r/flatfeet

Hello. First post here, I am 27 and I have flat feet, I don't know how to handle this. I had many appointments at different Orthopedists and everyone tells me something else so I am not sure what to believe or what to do exactly and how my flat feet will affect my knees or my thighs in future.

Orthopedist 1: Not sure how many years ago I started to visit a doctor after having more and more pain but I think everything started about 5 years ago or maybe more. He didn't really cared about me, just told me to get custom orthotics and that's it. I got an appointment after month again because it was hard to find good shoes for custom orthotics, he then said "maybe they doing it wrong" but they just did what he wrote on a prescription.
I never visited this doctor again and was looking for a new one.

Orthopedist 2: A big fan of custom orthotics, I used them but I decided to take a different material it was softer and easier to find shoes. It was not really good, still had pain. Made another appoinment and told him about that, but I felt that he likes to ignore my pain. No solution he just told me to wear them and didn't gave my other options or any tips. Nothing.

Foot Surgeon: I didn't know that we had one in my city, I was happy to get an appointment but after leaving this building I was scared because this was the first time I heard about an option to get surgery on both feet. They did X-rays of just one of my feet but I have the problem on both but that's not the issue here. He didn't really wasted a second to telling me that I can get a surgery, he looked at this and told me yes we can. "You don't have to do it, it's not a must but you can do it", something like that.

I visited Orthopedist 2 again and he told me that I shouldn't do that, he told me to keep wear the orthotics and that I am "too young" for this surgery I shouldn't do it.

Not sure what to do, I have pain after walking for 30 - 60 minutes and please in that age thats feel horrible. Sorry for my English aswell, I am using a translator but I hope you understand everything. I added two X-rays from my right foot in my post. I am not sure how my left foot looks like inside but the Foot Surgeon told me that if can do it for both.

It's also not about the money, everything will get covered, I will not pay for anything if I decide to do a surgery. I just know that I would get a titanium plate with screws.
I also found online about "shark screw" they use donated bones as screw but I don't know how to get a doctor/surgeon for that or if this can get covered if you want that.
Maybe there are people who know about this, is there a difference, is that better?

I am really scared and I don't know what to do. Thanks for any help.

For context I’ve had flat feet my whole life, but I walk with my feet slanted on the outside. I have no idea why, all my shoes are destroyed on one side because of how I walk… this photo is a bit of an exaggeration but I only tend to walk like this when I’m wearing shoes

Hey i have severe flat feet combined with a fallen front foot and super wide middle foot.

Im a really active guy, and I prioritize stretching, working out and in general keeping my body healthy. As you can see my knees caves inwards a lot and if I align my knees and ankels (as they should) my big toe is flying like crazy. Somehow the last couple of months my feet has gotten worse. And it's literally become that bad that I avoid being social because it's so hard (mentally and physically) to walk i fell utterly handicapped

I've tried everything and spent way over 1000 dollars on shoes, specialists and orthotics at, this point only thing i haven't tried is surgery. I literally have no idea what to do.

i know i 100% overpronate because the inside of my shoes are always slanted/asymmetrically worn down. but i still kinda see an arch when my foot is unloaded.

I also tried the wet footprint test and there was some curve visible i think

but i’m just confused because how do i have flat footed mechanics if there’s at least some visible arch in my feet

