Flat feet are a disadvantage for athletes in sports because they generate less force, prone to fatigue, reduces stability, and causes a higher risk of sport-related injuries.

As a starting point, sports that are heavy on the use of the foot will be affected by a flat foot. Sports that are water-based such as swimming and surfing are typically not a concern for peeps with flat foot.

In this article, we’ll have a look at three different sports: running, basketball, and football (or soccer).

What is a flat foot?

When standing, the soles of our feet create a curve. This curve acts like a spring that helps us walk, run, and bear the weight of our body. The foot has three arches that make up this curve: medial longitudinal, lateral longitudinal, and transverse.

A flat foot, or its medical term being pes planus (literally means fallen arches), is a loss of the medial longitudinal arch of the feet. As a result, the feet lie flat on the ground, with all if not most of the soles coming into contact with the ground.

How important are the foot arches?

The foot has 3 arches, and all of them work together for a similar objective.

Firstly, they distribute body weight to weight-bearing areas of the foot, which are the heels and the ball of foot. This protects the soft tissue under the arch. Without the arch protecting these tissues, they can injure with time due to constant pressure and friction. A good and common example of this is plantar fasciitis.

The plantar fascia is a thick connective tissue that connects the bones of your toes to the bones in the hindfoot. It acts like a rope that maintains the arch from collapsing. Flat feet will exacerbate the wear and tear of this fascia and cause it to become inflamed.

Secondly, the arches ensure that the whole leg is aligned correctly. Without the arches, the foot will overpronate. Meaning, the feet will lean inwards. This causes a domino effect that leads the shin bone or tibia to rotate inwards, and the femur to rotate outwards. As you can imagine, a lot of tendons are going to be over-stretched due to this, so knee pain and hip pain is not uncommon among flat-footed peeps.

How to identify if I have flat feet?

There is a quick and simple test that can be done to evaluate whether you have flat feet. For this, you need a second person, for example, a friend.

Firstly, you need to stand on two feet on a flat surface. Next, have your friend insert the tip of their middle finger under your soles through the medial side of each foot. If they can get their fingers under your feet all the way to their distal crease of their middle finger, then your feet at normal. If their fingers won’t go past that, then you have a flat foot. If their fingers go way beyond that joint, then you have a high arch.

How does flat foot affect your performance in sports?

Whether it be a school-level event or a nation-wide competition, an athlete wants to know how they compare to their opponents in the sport they’re participating in. This is no exception for athletes with flat feet.

Flat feet are prone to develop complications if not handled properly. These complications are not limited to the foot, as a misalignment in the foot can cause issues further up the body. If a building has a weak base, then we would expect weakness even up to the ceiling.

Some of these complications include but are not limited to:

• Arch pain
• Heel pain
• Ankle pain
• Knee pain
• Lower back pain
• Bunions (hallux valgus)
• Achilles tendonitis
• Planter fasciitis
• Arthritis
• Calluses and corns

Interestingly, a flat foot was not considered to be a risk factor for any sport-related injuries. This was highlighted in a study in the Foot & Ankle International Journal in 2002, and I quote:

“The current study did not find any relationship between pes planus as measured by medial midfoot contact area and the incidence of lower extremity injuries of any sort.”

Michelson, J. D., Durant, D. M., & McFarland, E. (2002). The Injury Risk Associated with Pes Planus in Athletes. Foot & Ankle International, 23(7), 629–633. doi:10.1177/107110070202300708 

The study even goes as far as to say that the use of orthotics by asymptomatic flat footers to prevent injuries have no scientific basis. We’ll later have a look at some studies that zoom into more specific sports that say otherwise.

What we can agree on now, at least, is that there are studies that have shown a lower level of performance in certain sports among those who have flat feet compared to their arching counterparts. Let’s have a look at a few types of sports and analyze them one by one.

What sports will be affected with a flat foot?

1. Running

Of course, when talking about sports that mainly involve the foot, running is definitely the top spot. Whether you’re a light jogger or a marathon triathlete, you want to know whether a flat foot has an impact on how well you run.

There was a study done by Index Medical College Indore, India to see the effect of a flat foot on the running ability of an athlete. They did this study by having participants undergo three types of running: explosive running, high endurance running, and something in between.

To do this, they had participants run three different ways: 100-meter sprint, 600-meter run, and a 12-minute walk and run. The results were that those with flat foot performed poorly than the normal foot group in the 100-meter sprint and 600-meter run but performed equally with them in the 12-minute walk and run. This shows that a flat foot lacks the spring action required in explosive runs and gets fatigued easily in long endurance runs.

The results align with a separate study by Paul S. Sung which showed that people with flat feet have stiffer ankle muscles than those with normal feet.

