By Otho Davis, Pure Matters If you are having problems with back
pain, shin splints, knees, or hips, look to your feet. Although
these ailments might seem totally unrelated to one another, they
can sometimes be linked to problems that start with your feet
and how they're built, foot experts say. When you walk, you put
the force of as much as five times your body weight on each
foot. If the foot doesn't absorb that shock or redistribute it
properly, you can develop problems elsewhere. Often this occurs
in people who have hyperpronated feet, also called "flat feet,"
because the arch appears to be flattened and closer to the
ground. If you have flat feet, your feet tend to roll inward
when you walk or run. That extra motion creates secondary
stresses farther up in your legs, podiatrists say. Because of
the excessive foot motion, the muscles on the inside of your leg
must work harder to pull your foot up. When you use these
muscles excessively, particularly in running, shin splints can
occur. Flat feet can lead t