Orthotics

Do you ever experienced pain in your knees? Mine started to hurt when I was about nine years old. They hurt quite often too. Sometimes it even affected my sleep. I would also often felt pain in my knees after bowling, jogging and cycling, which were activities I do quite a lot of during my primary school days. My mother thought that it was one of the symptoms common in growing boys when they have a growth spurt; and during those times, one or both knees can get affected. Swelling, tenderness and pain are experienced just below the knee, over the tibia. The condition becomes very evident during or after activities which put stresses on the knees like running, jumping, skipping, etc.

It is true that I was growing taller during that period and I had resigned myself to endure the 'growing pains'. Then when I was in Primary 5, my father noticed a stall in Bishan Junction 8 called "Soulmate Orthotics". It claims to help to relieve foot pain by basically customising the soles of shoes called "orthotics". (see the pictures on the right). My father then took me to the friendly personnel on duty there. He scanned the soles of my feet. (Actually, the scan was done with what looked like a "photostating" machine, so now I know how it feels like to be "photostated") and from the scans of my feet, concluded that I had flat feet. He was confident that since I was (and am) still growing, I may be able to correct the feet and create an arch in each of them. However, I would need to pay about $355 for a pair of orthotics. My mother was skeptical as her family members have flat feet and they do not seem to have any of the problems I was having. My father was game to let me try, he said $355 to remove the pains for me is worth the money, so I ended up till today wearing the same pair of yellow soles inside whatever shoes I am wearing.

Believe it or not, the pains in my knees gradually became less frequent and finally deserted me. Every 6 months I still need to go back to the stall to have my feet scanned and the orthotics checked. As you can see on the right, the first time my soles were scanned on 4 January 2009, the shape of my soles look white because it was flat. Look at the latest scan taken on 24 January 2010, there is now a dark patch where my arch has form. As it is still not a fully formed arch, they have made the orthotics higher after the latest check-up.

So one of my growing pains has a happy ending, this is the end of it !