Back Clinic Foot orthotics These are shoe inserts that are custom-made to medical specifications. Custom-made orthotics are considered more effective and made of higher quality than pre-made orthotics.
Custom-made orthotics can:
Correct abnormal walk or gait
Reduce pain
Prevent and protect foot/feet deformity
Better alignment
Take away pressure on the foot/feet
Improve mechanics of the foot
Foot pain can come from an injury, disease, or condition, but the cause of the foot pain is what the doctor wants to know to know what type of orthotic to design. The inserts are made by taking an impression of the foot/feet with a 3-D scan.
Suffering from foot pain, that can lead to leg, hip, and spine problems, then orthotics could hold the key to optimal health. By starting from the bottom up foot orthotics can prevent any problems/issues and relieve any pain. It is an option to be considered and should be discussed with your physician.
As people grow into adults, maintaining normal flexibility gets to be much more challenging and losing flexibility can result in a lot of pain to the musculoskeletal system.
Unfortunately, many of us do not retain flexibility throughout the day, even when attempting to be active. Many jobs are largely sedentary, and even leisure activities keep us stuck in one place. In order to remain functional, joints and muscles need to be used, which means they need to be properly stretched without being overworked. The balance is often very delicate, fortunately, chiropractic adjustments increase flexibility.
Chiropractic’s Role in Flexibility
Most adults are not concerned with being able to twist like a pretzel, however, they do want to be able to maneuver through daily life without a lot of pain. One of the main things accomplished in most chiropractic visits is that the chiropractor will look for misalignments in the spine and seek to correct them with a combination of chiropractic adjustments and exercises.
Adjustments
When the spine is misaligned it can affect many different areas of the body including flexibility. Someone who is not flexible will have a limited range of motion (ROM) and treatments are designed to improve this and restore natural posture.
But being flexible is about more than moving better. When the body is stiff, even simple movement results in pain because it is blocked by the misalignment. When this is adjusted/corrected, blood flow improves and the process of improving flexibility becomes less taxing.
Nutrition
There is more to a chiropractor’s day than correcting misalignments in the spine. Chiropractic is holistic in nature and in order to be truly successful, it relies on the patient to be a cooperative participant in treatment. Giving nutritional advice is a big part of this.
While advice can vary from patient to patient, generally, when a person struggling with flexibility adds protein and fatty acids into their diet it can help joints and muscles to be properly nourished. People should also monitor their intake of processed and pre-packaged foods as these can contribute to inflammation.
Training Exercises
Because of many factors in our lives, as well as the effects of aging, people’s range of motion inevitably decreases as time goes by, especially if nothing is purposefully done to maintain it. Flexibility exercises are commonly strongly suggested by chiropractors as they strive to help their patients with range of motion (ROM) and flexibility issues.
In many cases, such as those where someone is suffering from tendinitis or bursitis, the truly therapeutic exercises are resistive exercises. These, however, are limited, unless a higher level of flexibility is achieved.
Flexibility programs are implemented in order to make a given joint have a wider level of extensibility, which may be achieved by either traditional static stretching or Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) techniques, which incorporates a slow reversal hold.
Working with a chiropractor on a regular basis for help in gaining flexibility can help assure that a patient moves forward at an appropriate pace that is in line with their age and fitness level. This will help them achieve a higher level of success in their chosen sport or similar activity, and/or become more productive in their daily lives while experiencing less pain.
*FIX BAD POSTURE* with Custom Orthotics | El Paso, TX (2019)
Proper Posture
Your spine does more than keep your body upright: it�s the brain that communicates to the rest of the body. Posture even affects your emotional well-being, including self-confidence!
Poor posture takes a serious toll on health. Here are a few of the negative results:
Muscle soreness
Subluxations
Blood vessel constriction
Nerve constriction
As the years go by the problems worsen, which results
Maintaining proper posture involves sitting, standing, and lying down properly. Here is an excerpt from the American Chiropractic Association website on how to:
Sit the right way
Keep your feet on the floor or on a footrest, if they can’t reach the floor
Don’t cross your legs. Your ankles should be in front of your knees
Keep a small gap between the back of your knees and the front of your seat.
Your knees should be at or below the level of your hips.
Bear your weight primarily on the balls of your feet.
