven shoe wear strains certain foot areas, increasing pain.
Muscle fatigue and subsequent injuries are other aspects of an abnormal gait pattern. It stresses the leg and foot muscles, potentially increasing the risk of injuries like ankle and foot sprains, strains, and fractures.
Foot pain and gait abnormalities don't have to last forever. The first step in treatment is to take control of your walking patterns by seeing Dr. Ball.
Dr. Ball evaluates foot pain and performs a gait analysis at your appointment. This allows him to see how you walk and identify any abnormalities contributing to foot pain.
After a thorough evaluation, he creates a customized treatment plan to address gait problems and associated foot pain. A few of the treatments he recommends include the following:
Dr. Ball recommends several treatments together to give you the best possible outcome. Orthotics and footwear changes support correcting specific gait abnormalities and evenly distributing pressure.
Physical therapy improves balance, muscle strength, and coordination, resulting in a suitable walking pattern for healthy feet and legs. It also incorporates stretches and lifestyle modifications to relieve stress on the feet.
If you're dealing with foot pain and require treatment, call our Roswell, New Mexico, office today to schedule an appointment with Dr. Ball or request an appointment on our website.
