Arch Pain, Plantar Fasciitis, Hammer Toes, Bunions, Neuromas, Heel Spurs, Flat Feet: Foot Pain by Any Other Name Hurts Just as Much

We all have had complaints of temporary foot pain in our lives, usually problems of overuse, poor footwear or trauma. Even if the pain was acute it was short-lived and easily fixed. If these were the only problems we have with our feet, life would be easy indeed. Unfortunately chronic and acute foot problems can cost time, money and compromise the quality of our lives.

   When the pain is chronic in the arch, it can be called arch pain or plantar fasciitis. When the ends of our toes turn down and we walk on them rather than the pads underneath we have hammertoes. When the big toe joint turns across the foot, swells and begins to calcify, it is a bunion. Neuromas are swellings of the nerve sheaths between the toes in the foot when the bones are too tightly pressed together. Heel spurs are spiky overgrowths of the heel bone. Flat feet are feet that have little or no arch reducing the support of the weight resting on the foot.

   Each of these chronic conditions arises from imbalances that lead to repetitive trauma in the feet and toes in spite of the strength and subtlety of their structure. Considering the strength and complexity of the feet it is surprising that we have trouble with them at all. Designed for hunting barefoot, chasing game over all sorts of terrain, they have the same number of bones as the hands and make more subtle movements than the hands can. The feet handle multi-ton loads when we run or when we walk down stairs. Unfortunately there haven’t been any design modifications to deal with our modern more sedentary activities.

    We place stresses on our pelvises when sitting; we shorten our leg and hip muscles at the same time, conspiring against our innocent feet. Over time the repetitive stresses add up to injury and pain. We blame our feet, as that is where the pain is. We direct our efforts to stop the pain there, but they are merely the innocent victims. As strong as the feet are they are at the ends of the long levers of our legs. An imbalance in the pelvis or in the structure or action of the legs is magnified by that lever, which leads to our pain.  We can look at the structures above to effect recovery.

  Arch pain, plantar fasciitis and bunions can arise directly from pelvic imbalance. One side of the pelvis can “stick” in rotation, causing leg length discrepancies that result in strain at the end of the lever, the foot. The chronic strain creates inflammation, pain and tissue changes.
   Hammertoes can come from calf tightness and weight transfer pushing the pad beneath the ball of the foot forward and removing cushioning for the primary joints of the toe. The added pain at each step increases the contraction of the muscle tissue of the toes.

   Heel spurs can come about from over-tight hamstrings and pelvic imbalances producing concentration of stresses on the heel bone. Added stresses bring added calcium to the area and added weight-bearing stresses cause bones to remodel.

   Flat feet may come from imbalances in the pelvis causing contractions on the inner sides of the legs robbing the resilience from the suspension bridge of our foot arch.

   Neuromas can arise from over-tight shoes and torsion on the foot producing a squeeze and fluid build-up in the nerve sheaths, producing pain.

The common medical answers to these problems can be cumbersome stretching devices, and surgery. These are aimed at the symptom, not the problem.

 Quite often the action of walking or the gait is the problem.  An imbalance in the level of the hips or chronic tightness in the backs of the legs, the hamstrings can result in an uneven walking pattern that in turn puts higher stresses on the feet and toes.  Addressing the causes of the pain by providing postural balance and a healthy walking gait can correct the problem without haveing to have cumbersome or invasive treatments.

   So using techniques that will provide for my balanced movement and recruit the body’s own coordination are inherently safer and often much more effective. Osteopathic correction, Chiropractic, Postural exercise, and Bowenwork all can have positive effects.

   Bowenwork jumpstarts the body’s healing, restoring the balance between the halves of the pelvis, and reducing functional leg length discrepancies. Bowenwork can work to equalize hamstring lengths within each leg and between each leg. Bowenwork helps the body lengthen the muscular structure of the lower leg to speed recovery from hammertoes. In the case of flat feet, Bowenwork can produce enough release in the structures of the pelvis and leg to allow the arch and heel to return to normal health. Bowenwork helps the body clear the fluid build-up and restore normal spacing between the toe bones to relieve neuromas. Even bunions respond to Bowenwork.

Use a technique that addresses the problems of the foot in safer faster and non-invasive ways, rather than relying on methods that only attack the symptoms.


I would love to hear about other methods for relief of foot pain.

Thank you for your interest and comments.

Kevin Minney

www.kevinminney.com