Flat feet may or may not cause discomfort in children, but the condition always leads to pain in adults. If you or your child have flat feet, you can depend on expert care from Navrit Randhawa, DPM, at Carteret Foot & Ankle Center. Dr. Randhawa carefully diagnoses flat feet and the severity of the problem before recommending treatment tailored to meet your needs. Call the office in Carteret, New Jersey, or use the online booking feature to get help for flat feet today.
Flat feet occur when your arches partially or completely collapse. This condition may develop when the arches don’t develop in childhood, or it may not occur until adulthood.
Toddlers naturally have flat feet until around age four or five. However, some children don’t develop strong arches.
When flat feet occur in adults, the condition is most often caused by posterior tibial tendon dysfunction (PTTD). The posterior tibial tendon supports your arch. If the tendon becomes injured, the arch flattens.
You could have one of two basic types:
If you have flexible flat feet, you have an arch when sitting, but as soon as you stand up and put pressure on your foot, the arch collapses.
Having rigid flat feet means that your feet never have an arch, whether they’re bearing weight or resting.
Some children may not have symptoms. However, flat feet typically cause problems such as:
In most cases, the pain is worse during physical activities.
Your experienced podiatrist performs a complete exam, checking your arches and the overall health of your feet. They typically ask you to do a short series of exercises to see how your tendons and muscles work. For example, they may ask you to flex your feet or balance on your toes.
They may also take foot X-rays to verify your diagnosis and determine the severity of your flat feet.
Your Carteret Foot & Ankle Center provider specializes in numerous treatments for flat feet, including:
If your pain doesn’t improve with conservative treatments, you may need reconstructive surgery. To restore a functional arch, your provider has extensive experience performing reconstructive techniques, such as lengthening or replacing tendons and ligaments, realigning bones, and other methods.
Call Carteret Foot & Ankle Center or book an appointment online today to get flat feet treatment.