Most people don’t spend too much time thinking about the arch of their foot — how high it is, how low it is — that is, until foot or ankle pain becomes a problem.
The foot is supposed to have an arch; it helps support your body’s alignment, protects the foot from shock and helps you walk on uneven surfaces. But roughly 25% of adults have flat feet, said Dr. Jesse N. Charnoff, a spine and sports medicine physiatrist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. This means the group has no arch at all, so the soles of their feet touch the ground when they stand.
“When you’re born, you have flat feet,” said Dr. Nicole Nicolosi, a foot and ankle surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, adding that children tend to develop an arch between the ages of 7 and 10.
Genetics and certain conditions, such as injuries or rheumatoid arthritis, can cause flat feet in adulthood. Of the 25% of adults who have flat feet, only about 1 in 10 will have symptoms related to them that require treatment, Charnoff said.
“You can have a flat foot and live a long and happy life without any issues,” Nicolosi explained.
