Ever feel tired when you walk, run and standing long? It's quite normal to feel tired when you do vigorous activities or perform something that is unusual or things that you are not used to do daily. 

However, if you always feel pain at your feet, then your leg and your back bone up till your neck, something is probably not right. Many of us are not aware of our type of feet and arches, which are vital for us to understand better what to do more and less to protect our feet from affecting other parts of our body. 

First, let us get to know the 10 different types of feet. https://diply.com/dip/article/feet-describe-you

Besides knowing the different types of feet, let's explore the type of arches and how important is to understand your type of arches for you to find the right shoes.

Let's explore the three (3) types of arches together ;)

1) Low arch (Flat feet)

Roughly about 20% of the population have low arches and unfortunately I am one of them. Why I said unfortunately because individual with this type of arches suffer terrible pain and suffer common foot/feet problems such as heel, arch, imbalanced, prone to injuries, pain, pain and pain. 

If you belong to this population, high five! I know how you feel, however, fortunately, we still have legs and grateful for that. If you have extreme flat feet, especially if you grow up as an active individual who played different types of sports, it is vital to look for professional fitted arch supports that can greatly benefit you. People sometimes confuse when we say flat feet. Just so you know, the feet is not flat, they still have arches.

Wear the right shoes that give you the right arch support to provide you stability, correct foot positioning, less tiredness to your calf muscles and deter other related serious problems and injuries that might occur. If you don't wear the right shoes and do not have proper support, you are prone to injuries when you do sports, walk, run and even standing. 

In the long term, you may suffer knee pain, back pain, neck pain and probably your whole body because our feet support our whole body and if we don't take care well of our feet, our body can have many issues, especially when we walk and run, our feet absorb the most impact and shock. Just imagine your feet is your base and supporting your body weight. If you are 50 kg or 100 kg and if your feet is not right, you may collapse, just like a building that do not have a strong base. 

Thus, it is very important to find the right shoes. Best if you can detect this at an early stage about your child's feet and ensure them wearing the right footwear, having the right support and understand how to sports, stand, walk and run the right way to prevent injuries and pain and help you to achieve proper body alignment.

2) Medium arch

Approximately 60% of the population have medium arches and are prone to heel pain or ball-of-foot discomfort.

3) High arch 

Roughly about 20% of the population have high arches and are more susceptible to heel, ball-of-foot with little pain in the arch area.

I can't tell much about those two types because I belong to the first category and that's why I can tell more because I experienced the discomfort and agony. Basically, no matter which type you belong to, it is equally important for you to know your feet and get the right shoes. 

It is highly recommended to see a medical professional, which in this case, a podiatrist or also known as podiatric physician that can diagnose, provide you advises and treat your foot/feet disorders, ankle and any lower extremity. 

If you are an athlete or someone who loves sports, or simply just need a pair of sport shoes, I recommend you to visit The Marathon Shop and refer to their sales assistant. The one that  I encountered was knowledgeable and understand my problem well because she suffered the same problem as well. 

Her name is Siti and she asked me to try this Footdisc thermo scan that can help determine which type of arches you have. Then, you can try the shoe that is suitable with your type of arches to ensure you are in comfort when you do your activities daily. I also tried their treadmill and there's this system where they can monitor the way you run in slow motion to show how you were running before and why did you run like that, mainly because of your type of arches. 

It is always good  to know your body to ensure you don't put imbalance pressure and make things worse. I discovered my type of arches 4 years back because I had injuries. It was a tough moment understanding the real issue, but life goes on. 

My podiatrist said young children have flat feet anyway and once you get older it can develop through that three type I have shared above. It is super important to know how to look after your feet and be cautious about it if you haven't. If you are a runner, an athlete, you probably faced the same problem I have. Try to find a remedy and hopefully things get better. Anyhow, get to know your feet, your partner's feet, most importantly your children.

This is just a basic introduction about your type of feet and arches to create awareness so that you are aware of this and can start to get to know your feet better to avoid discomfort in the long run.

If you would like to know more in detail about flat feet from other informative articles, feel free to browse through https://patient.info/health/flat-feet. If you would like to know about medium and high arch, and do the test yourself, check out https://www.footsmart.com/health-resource-center/foot/arch-pain

You can also check out http://www.strideuk.com/content/footdisc to know more about Footdisc performance insoles.

I am no medical expert, however, from someone who experienced and gathers others experiences and advises from medical experts, patients, journals and articles, I hope my readers will get a rough idea the importance to get to know your feet and why we need to do so.

My article is for knowledge sharing, please do not use this as a medical prescription.

Hope you guys gain something insightful from this article and may the knowledge you gain help you in the future. =)

Survivor,