is this normal?? how does this happen

I twisted my ankle badly in the 1980s when I was a teenager playing basketball and was told it was just a bad sprain and to get on with it, no x-ray given. I hobbled around for a few months with it strapped, then adapted my gait etc. Fast forward, I turn 50 after a very physically active life, and find that sprain was actually a fracture of the navicular, from which grew a bone spur which destroyed the ligament holding up the arch. I was also getting knee pain. On 12 April 2024 I had a left tibialis posterior ligament reconstruction, medialising calcaneus osteotomy (heel cut in half and moved), excise of a level 3 navicular tuberosity, and tendon advancement (flexor digitorum longus - which operates the two little toes) which was repurposed and threaded through a hole drilled in the navicular and sutured using polyethylene Arthrex FiberWire to the remains of the posterior tibialis tendon).
Because I had walked on the outside of my left foot for 37 years, twisting my hip around and back, it has taken me 758 days of rehabilitating it almost every day to get back to full function because I not only had to stretch out and realign ligaments in my foot, but also twist back into alignment my lower right back, left hip, inner right knee (still have some nerve impingement there), underneath outer left ankle, and back behind inner side of left ankle, plus an awful lot of Achilles tendon work.
I had the giant screw removed from my heel in January 2025 because it was bothering me.
I did lots and lots of stretching, yoga, ankle weights and desk treadmill, and weightlifting which helped set gains from stretching and yoga. I also did a lot of walking in soft sand at the beach and also on the sloping harder sand both directions to stretch out ligaments at the sides of the ankles and Achilles, because my heel was cut and moved. Barefoot shoes with arch support inner soles for out and about.
I just want to advise that recovery is a long painful journey, but never give up.
I'm ecstatic and wanted to share this good news!

I have really flat feet. I can hold them up and an arch forms but I can only hold it for about 30 seconds or until I forget. Will exercises change this or is surgery the only way? I ruin every shoe I wear within a month or so and I wanna be able to wear heels/dress shoes without looking like I have mermaid fins for feet. Any advice???

Hi guys, a little bit of introduction about me first. 20M, casual running and playing badminton at a high level.

As you guys can see, I have had flat feet for my entire life now. It has affected my life in one way or another, I can say.

I dont get sore with the flat feet too often. I usually run around 2 - 2.5km/time without too much sore, and I still have quite good pace for a casual runner (2.1km for 12m). The pain will start to appear when I run for longer. A few days ago, I tried to run 7km and I got quite painful experience with it. But the pain went away after a day.

Badminton is the worst part. I play both single and double, and usually after a single game, my feet sore so bad that I usually have to put ice on it. And sometimes I think is because of my flat feet that I sprain my ankle.

I went to the doctor once and he said not to worry about it. So I still live with it till now.

But truly, beside surgery, is there any way that can improve the flat feet?

Thank everyone in advance.

Hi,

I am just looking for general advice (I have consulted doctors with no success and long and expensive tests). I have pain in my lower back that is also present in my achelies tendon region and the sole of my foot, particularly in the heel center, towards the inside. I have sore points on the side of my buttock too (both sides) . Sciatica has been ruled out with MRI and all things are healthy in the nerve area but the pain is persistent and dull, and increase at night. Btw i am 24 years old.

The pain is not severe but it is irritating. It reduces while going to workout but increase when stationary.

I am attaching some pics of my foot to give a better view of my structure.

Do u think my pain can be explained through my support structure and if yes, how do I alleviate it?

LMAO guys I really don’t know where to start, you can see that both my feet are pretty flat. Unfortunately I don’t really know a lot about this topic, but it’d be nice for someone who’s more informed to tell me more about what’s going on with these dawgs so I can do appropriate workouts for my arches and improving my feet.

I’ve always dealt with the aches and when it came to running in high school I just fought through it because I didn’t want to miss scheduled practices. 5 years later, I still have pretty persistent reoccurring aches and with me recently getting back into long distant running, it’s been flaring up a little more often. I’m letting my feet really rest when they feel beat up for a day or two, sometimes 3, and just easing into the mileage a few times a week instead of the relentless approach I’ve taken in the past.

I don’t know what to do about this, seeing a podiatrist sounds kind of expensive, insoles sound like a short term fix, and surgery’s more expensive than the podiatrist visit. I know that the only thing I can really do is strengthen my feet and do exercises and stretches. I do try to do a barefoot run on grass once a week and I usually go fishing barefoot once a week to off a bank to get some time in on my bare feet.

That may not be helpful lol, but it does feel like it helps my foot. Specifically my right foot, this ache in my feet tends to be more intense on my right side and it leads to an ache in my ankle and knee at times. Help a brotha out, any advice is super appreciated!