Although we did mention before that a flat foot wouldn’t necessarily increase your risk of getting a sport-related injury, there is a contradicting study that says otherwise. This study highlighted that those with flat feet have variable coordination in their feet, which may be the reason for some running injuries.

Finally, we have research that demonstrated a higher risk of metatarsal stress fracture among those with flat feet. They concluded that this is due to a greater force exerted on the medial and lateral midfoot during runs.

To conclude, a flat foot has these negative effects in the context of running:

• Lesser spring action in the foot to generate force in explosive movements
• Prone to fatigue in endurance runs
• Stiffer ankle muscles
• Variable coordination which predisposes a person to running injuries
• Greater risk of metatarsal stress fractures due to a greater force exerted on the medial midfoot.

Despite this, a flat foot does not necessarily mean a person is slower in running. It just means that the advantage of an arch is not available for these runners and needs to be compensated by other means. It definitely did not stop Usain Bolt, from achieving the fastest sprint of all time. On top of that, he even has spinal scoliosis. With training and determination, anything is possible.

2. Basketball

Basketball is a sport that requires explosive movements to change directions and confuse the opponents. Moreover, players who jump higher can score more for the team with techniques like jump shots and dunking.

There was a study done in Universitas Indonesia to determine whether pes planus contributes to any postural instability in basketball student-athletes. They measured the student’s stability through three stages: static (standing on one leg), vertical jump (jump shot, pull-up jumper or fake jump), and vertical jump loading response (shooting, slam dunk, or set shoot). What they found was that a flat foot significantly disturbs postural stability in various tests.

Their findings correlate with a study by Yuta Koshino et al. and another study by Emi Anzai et al. in showing how a flat foot significantly contributes to how stable our posture is.

Hope is not all lost, though. There was research done that showed how shooting performance by flat-footed basketballers are just as good as their normal arch counterparts. Adding on to that, having a flat foot that makes more contact to the ground might be advantageous when propelling the body upwards to shoot. Unfortunately, injury risk is higher for flat footers as seen with the famous Kevin Durant’s Achilles tendon rupture.

To sum up, flat foot is not favorable in basketball because:

• Postural instability during standing and jumping
• Higher risk of lower extremity injury

If you have a flat foot and still want to pursue basketball, then you should take inspiration from Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, and Jared Dudley. Flat foot never stopped them.

It’s worth mentioning that these athletes wear orthotics to reduce friction to their feet, and so that their shoes fit better. Kevin Durant wore orthotics because his shoes kept falling off.

If you’re interested in buying orthotics, then I would suggest the ones by Dr Scholl’s. You can buy a custom orthotic or buy their pre-made orthotics in variable sizes.

3. Football

This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning football. In this sport, the lower extremities are used to kick, dribble, and pass the ball. You’ll also be constantly moving across the field to chase the ball. Not to forget, jumping is also important for heading the ball, and catching the ball for goalkeepers.

Firstly, there is a study in the Indian Journal of Youth and Adolescent Health that aimed to establish the relationship between foot type and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries among soccer players. ACL is a type of ligament which stabilizes the knee joint, and an injury to it is not uncommon in sports. The study concluded that a pronated foot type such as a flat foot is a risk factor for cruciate ligament injury.

Moreover, in the journal Science and Medicine in Football, researchers conducted a study among male players in the Iran Premium football league. They established that abnormal foot postures, be it pronated or supinated, may increase the risk of hamstring and medial cruciate ligament (MCL) injuries.

Next, a study at the Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran highlighted that a football player’s ability to jump and head the ball is significantly reduced in the flat foot group. Interestingly, when wearing insoles or orthotics, those differences became negligible.

This not only supports that a flat foot causes significant disadvantage in football, but also that these disadvantages can be somewhat erased with the use of insole orthotics.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that because football requires a lot of running. So, the disadvantages that flat foot brings to runners can be also applied to football players. For example, as previously mentioned, there is a decrease in the ability to do explosive as well as endurance runs for flat footed individuals. They are also more likely to have metatarsal stress fractures.

To summarize, here are the disadvantages that a flat foot brings about in the context of football:

• Higher risk of knee injuries mainly ACL and MCL injuries.
• Higher risk of hamstring injuries.
• Decreases the ability to head a ball, but reversible with orthotics.
• Disadvantages that apply to running

Conclusion

The arches of the foot are important in athletic tasks, from standing still to various dynamic and explosive movements. Flat foot brings about significant disadvantages to a person who wants to pursue a foot-centered sport.

Some of these disadvantages cannot be avoided, but others can be reversed with the help of orthotics. All in all, you shouldn’t be discouraged from your favorite sport, because numerous successful athletes have reached their goals despite having flat feet that held them back.

On that note, we have made a thorough guide on how to choose the right orthotic for your feet, and your needs. So, be sure to check that out!