Although it seems far away, the November 2012 presidential election has candidates beginning to campaign near Columbus and across the country. One interesting story related to feet about a candidate over the past few weeks were reports that Michelle Bachman supposedly noticed a link between wearing high heeled shoes and having migraines.

While this may seem like a farfetched idea to those who are unfamiliar with severe headaches, it is actually very likely that not taking proper care of your feet can literally be a pain in the neck. Migraines can be severely debilitating and caused by a variety of triggers. Stress is one of the common triggers and it has been postulated that perhaps the reason Bachman linked her heels to her headaches was that she wore high heeled shoes to stressful events.

While the link to migraines is indirect, the most common type of headache called a tension headache can be directly linked to inappropriate shoe gear. A tension headache is associated with a dull, aching head pain, a feeling of tightness across your skull, and tender scalp, neck and shoulder muscles. These headaches can be so intense that they may resemble a migraine. Poor posture is a trigger of a tension headache and can be caused by wearing shoes that create or amplify an unnatural curvature of the spine. Along with high heels, other foot and ankle issues including limb length discrepancy, and lack of appropriate joint range of motion due to arthritis or limited flexibility can also cause back and neck pain.

One relatively simple fix for many of these issues that can lead to a range of upper body problems are custom made orthotics. Foot pain from arthritis can be lessened with an orthosis that limits the amount of painful motion and holds the foot in a more stable position. Most people have a small difference in length between their two legs and may unknowingly compensate by pronating, or causing the longer limb to be flat-footed to equal out the length difference. An orthotic can relieve this problematic compensation and prevent the limb length from causing pain further up the body. Intense headaches should always be discussed with your doctor. You just may end up finding that although the pain is at the top, relief can be found at the bottom – with proper foot care!

Please visit www.ColumbusFoot.com for more information or call 614-885 FEET (3338) to schedule an appointment with a podiatrist in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus Podiatry & Surgery is located on the North side of Columbus, Ohio near Worthington.