r/flatfeet

I have always had flat feet ever since I can remember.

Growing up my feet would always hurt depending on how long I was standing/walking.

Now I am an adult and work as a cake decorator which unfortunately means standing for 8-10 hours consecutively.

I was alright for awhile, my feet would hurt but nothing an epsom salt bath couldn't fix!

However recently, despite buying arch support shoes my feet almost feel worse?

I get home and can't put pressure on my feet for too long, I stumble and almost fall because of the pain.

I am a decently healthy weight so I'm not sure if that's really a factor.

When my boyfriend tries to give me foot rubs there is a tightness where my arch should be.

This is the only place I could really think of to ask for help or guidance. I'm seeing a podiatrist today, I just was freaked out by the pain and wanted to know if you all experienced something similar

Going to Italy on my honeymoon for two weeks and am trying to decide if Brooks Ghost Max 3s or Hoka Bondi 9s would be better to pair with my custom orthotics. Going to be doing a lot of walking so my main concerns are keeping my feet comfortable and the shoe being durable.

Would appreciate any thoughts and am open to other suggestions as well.

I had an appointment the other day at Rothman for an orthopedic foot ankle surgeon. I had a year ago a triple arthrodesis achilles tendon lengthening surgery. The reason why I made this appointment was under the recommendation of my physical therapist. When I walk I supinate and have a curled toes. The first leg of my appointment xrays were taken and met with a surgeon associate who was a complete a hole he tried to tell me my back caused my foot to supinate I do not have any issues with my spine. When I met with the actual surgeon he reviewed everything his associate told him and came up with me wearing a medial lateral heel wedge pad that was his solution. I could believe it. I will not return to my follow-up appointment.

On Weekends I spend most of the day walking/standing around the house, and my feet starts hurting after a while. Regular slippers don’t seem to help much and sometimes make it worse.

Last year at a running event, I was advised to wear arch-supported footwear even casually because I have mild flat feet. It’s not very extreme, but there’s definitely some issue there.

Last year at a running event, I was advised to wear arch-supported footwear even casually because I have mild flat feet. It’s not very extreme, but there’s definitely some issue there.

Would like to know if you guys have some recommendations.

Hey there! Any one that’s had flat feet reconstruction surgery before, please lend your perspective! I’m a couple weeks out, and I’ve got some questions:

1. Did your big toe feel on fire, like it was raw skin rubbing against something (almost like a blister) but it physically looked okay?

2. Did your foot feel on fire a lot? What helped? How long did it take to go away?

3. The boot feels bulky and like I’m just carrying around extra weight in negative way. What helped you?

4. How long until you went back to work (particularly desk work)? What did you do to help yourself?

5. I keep kicking my elevation wedge away when I sleep. Any tips on how to keep it elevated during sleep?

6. Is it normal to not be able to move your foot side to side, or just generally have issues communicating movement to your foot?

8. Any other wisdom or advice, practical or otherwise?

Thank you!!

Hey everyone — looking for advice from fellow flat feet sufferers. Here's my situation:

A few weeks ago I woke up with a swollen, stiff big toe joint out of nowhere — no injury, no trauma. It turned out I'm a stomach sleeper with heavy blankets and my toe was likely being bent backwards overnight for hours while I slept. It kept flaring up repeatedly over several weeks, responding to Naproxen and rest each time but coming back whenever I returned to normal activity. It has since resolved but the pattern concerns me.

I'm now seeing a podiatrist soon to get to the root of it.

My questions:

1. Has anyone with flat feet had recurring pain or stiffness at the big toe joint, specifically when bending the toe upward? Was it diagnosed as anything specific?

2. Did custom orthotics make a real difference for you? How long before you felt improvement?

3. What shoes have worked best for flat feet and overpronation? I'm currently looking at New Balance 1540, Brooks Beast, Skechers Arch Fit, and Hoka Arahi.

4. Best supportive house shoes? After a long day in slides, the ball of my other foot — the one that wasn't originally inflamed — became sore, worn, and achy by the end of the day. Are Vionic slippers or Oofos worth it, and are slides ever okay even in moderation with flat feet?

Thanks in advance!

