What Does The Arch Do? The arches add elasticity and flexibility causing the middle of the foot to spread and close. Arches help absorb shock and are key to the foot’s strength and body balance. Arches also help distribute weight evenly around the entire foot. When the foot is flat, the rest of the body has to make up for no arch and adds additional burden on the feet, knees and back creating inflammation and pain.

Should Flat Footed People See A Doctor? Some flat footed individuals experience no pain so there is no need to see a doctor or physical therapist. But if there is pain in the foot, ankle or other body areas, flat feet could be the reason. See a doctor if the arches have dropped recently, there is pain in the lower limbs, supportive or orthopedic shoes fail to help pain or if the feet are continually heavy or stiff.

What Will A Physical Therapist Do to Help? A doctor or physical therapist will review your individual issues to determine the bigger picture. They will explain how the feet are the foundation of the entire body and keeping them strong will help alleviate pain throughout the body including ankle, knee and back pain. Things that are normally suggested are footwear with substantial arch support, insoles to relieve foot pressure, daily stretching exercises for both the feet and the legs, ice therapy to reduce inflammation, physiotherapy to correct the walking patterns or even ankle braces, injections or surgery for more extreme cases.

What Will Happen If Flat Foot Pain Is Ignored? If pain caused by flat feet is ignored, it could become worse overtime. Walking and other activities could become harder to participate in, the body’s balance will be effected and the pain will appear in other parts of the body, including muscle, joint, and tendons. Bunions, calluses, plantar fasciitis, hammertoes, blisters and other painful problems will increase. Athletes will experience shin splints and fractures and overall quality of life will suffer.

The best advice is to contact a physical therapist for flat feet treatment to prevent unnecessary body pain.

Source

• http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/what-are-fallen-arches?page=2

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How Anti-Gravity Treadmills Work

The pedigree for the anti-gravity treadmill is impressive. NASA developed the technology now utilized in anti-gravity treadmills. These days, that know-how enables “civilians” to manipulate how the environment perceives their “apparent,” or actual, body weight through the anti-gravity technology. Because of the resulting decreased pressure, patients and athletes can work out with a less stress placed on their joints.

The machine itself includes a lower-body, airtight “skirt,” which can be adjusted to manipulate gravitational resistance. As the intensity is increased or decreased, the air pressure in the capsule adjusts accordingly.

Effective Results

Although people aren’t always conscious about it, air pressure puts a great deal of strain on muscles and joints. Over time, working out in normal gravity situations can result in overuse injuries — often, ironically, made even worse when people avoid working out altogether to escape the pain.

Yet not working out not only stiffens up problematic joints but also leads to slackened muscles and poor heart health. An anti-gravity treadmill allows you the best of both worlds — the benefits of cardio, with reduced joint strain.

Anyone Can Benefit

While some specialized equipment is either too challenging or not challenging enough, to meet a wide range of needs, the adjustable nature of the anti-gravity treadmill offers universal applications. Among its many uses are:
Injury recovery. Physical therapy is often the best path to healing torn ligaments and fractures without surgery. The anti-gravity treadmill allows you to stay fit, without aggravating your original injury.

• Surgical recovery. For people who aren’t able to avoid surgery, the anti-gravity treadmill’s adjustable resistance tension allows you to gradually “come back” as your health improves and you’re cleared to push a little bit harder each time. In addition, many patients are able to speed their overall recovery by improving circulation and endurance.
• Athletic training. Distance running, in particular, requires long workout sessions in order to build endurance. The treadmill allows you to put in that time, without making your joints pay the price. In addition, runners are able to work on their form because they have lower-body support that slows issues like buckling and muscle exhaustion.

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There is also some evidence that BFR enhances sprint running speed, walking, and endurance. Plus, BFR also displays higher growth hormone elevations, post-exercise muscle protein synthesis, enhanced recovery after working out and more robust molecular signaling responses. “In the field of strength training when comparing BFR at low relative mechanical loads (20% 1RM – 30% 1RM) vs conventional resistance training using high relative loads (70% 1RM-75% 1RM) BFR training is showing quite dramatic changes “((post-mean − pre-mean)/pre-standard deviation and adjusted for sample size bias) for muscle hypertrophy and strength for BFR resistance exercise are 0.39 and 0.58, respectively (compared to 0.01 and 0.000 for low-load training without cuff inflation.”

For BFR training, there are high-end pressure cuffs, ace bandages or run-of-the-mill tourniquets that can be used to wrap around the limbs. For the upper body, it should be wrapped right below the shoulder at the top upper arm. The lower body should be wrapped just below the gluteal fold and hip flexor. For the tightness scale, it should be between 7-10. If you feel any numbness or tingling, that means it’s wrapped too tight.

Today, BFR is being used in a rehab center, especially for wounded warriors. It’s had remarkable success. Being able to grow atrophied muscles after an injury is a strong feature that is unique to BFR training. Although BFR is fairly new in sports medicine, it is quickly becoming the gold standards. No longer do the muscles and joints with high-intensity resistance have to be used to improve strength and hypertrophy. It’s ideal for those with cardiac or orthopedic conditions. There are just too many benefits for BFR to be ignored, whether you’re an athlete, suffer from old age or have incurred an injury. Are you looking to change up your workout routine? Call us today to learn more about our exercise programs.

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