When a headache hits, the troubleshooting begins. As you reach for the painkillers, you also run through a list of the possible suspects – have you had enough water? Enough sleep? Too much caffeine? Too little? Rarely do we consider the possibility that our pain could stem from as far away from our head as possible, our feet, yet a quarter of people who report debilitating headaches have poor posture resulting from foot issues. The good news is that your podiatrist may be able help you overcome even severe headaches.
When you consider what we put our feet through, it’s unsurprising that an issue there can cause concern elsewhere in the body, yet still, people are often surprised when chronic – sometimes described as ‘blinding’ - headaches are traced back to their feet. Known medically as pes planus, flat feet or fallen arches wreak havoc on the structure of the foot, causing tendons to stretch and strain and throwing out alignment. Not only can this lead to other foot issues, such as plantar fasciitis, torn tendons or ankle injuries, it also sets off a postural chain reaction that puts pressure on calf muscles, knees, hips, and the spine, eventually presenting as neck tension and head pain.
The foot/headache connection is sometimes missed for another reason, wearing shoes. Often, pain from foot issues is ‘masked’ during the week, when shoe-wearing is almost constant. Come the weekend, we tend to spend more time barefoot to ‘give our feet a rest’. The paradox is while going barefoot is more natural, some of the surfaces we walk on nowadays are not, and shoes (even unforgiving heels) take some pressure from our arches by offering at least some elevation to the heel. When we kick them off, the sudden ‘de-elevation’ of the foot can cause existing foot pain symptoms (including headaches) to flare. (Luckily, that’s another thing orthotics can help fix!)
If you suffer headaches - especially if they seem to be worse on weekends – book an appointment with your Melville Podiatrist. Getting your feet back on form may just be the first step to natural headache treatment.
