How to treat flat feet in adolescents?

Flat-footedness occurs in many children at an early age. As the baby grows up, the situation often normalizes on its own, but sometimes the disorder persists and significantly worsens the patient's quality of life.

If this disease is detected in a child only during adolescence, it can be extremely difficult to cure it. Moreover, after 12-13 years some deformations are no longer subject to correction. In this article, we will tell you how to treat flat feet in adolescents to prevent the further development of the pathological process.

Classification of severity of disease

The tactics of action, and also whether it is possible to cure flat feet in adolescents, depends on how much the foot is deformed. There are several degrees of severity of this disease:

• the first degree is characterized by a decrease in the height of the foot to 25-35 mm. The angle of the arch is approximately 130-140 degrees. At this stage, the patient feels discomfort only after physical activity, as well as when pressing on the foot. There may be fatigue in walking and the appearance of edema of the lower extremities;
• at the second degree, the angle of the arch increases to 140-150 degrees, and the foot decreases to 17-24 mm. The patient experiences constant pain in the foot from the foot to the knee joint;
• finally, at the third degree of the disease, the angle of the arch already exceeds 155 degrees, and the height of the foot does not even reach 17 mm. The patient suffers from a constant intolerable pain in different parts of the body and can not practically move.

To cure a flat foot of the third degree is completely impossible, however, in the forces of medical workers it is much easier to relieve the patient's condition and reduce the intensity of unpleasant symptoms. Measures to correct deformities of 1 and 2 degrees can be quite effective, but at this stage there is no guarantee that the teenager will be able to completely defeat the disease.

Treatment of flat feet in adolescents

Treatment of flat feet 1 and 2 degrees in adolescents can be carried out in the hospital and in the home. In the event that the child's foot is not too deformed, special gymnastics, massage and wearing orthopedic shoes are used.

In the presence of indications, physiotherapy procedures and special orthopedic adaptations - insoles and half-wools, orthoses, correctors, liners and cuffs-screeds are additionally prescribed. Finally, surgical operations can be used in the most neglected cases.

For different children, the prescriptions may differ significantly, depending on the severity of the disease and the individual characteristics of the child's organism, so all treatment should be carried out under the strict supervision of a specialist doctor.

It is very important to do at home special exercises from flat feet for teenagers, which will help stop further progression of the disease. In particular, the following complex shows good results:

1. Sit on a chair and alternately put both feet on the outside, and then on the inside. Do this 30-50 times. After this, stand up and repeat the standing exercise.
2. Sit down and alternately join both heels with each other, and then - the toes. Repeat at least 30 times and perform the same standing exercise.
3. Stand up and alternately get up only on the heels, and then only on the socks. Run 50 of these elements at a fast pace.
4. Sit on a chair and rotate your feet in different directions. Make 30-40 turns in each direction.
5. 1-2 minutes "walk" on the spot, without tearing socks off the floor.