Inna Chon - Pedorthics 101 Let’s Talk about Your Feet: Root Cause of Foot Problems How to Eliminate the Cause Anklebone Alignment

Pedorthics 101, For Your Foot Health. Copyright 2017 by Feet Balance Orthotics LLC.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Contact info:

feetbalanceorthotics@gmail.com

First Published in the United States of America in 201

Publisher: Feet Balance Orthotics LLC

Library Congress Control Number: 2017912245

ISBN: 978-1-947142-00-8 (eBook)

ISBN: 978-1-947142-02-2 (paperback full color)

ISBN: 978-1-947142-01-5 (paperback black and white)

Cover and interior design by Inna Chon

Illustrations by Inna Chon

Acknowledgements

I am so grateful to finally wrap up this book. It was like building a delicate sculpture piece of the foot itself. I absolutely know it is God who started me on this task and led me through the ups and downs of the long process of writing and publishing. So, first, I have to say, Thank You, God.

The task was huge for me: having to sort through countless materials as to what to pick and choose, how much to show, and how to make it clear from every direction while keeping it pleasing to look at. Even though it is about simple mechanical analyses of the foot and its problems, I couldnt have done it without the help.

Among those kind people who helped my sculpture of writing to be more presentable are: Jean and Doug Vanderpool who willingly went through the early stage of the sculpting in a very rough condition; Kate Erb, retired US Navy Captain, rearranged some words and paragraphs to better define its shape; My niece, Eujean Cho who claims herself to be a Not-smarty chiseled off Too-complicated-to-understand-for-not-smarty-person-like-her parts; Barbara Headley suggested more drawings for easy understanding; Anneliese Autry smoothed out with some sandpapers and brushed off the dust. And lastly, I send my gratitude to my husband, MC, who introduced the pedorthic field to me without foreseeing that his wife would soon fall in love with the foot, and had to listen to her talking about feet ALL THE TIME.

Why I Wrote This Book

The Facts, which are too important to be ignored for our overall health, have been ignored.

Facts:

1. The foot arch needs proper support (orthotics) in order to keep it from falling. The fallen arch misaligns the whole foot bones and the whole body structure that stands on the foot causing many problems throughout the body, such as foot deformities, aching feet, also early deterioration of major joints and muscles of our body.

2. Foot arches start to fall when babies start walking.

3. With a simple ankle bone alignment test, you can find proper orthotics that support the fallen arches to the point of aligning your ankle bones; this will provide your whole body balance from feet up.

Problem:

Problems that are caused by the fallen arches are being treated without eliminating the cause; without eliminating the cause, the problems will not go away.

Workable Solution:

Orthotics that support the fallen arches back to the point of aligning the ankle bones; the major reason of writing of this book.

Preface

The definition of the word foot in www.dictionary.com is as follows: the terminal part of the leg, below the ankle joint, on which the body stands and moves, and such a part considered as the organ of locomotion. And from the Internet dictionary, it states as the lower extremity of the leg below the ankle, on which a person stands or walks.

If I go a little further into detail: our two feet are making up about 2% of our body mass, averaging about 2 pounds per foot, and they are at the bottom when we are standing and walking. So, during the day, they are constantly moving up and down while carrying our moving body structure that is about 98% of our bodys entire weight. This makes the feet the moving foundations with another moving structure on them. Doesnt their job sound pretty heavy? Still, most of us take them for granted and do not give them their rightful attention until the foot nerves send out sharp signals (= pains) or they got into some serious deformities.

Our foot health is deeply related to our whole bodys well-being; from the way we walk to our frowning faces that are caused by foot-related pains. Yet, no one really talks about the matter at hand. But, surprisingly, I found this passage in the Book of Hebrews in the Bible, which I think addresses it quite well. It reads in chapter 12, verse 13:

Make level paths for your feet, so that the

lame may not be disabled, but rather be

healed. (NIV)

Another translation reads:

Make straight paths for your feet, so that

what is lame may not be put out of joint

but rather be healed. (ESV)

If I decipher this passage correctly, the unleveled path for the feet will make people limp (the lame) and eventually may make them disabled or put them out of joint, which cause structural problems and pain in the joints. In order to be healed from disabling or joint problems, we need to make level paths or straight paths for our feet.

Once we understand the foot structure with an arch at the bottom, the leveled or straight paths referenced in these verses should not be interpreted literally as leveled or straight grounds. Because when we walk on those leveled or straight grounds, our arches will definitely fall misaligning all the foot bones. So, if you read between the lines, the proper level paths or straight paths for the feet should be the paths that support the arches properly while keeping all the foot bones anatomically leveled and straight. Especially, the ankle bones on which our leg bones stand.

Also, this passage from the Bible definitely implies that the limping, the issue of the alignment of human body structure, is related to the feet, which is a common sense since the foot is the foundation of our body. But most of us are oblivious to the fact that the foot is engineered with an arch that needs support for the alignment of the whole body. A body with alignment, you cannot limp (although you can pretend to be limping). Without the alignment...? You cannot NOT limp.

Most of the fundamental ideas of science

are essentially simple, and may, as a rule,

be expressed in a language comprehensible

to everyone. (Albert Einstein)

By applying the basic laws of physics, a method to find out, if the ankle bones are aligned or not, becomes essentially simple. So, as a rule, it may be expressed in a language that is comprehensible to everyone.

Authors Credentials

I am an ABC (American Board of Certification for Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics) certified pedorthist since 2005. I gained my pedorthic education at The Foot and Ankle Institute of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

I majored in physical therapy at the Korea Medical College in South Korea. After I came to the United States, I was given an opportunity to become an animator and later, mysteriously and thankfully, I received a call from the Disney Feature Animation Studio and worked there for fifteen years. While with Disney, I took evening courses for fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles, California. Interestingly, all three of these experiences have greatly contributed to my training, practice, and research in the pedorthic field:

My physical therapy background helps me to understand how to treat peoples physical problems without medication or surgery.