Your Norridge, IL podiatrist tells you the best ways to combat your arch pain.

You don’t have to be an athlete to deal with foot problems. If you have achy arches a variety of causes could be to blame, including strains, stress fractures, trauma, arthritis or plantar fasciitis. How you handle your pain will depend on the cause of your condition; however, there are certain things you can do for any of these troubles to ease your discomfort.

Know Your Pain

Since there are a variety of different factors that could be causing your pain, you may want to take some time to compare the injured foot to the healthy foot to see if there are any differences (e.g. a lump). There are four different ways to distinguish the type of arch pain you are experiencing:

- Pain that happens only while active

- Pain before or after activity that doesn’t affect the activity itself

- Pain that occurs both before, during and after an activity that directly affects your activity level

- Serious pain that prevents certain activities altogether

When to See your Norridge, IL Podiatrist

If your pain is severe or it is affecting your daily life, then it’s time to seek medical attention. Also, if the foot looks deformed, becomes severely tender or affects the way you move, these are also times to make an appointment with us.

Arch Pain Treatment

One thing we may ask you to do is to suspend certain activities that could exacerbate your condition. For those who are athletic, this can be a challenge; therefore, we would be happy to discuss different activities that could temporarily replace your past exercises until you have completely healed.

Over-the-counter pain medications can also help alleviate both pain and swelling; however, talk to your Norridge, IL podiatrist about stronger pain medications if regular OTC medications don’t help.

We can discuss and show you proper strengthening and stretching exercises that could help improve flexibility, endurance and range-of-motion. These exercises should be performed daily and can be done in the comfort of your own home.

We may also recommend custom-made orthotics to help improve your arch support and to take pressure off certain areas of your foot. Orthotics stabilize the foot and ankle, and make it easier to walk without discomfort.

If you have chronic or severe foot pain then call your Norridge, IL podiatrist at Norridge Foot Clinic to schedule an appointment. Reduce your pain and get on with your life.