Keep your knees slightly bent.
Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart.
Let your arms hang naturally down the sides of the body.
Lie down the right way
Find the mattress that is right for you. While a firm mattress is generally recommended, some people find that softer mattresses reduce their back pain. Go with your comfort
Sleep with a pillow. Special pillows can help with postural problems resulting from a poor sleeping position
Avoid sleeping on your stomach
Healthy Feet Equals A Healthy Spine
The feet are complex structures which function�to provide protection and support to the body in relation to the spine and head posture. The feet are essential towards balancing the body�s entire weight, allowing it to walk, run, stand, and, jump. Consequently, foot complications may cause severe issues throughout the spine, hips, knees, and ankles if left untreated.
Gait & Chronic Postural Pain
Chiropractic care can be effective for treating injuries or conditions such as plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis, and ankle sprains, among others. Foot health is essential towards establishing the body�s proper support and balance, together with a proper spinal posture. In the presence of foot complications, chiropractic treatment can be used to achieve long-lasting health.
NCBI Resources
Flexibility is a critical component of keeping your body fit and healthy. Research shows that people who are more flexible are better able to reach their�optimum fitness level. It can also help to prevent injury and reduce your risk of conditions like arthritis and other�chronic diseases.�They also have a better range of motion and mobility as they age.
If you are an active amateur or a competitive runner, using the services of a chiropractor can make a vast change in your overall health, reduce your pain from injuries and improve your alignment for a more effective run.
Chiropractors are excellent when it comes to rehabilitation, and they can help you keep your body in top condition as an athlete. All sports is an area that chiropractors can specialize in, focusing their training and experience on targeted treatments for runners.
Recovering from Sports Injury/s
Most athletes get injured at one point or another in their career, whether it is while participating in their sport or an accident in their daily lives. Recovery from an injury can be difficult at times, and even after hours of physical therapy, you may feel that you aren’t ready to start training again.
Physical therapy is a great help in recovering strength in soft tissue and muscle after an injury or surgery. However, sports-medicine trained chiropractors can improve the mobility of your joints after an injury. Sports chiropractors work with the soft tissue in conjunction with the joints in a coordinated fashion. An examination will take a look at:
After the examination, the sports chiropractor will assess the runner to recommend treatment.
People running fast in a city marathon on street
Sports Chiropractic
According to U.S. News and World Report, there are four primary chiropractic treatments for running injuries.
Active Release Technique (ART) – combines massage and stretching by applying deep tension while moving a joint through its range of motion. This treatment is used primarily for adhesions in the muscle.
Graston Technique – used to break down surface-level scar tissue with hand-held stainless steel tools.
Functional Dry Needling – releases tension in trigger points through deep muscle stimulation with needles. This treatment can help the psoas muscle, a hip flexor muscle.
Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) – releases tension through the stimulation of surface muscles.
General Adjustments
Chiropractors are trained to look at the whole body and align it for optimum balance. Many runners find it beneficial to have regular periodic adjustments to regain their body’s balance from daily stress and the impact of running. Aligning the body can relieve tension or pain that is caused by misalignment before it becomes more than a minor impediment.
Runners may not even realize that the tension they feel is the beginning of pain caused by being out of balance until it is adjusted. Chiropractic adjustments are often part and parcel of a runner’s training program to strengthen and improve performance. They can also help recover from pregnancy and postpartum bodily changes.
Prevents Injury and Promotes Optimal Performance
With regular care of a sports-trained chiropractor, runners can actually prevent injury and promote optimal performance by keeping their bodies fine-tuned, working at maximum capacity. A trained chiropractor can find imbalances that may lead to injury and correct them before they become a problem. With your body in perfect balance, muscles and joints work more efficiently, powering up your performance as a runner and making the most of your body’s resources.
Misalignment can be caused by many common runners� experiences including running on the same type of surface every day, running on a slanted surface such as a beach or replacing running shoes too infrequently. As a runner, you can work to vary your running surfaces and keep a better watch on your shoes, but your chiropractor will let you know if your body is in need of more balance.
To learn more or to schedule an appointment, please give us a call at the number provided at the top of this website. We’re here to help!
