Orthaheel

The human foot was originally designed to travel on soft natural surfaces like earth and sand. Unfortunately, instead of soft earth we now spend every day walking and standing on unnatural hard, flat surfaces like pavements and floors causing out feet to roll inwards in search of our natural footprint..
These surfaces force our feet to roll over to gain ground contact and our arches to flatten. Rolling over of the foot or excess pronation is estimated to effect over 70% of the population. Excess pronation may lead to:

• Callous, Corns and Bunions
• Pain Under the ball of the foot
• Heel and arch pain

Just like the tyres on a car, poor alignment of the feet can cause wear and tear to other parts of the body. Excess Pronation often disrupts normal knee function and hip alignment and increases forces on the muscles in the lower back. To align the feet and body posture to their neutral position we need to resolve the lower limbs natural angle.
ORTHAHEEL is a range of unique, patented footwear and orthotics developed by Podiatrist Phillip Vasyli to re-align your feet to their natural position ad to improve your body posture, relieving many chronic complaints in the process.

Conditions
Heel Pain (Plantar Fasciitis) - Heel pain is commonly caused by rolling over the foot (excess pronation). As the foot pronates, the arch collapses and the muscles and supporting structures are forced to stretch and elongate. This puts stretch (traction) and strain on the ligaments running from the heel to the toes.




Back Of The Heel Pain (Achilles Tendonitis): Achilles tendonitis commonly occurs from shearing/stretching (traditional) forces placed on the Achilles tendon at the back of the heel. Excess pronation causes the heel bone to tilt excessively and places extra strain on the tendon. Inflammation of the tendon is a common result along with the tightening of the calf muscles. Orthaheel aligns the heel bone and significantly reduces the shearing/stretching forces on the Achilles tendon. Also, stretching of calf muscles is advised.





Inflammation Of the Tendon

Back Pain (Lumbo-Sacral Pain) - As the feet roll over the legs internally rotate the pelvis is forces to tilt forward, resulting in increased curvature of the lower back. In turn, this causes tightness and stiffness of the lower back muscles. Orthaheel helps align the body posture by controlling the feet, reducing internal rotation of the legs and forward pelvic tilt, therefore easing lower back pain.

Shin Pain (Anterior and Posterior Shin Splints) - Shin pain (referred to as shin splints) is a common term for pain occurring in the front and inside section of the shin bone. Often experienced by new runners or walkers, anterior pain occurs in the muscles a the front of the shin during exercise. Posterior shin splints (inside shin pain) is a more chronic condition occurring along the inside edge of the shin bone (tibia) and generally occurs with more active sports. Both are related to excess stretching of muscles and tendons along the shin bones. Orthaheel reduces excess stretching of the front and back leg muscles (anterior tibialis and posterior tibialis muscles) by utilising the patented angular restraining mechanism in the heel section. Thereby, relieving this common pain.


Outside Knee And Hip Pain (Ilio-tibial band syndrome) - A common condition in athletes caused by abnormal friction and rubbing of the ilio-tibial band muscle over the knee and hip joints. This condition commonly exhibits a gradual but rather severe pain on the outside knee joint and less commonly on the outside hip section. Sometimes, simply walking up or down stairs may aggravate this condition. The pain usually subsides immediately upon rest but re-occurs with activity. Orthaheel controls the internal rotation of the shin bone (tibia), and furthermore the rotation on the knee and hip joint via the in-built 4-degree rear foot varus wedge. Thereby, reducing stretching (tractional) and frictional forces on the ilio-tibial band muscle. Stretching of the ilio-tibial band muscle is also advised.

Flat Feet/Arch Pain - A true flat foot is rare. Generally, a flat-footed person is only suffering from functional flat foot caused by excess pronation. Excess pronation causes the foots arch to collapse and elongate giving the appearance of a flat foot. A functional flat foot is quite common and generally exhibits symptoms ranging from sore/tired feet to general leg fatigue and body aches. Orthaheel is designed to control excess pronation (the common cause of functional flat feet) and thereby restoring the foots arch to normal.

Ball Of Foot Pain (Metatarsalgia) - This condition commonly occurs in women, however many men suffer from the pain in the ball of the foot. Sometimes a callous develops in the centre of the foot and footwear may wear out in a similar fashion. A painful, burning sensation in the ball of the foot, metatarsal bones along with excess pronation and weakening of the soft tissue (ligament and muscle) structures. Orthaheel aligns the central three metatarsal shafts, balancing the weight distribution over the five metatarsal bones, thus helping to remove excess weight and friction, which commonly causes the callous and burning sensation.

Ball Of Foot Pain (Mortons Neuroma) - Commonly associated with Metatarsalgia, this condition is generally caused by entrapment of the inter digital nerve lying between the third and fourth metatarsal bones. Ball Of Foot Pain exhibits similar symptoms to Metatarsalgia, but may also cause numbness, tingling and discolouration of the third and fourth toes. Orthaheel may greatly assist in the early stages of Mortons Neuroma when damage to the nerve sheath is minimal. Orthaheel re-aligns the metatarsal shafts and prevents inter digital nerve jamming. Severe fibrosis of the inter digital nerve may require surgery. However, Orthaheel may prevent further problems post-operatively.

Knee Pain (Patello-Femoral Pain) - This type of knee pain is commonly caused by rolling over of the foot 'excess pronation'. As the foot rolls over, the lower leg (tibia) internally rotates, putting forces on the kneecap and weakening the muscle structures, causing knee pain. By re-aligning the lower-limb and preventing the feet from rolling over, Orthaheel reduces internal rotation of the leg and takes away this common cause of knee pain.

Orthaheel works by re-aligning the feet and ankles to their natural position. In turn, this may assist in bringing natural, lasting relief and comfort from many of the aches and pains associated with poor walking/running gait and posture. The foot does not function alone, but in conjunction with the ankle, knee, hip and lower back. Therefore, once the feet and ankles have been re-aligned to their natural position, body posture could be improved. As a result, Orthaheel may not only provide relief from many foot problems, but could also help with aching legs, knee and back pain.