If your lower back has been hurting, and you don’t remember doing anything to injure it, have you considered that the source of your pain could be your feet? Foot pain is something that many people try to ignore, but if you have been experiencing foot pain for quite awhile, it could be causing problems in your ankles, knees, hips and even your back.

As students and teachers are preparing to return to the classroom, they will be carrying heavy backpacks and books, and they too may develop or experience back pain. Back pain is a very common complaint for many people, and one of the most common reasons why people see their physicians. In fact, most people will experience some type of back pain at least once during their life. Eighty percent of Americans citizens complain of back pain. There are many causes of back pain including arthritis, sports injuries, nerve and muscular problems, poor posture, weak abdominal muscles, pregnancy, degenerative disc disease, etc. One quarter of the total number of bones in your body is located in your feet, and your feet are the foundation and support for the rest of your body.

Our bodies are like a chain — with one link or bone connecting at the joint to the next link. Think about what would happen if the first link in the chain were out of position. The point at which it meets the next link would eventually affect that link and adversely affect the entire chain.

That’s what happens when we have foot pain. If we experience pain when walking normally, we tend to instinctively change our walking patterns to ease the pain. For example, you have arthritis, and your big toe joint hurts, you will change your gait (the way you walk) to avoid bending the joint and causing pain. Changing your gait changes the mechanics of your ankle joint, eventually causing ankle pain. This change in your walking pattern can also affect the whole chain of your lower body — from the ankle, to the knee, to the hip and then to the lower back. When foot pain or a foot deformity causes you to change the way you walk, it changes the way the bones of all those other joints work with each other. Cartilage in the joints can wear down, ligaments and tendons can be stressed beyond their normal range, and early arthritis can set in.

When you pronate, or roll your feet in toward the heels, you tend to lean forward, which predisposes you to more lower back pain and aggravates any previous back injury. When walking or standing, rotating your feet to the outside often eases intermittent lower back pain because it rotates your hips backward and shifts your center of gravity. Walking this way may help the back, but it is not good for the feet, and may cause foot pain and sprained ankles. Standing in a more upright posture will give your back muscles a break. The best way to properly reduce the pressure on the spine and back muscles is to correct and balance your feet.

Since the feet are the foundation of the body, shoes play a big role in making sure that this foundation is stable, ensuring that all joints work well together and are pain free. For our teachers and students returning to the classroom where they will be on their feet for hours, this is important to remember. Wearing poorly constructed shoes, or shoes that are not for your foot type, can cause a significant amount of foot and maybe even back pain. Shoes that can cause back pain are extremely high heels, especially the pencil thin ones that don’t offer much support. On the other hand, wearing properly fitted supportive shoes can put your feet in balance and improve the alignment of the rest of your body helping you reduce back pain. People who may have flat feet or high arches may need more structural support in their shoes. Accommodative inserts, braces, cushions/pads and or orthotics can also be used to address a particular foot type and help relieve foot and back pain problems.

If your feet or ankles are causing you or your child pain, don’t ignore them. It can lead to or aggravate back pain. Contact your podiatrist for an evaluation, and they can fix the problem from the foundation — your feet. If this does not fix the problem, you may need to see an orthopedist, a physiotherapist or even a chiropractor. Your back (and knees and hips) will thank you.

For more information email foothealth242@gmail.com or visit www.apma.org. To see a podiatrist visit Bahamas Foot Centre on Rosetta Street, telephone 325-2996 or Bahamas Surgical Associates Centre, Albury Lane, telephone 394-5820, or Lucayan Medical Centre on East Sunrise Highway, Freeport Grand Bahama, telephone 373-7400.