Red Flags of foot *PRONATION* | El Paso, Tx
Feet: A foundation for pain
99% of feet are normal at birth. But after the first year, 8% develop foot problems, 41% by age 5 and 80% by age 20. By age 40, almost everyone has a foot condition of some sort. Many foot conditions eventually contribute to health concerns, especially the generalized condition of �back pain� or runner�s knee. Spotting a potential problem originating in the feet can prevent other injuries from affecting your health and lifestyle.
Runners who are able to avoid injury are those who land the lightest on their feet, which sustains the lowest levels of impact. Researchers suggest that runners think about landing more softly and adjust their stride so that they land closer to the midfoot.
But that is easier said than done, as most runners tend to be heel-strikers.
Runners with excessive pronation that try to transition to a forefoot strike pattern could be more susceptible to inner foot and ankle injuries.
Runners with high arches who attempt to transition to a forefoot strike pattern are prone to suffer sprained ankles and metatarsal stress fractures.
Running can lead to a number of different injuries
Sudden trauma
Developed over time from microtrauma
Biomechanical errors
Structural asymmetries
Tissue weaknesses
Excessive external loads
Runners do their best to treat pain through stretching or exercises that target the area that hurts, but sometimes the source of the pain might actually be elsewhere. That source is foot imbalance.
Custom orthotics improve biomechanics
Custom orthotics are used to align and support the foot/ankle complex in a more near-normal physiologic position for a weight-bearing foot to prevent dysfunction and/or improve the function of movable body parts.[3] They are indicated to:
Creates a symmetrical foundation by blocking pronation or support supination
Provides heel strike shock absorption
Inhibits serial biomechanical stress
Enhances neuromuscular re-education
Custom-made orthotics that use viscoelastic materials can help to reduce the musculoskeletal impact from heel strikes when running.
This shock absorption can be of help particularly when there is instability, chronic degeneration, or inflammatory arthritis in the joints.
Orthotics are designed specifically to cushion foot impact and reduce pain triggers.
Everyone is misaligned
Patellofemoral pain care
Understanding the exact mechanical contributions of the knee is critical for the therapist to effectively manage injuries or conditions.
NCBI Resources
These injuries and conditions affect runners, cross fitters, group exercise enthusiasts (PUMP classes) and simple recreational walkers who spend a lot of time on hills and stairs.
You need to understand your feet! Flat feet, foot pronation, and foot imbalances can lead to all kinds of pain:
Knee pain
Hip pain
Back pain
Yes even Shoulder pain
If you are considering custom orthotics, a health care professional such as Doctor Jimenez and Injury Medical Chiropractic Clinic can perform a foot scan to show you what imbalances in the feet can lead to. The foot scan will show how the orthotics can help. Following the foot scan, a report will provide the caregiver a Pronation/Stability Index, Foot Assessment, and Body Assessment.
Pronation & Stability
The Pronation/Stability Index� score appears on the clinical report that is produced when your feet are scanned by our 3D machine.
The Pronation/Stability Index� is an algorithm based on 16 different measurements. Taken from a laser scan of the feet, the index indicates the amount of arch collapse. The higher the number, the more collapse.
The index reveals the severity of pronation/stability of your feet, which can be anywhere from optimal to severe. An index of 102, for example, is a moderate pronation/instability. Untreated imbalances at any level can lead to chronic problems.
Optimal Feet
This image shows what the optimal foot looks like.
The red areas represent where pressure on your foot should be:
The toes
The balls of the foot
The heel
Unfortunately, 99% of feet do not look like this.
Flat Feet
This image shows what flat feet look like. Here, all three arches of the foot have collapsed. Once the arches collapse it throws the rest of the body off. So when you move there is a higher risk for pain. This includes pain in the feet, knees, hips, back, and neck.
The Body
The body image shows imbalances in the feet and how they can lead to knee rotation, pelvic tilt and shoulder drop.
Throughout our lives, we need some type of support for our feet. After all, they take all of our weight, so let’s treat them right and understand your feet.
El Paso Back Clinic
NCBI Resources
Effective footwear can make a huge difference. Especially when it comes to being able to stand and walk in a comfortable manner.
IFM's Find A Practitioner tool is the largest referral network in Functional Medicine, created to help patients locate Functional Medicine practitioners anywhere in the world. IFM Certified Practitioners are listed first in the search results, given their extensive education in Functional Medicine
