Back pain affects 80% of Americans at some point during their life. Some times back pain is limited to just the back and other times it can result in pain traveling down one or both of the legs.
Common causes of back pain include arthritis, muscle strains and pinched nerves. The treatment of back pain depends on the cause of the pain. Back pain is often difficult to treat and for many people back pain is a chronic condition which greatly affects the quality of 
their life.
In this article I am going to discuss one of the most overlooked causes of back pain and what you can do to get some relief.
A common cause of low back pain that I see a lot of is fallen arches in the feet. Also known as flat feet, a fallen arch can happen in one or both of the feet. When the arch of your foot loses its support the foot drops in or pronates. This then causes the knee to drop in, which then causes the hip to drop.
This is a very common cause of low back pain that often goes undiagnosed and I see this a lot in my practice. Patients come in who have been suffering from back pain for months or even years and they have had numerous forms of treatment with very little success.
Imagine walking around all day with only one shoe on. You would be hobbling around all day unbalanced. Or imagine going for a run with only one shoe on.
I am sure you can easily see how walking with only one shoe on can cause your back to hurt.
So you are suffering from back pain so you go see your doctor and they prescribe you some form of medication for your pain. You take the medication but you are still walking around with only one shoe on (that is your fallen arch). The medication doesn’t help your back pain so you go back to your doctor and this time they send you to physical therapy.
At physical therapy they have you do some strengthen exercises, then lay you down on a table, massage your back and also use ultrasound and some electric muscle stimulation.
The problem is, you get off the table and continue to walk around with only one shoe on. Remember I am using the analogy of walking around with only one shoe on because that is similar to walking around with one of your arches dropping, your knees then dropping and turning in and that then results in you hip dropping.
No wonder you continue to suffer from back pain.
What needs to be done in this situation? Someone needs to look at you feet and balance you out. If you correct the fallen arch, you can balance out your hips.
So how do you fix a fallen arch? You get a custom made orthotic to support your arch and also maybe a heel wedge to help stabilize your heel and stop you from rolling in.
I have seen many patients who have suffered with back pain for years get relief once we were able to balance their knees and hips with custom orthotics.
So, if you have been or are currently suffering from chronic back pain, make sure you have someone check you feet.
