Lower back pain is a common problem among individuals across various age groups. The American Chiropractic Association estimates that more than 50 percent of working Americans suffer from lower back pain every year. The association also found that back pain ranks as the number two reason why people see a doctor.
Lower back pain is caused by a variety of reasons, both obvious and surprising. Usual, expected reasons of developing such pain include sports injury or bending the wrong way. Meanwhile, one surprising reason that not a lot of people know about is improper footwear.
The feet appear to be far from the lower back, but experts confirm that feet and footwear contribute to back pain, stress, and fatigue.
According to David S. Wolf, DPM, feet act as the foundation of the body, like the foundation of a building. Wolf is a podiatrist and a professor of nursing at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
"If the feet are mechanically unsound, they can change the alignment of all the structures above them," he said.
Wolf added that he often sees patients with a mechanically 'unsound' foot and are experiencing back pain.
"Wearing shoes that do not give the proper support can exacerbate the problem," he said.
Staying stylish and choosing sky-high heels or even flat footwear has its costs too. High heels can throw off alignment and give additional stress and strain on the lower back. Extremely flat footwear like flip flops can lack support, which can result to heel pain, arch pain, knee pain, or ankle pain. Wolf also noted that even comfortable footwear like Crocs lacks arch and ankle support, causing possible problems.
Doctors recommend that if your general practitioner cannot determine the reason for your back pain, then it is time to see a podiatrist to assess your feet gait and alignment.
