We don’t give our feet that much attention until we start developing problems here – then it becomes hard not to notice! In this short article I’ll explain how to fix foot pain by improving your posture.

Your feet are pretty special. They are your foundation and house a quarter of all the bones in your body. Yes, a quarter of all the bones in your body! And yet, even with their ingenious design so many people suffer with foot pain. What’s going on?

Well, as with other parts of the body, the reasons for developing chronic foot and ankle pain, barring an accident like a car crash, can be varied and complex. Most often though, I think it’s connected to faulty biomechanics due to poor posture.

What do I mean by this?

Well, if the alignment of you feet, knees and hips is sound, then you’re more likely to walk and move efficiently, with less wear and tear and strain. 

Look at the image below.

You can see both feet pointing straight forward. If the knees and hips are also aligned like this we have a favourable position.

Often though, because of our modern day lifestyles, our muscles can go out of balance, which causes misalignments in our posture, such as one hip higher than the other, the knees turning in or out, or the feet turning out – see image below.

When this happens, it can alter the way we move, causing compensations within the body and perhaps more wear and tear and strain on certain parts, eventually leading to pain.

With the clients I work with, often by improving the alignment of their feet, knees and hips (and their upper body) their foot pain disappears.

It’s not a quick fix, it takes time and effort, but it can lead to a long-term solution.

You can get two exercises to start improving your posture by signing up to my free newsletter – click here.

Take care and I hope this helps!

Ameet Bhakta BSc, DipHE
I’m a Posture Correction Specialist certified by the Egoscue Institute, and founder of Health Through Posture.