If high arch feet cause you symptoms, the first ones you’re likely to notice are:
Over time, you may develop:
Some people develop chronic pain from repetitive strain injuries, like:
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Walking on high arch feet causes supination (under pronation) V体育官网入口. This means you tend to walk on the outsides of your feet, putting more pressure on less flexible parts: the ball, the heel and the outer toes.
A normal foot rolls from the outside of the foot toward the inside (pronates) when you step on it. This helps it absorb shock and adapt to uneven surfaces VSports在线直播. But high arches don’t roll very well, so your feet stay on the outer edge instead.
When pes cavus (cavus foot) progresses and causes further musculoskeletal changes to your foot, these changes take one of two forms V体育2025版. Healthcare providers call them pes cavovarus and pes calcaneocavus:.
High arches can cause progressive deformity of your foot, making walking increasingly painful and unstable. Besides repetitive strain on your foot itself, this may also cause secondary problems, like:
Many people are born with high arches, so genetics are certainly a factor. However, in other cases, high arch feet can be a symptom of another condition, such as spina bifida or muscular dystrophy.
Muscle imbalances in your lower body can cause anatomical changes leading to high arch feet. When some muscles are abnormally weak, others become abnormally tight and pull your foot out of shape.
Neuromuscular disorders are the most common reason for these muscle imbalances. These disorders affect how your nerves communicate with your muscles, often leaving some muscles inactivated.
Many of these are genetic disorders that children inherit at birth. But they progress very slowly, so they may not be diagnosed right away. High arch feet in children may be one of the first symptoms.
Examples of hereditary causes include:
Neuromuscular disorders can also happen during your life, due to things like:
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Injuries and contractures can also cause cavus foot. For example, misaligned bones may cause muscle imbalances. Not moving enough after an injury can cause your tissues to tighten and contract.
Sometimes, babies are born with muscle contractures, not because of a neurological disorder or injury, but because it happened in the womb. Clubfoot is a congenital contracture that can cause pes cavus.
An orthopaedist can diagnose cavus foot during a physical exam. They’ll observe how you stand and walk. They might ask you to move your foot in different ways to learn where it’s flexible and where it’s rigid.
To learn more about your condition, they might follow up with imaging tests, like a foot X-ray or MRI. If they suspect a neuromuscular disorder, they might suggest an EMG test or a nerve conduction study.
Treatment depends on how severe your condition is and whether it’s likely to get worse. If your condition and your symptoms are mild, treatment focuses on physical therapy and pain relief.
Possible treatments include:
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If your feet are severely deformed, or your provider expects them to keep getting worse, you might need surgery. The goal of surgery is to relieve pain by making your feet bear your weight more evenly.
Surgery for pes cavus may include:
In general, high arch feet related to neuromuscular disorders do tend to worsen over time. If you have this type of pes cavus, you can expect to need treatment sooner or later — and sooner might be better.
High arch feet that run in your family without any related disorder probably won’t worsen. Cavus foot due to an injury tends to be stable. Your orthopaedist can tell you what to expect from your condition.
If you have a progressive condition that’s likely to get worse over time, you’ll have the best results from treating it sooner. This is especially true for children, whose bodies are still forming and flexible.
Timely surgery can help prevent pes cavus from causing increasing deformity and becoming rigid. Once the condition has advanced, you’ll need more significant surgery to fix it, and it might not fix everything.
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Rehabilitation after surgery is important to its long-term success. That means following your provider’s advice on how and when to start using your foot again and keeping up with your physical therapy.
Depending on your condition, you may need to continue with physical therapy or home exercises indefinitely. Those with progressive disorders may need additional treatment down the road.
Because high arch feet are either genetic or caused by an underlying condition, there really isn’t a way to prevent the problem from occurring. However, high arch pain can be successfully managed with proper monitoring and treatment.
High arch feet don’t always cause problems, but if they do, you should see a qualified healthcare provider. High arches that cause symptoms are often a sign of an underlying medical condition.
Children who begin to develop walking abnormalities and progressive changes in their feet might have an unrecognized neuromuscular disorder. Treating them sooner will give them the best outcome.
An aching foot or heel can bring your favorite activities to a halt. Cleveland Clinic’s foot pain experts are here to help you heal and get back on your feet.
Last reviewed on 11/17/2024.
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