There’s is some advice I need before surgery So basically, I’m a huge Cincinnati Bengals fan. I’ve been a Cincinnati Bengals fan my entire life. I’m a resident of Kentucky and for the first time ever I was able to get season tickets to my favorite team. I’ve been on the waitlist for 2 1/2 years yes and after my dad passed, I really know I need to make the best of it so my uncle wrote me a check to buy some tickets so now me and him can enjoy the game whenever we want. I know the Bengals are gonna be accommodating stuff, but do you think it’s doable anyway I have to get another surgery after I got the first reconstruction done because I was severe disability so I needed it done and I have to get the other one done next by July or August in the season starts in September which means I’m non-weight bearing all that time through the entire season is this doable or not❤️ because anyway the sports team means the world to me anyway the pillow is that you seen in that picture is the only thing I have left of my dad but yeah so I was looking for any advice if you guys I’m hoping you don’t say cancel because I wanted to do this my entire life❤️ basically any more tips to let me enjoy my season tickets like anything I should bring or am I pretty much set. That will be me again Ty for any help or advice since you been through so much

A couple weeks after a marathon last year, I started getting a pain in my medial ankle when I plantarflexed or walked on really uneven surfaces. Went to a doctor and then physio, the doctor diagnosed me with a mechanical overload of the deltoid ligaments, and then the physio said I had Post Tib Tendinitis, and started treating me for that. He said he would get me back to running in about 6-10 weeks.

But unfortunately his protocol was to overload it completely. The pain started getting better in the first couple of weeks, but then kept getting worse.
I called the office in between visits asking what to do, and in the rare times he would return a message, his advice was to take a day off, and start the exercises again the next day.

6 weeks into working with him, I was in worse pain, and my ankle began to feel unstable. In my last session with him, he had me doing box jumps and some ladder plyometrics, which hurt, and I was almost in tears as I was packing up my stuff as his next client was arriving.

In the days after that the pain migrated from one spot behind my ankle all the way up my shin and down into my foot towards the navicular. It hurt to stand, walk, move, and kept me up at night.

Almost a year later, working with two other physiotherapists, I am still not back to where when the pain first appeared. I can barely walk, stand, nor ride my bike safely, and I am very close to taking my life.

That’s pretty much it. Just needed to vent and warn people about quality of care.

Don't give up guys.

I had feet so flat as a kid they did surgery on one foot, and really it did nothing. (tarsal coalition, which is probably from unstimulated feet)

most of my life i had very flat feet until I learned the power of stimulating the arches with exercises.

So--

A combo of:

1. Moving to a place with steep inclines (bariloche argentina) forcing my feet to activate
2. barefoot shoes to strengthen my feet (im young enough that they never hurt. i now play soccer. may be tougher if you're older or overweight)
3. weightlifting focus on calves
4. bodyweight exercises to activate my feet and muscles that create the arches
5. cues that help me activate arch while walking, specifcially focusing on my big toe and little toe.

have given me only "very minor" flat feet! I walk straight (no knees caving) and with a combo of activation inserts (the shoe inserts where they analyze your step and get it made) and my exercises, my goal with my kinesiologist is to have totally normal arches this time next year.

the above improvements were not linear. just small adjustments i made over time, and then, all of a sudden, bam.

medically, anything is possible. do not give up. keep learning how to strengthen your feet.

feel free to dm any questions.

also. dont give your babies and small children shoes. make them walk barefoot. end the cycle.

FF and standing at work for 11 hours is actually driving me insane. It’s traumatizing being in so much pain ( even with a crazy high pain tolerance) and coming home crying from it every day but not being able to do or say anything. “ oh sorry, I can’t work today, my feet hurt too bad from yesterday “ 😩 I’ve tried lidocaine creams and patches, 500mg naproxen, 1000mg acetaminophen, hokas, insoles to raise my arch ( absolutely fck that!!!!!)…I just want to not feel this pain. What’s worked for you?

Small problem, crocs are the shoes that are most comfortable for me, problem is that I cant use my orthotics with them. So what do I do? I dont like alot of certain shoes because they either add alot of height and I dont like to feel tall, or theyre too heavy and I end up feeling like im wearing clown shoes.

As someone who genuinely has flat feet all my life and suffers because of it physically and mentally. We exist and if you know you know because we can be in agony because of flat feet. We're probably envious of other people's perfectly normal arched feet i certainly am.

Anyway, I've seen posts on here in recent times with pictures of people with blatantly normal arched feet. Are they mocking us? Because I feel its somewhat disrespectful posting something like that on here!