At Total Care Podiatry the podiatrist will ascertain what dysfunction is occurring in your feet, how this is interacting with the muscles in your back, pelvis and legs and will see what areas in your lifestyle may be placing you at risk of continuing the injury. We will also work together with other health professionals involved in your care to achieve a long term solution.
Conditions this service treats
When you see a heath professional for back pain, do they remark how your ‘pelvis is rotated’ or ‘out’?
Does the treatment only give short term relief before the pain is back again?
It may be that you have a difference in leg length or the alignment of your pelvis is abnormal.
Maybe you’ve had an injury which has resulted in one leg bone being shorter than the other. Alternatively, if the pelvic misalignment is more than mild, it may be caused by a structural back condition called scolosis.
Also, a total hip or knee replacement can result in a shortening of one leg. This can be significant when combined with how your body adapted before the surgery and how it then adapts again after surgery.
Walking should be a fluid motion from the time the heel hits the ground to the point where we step forward and off the foot. Sometimes, if the forefoot and especially the big toe joint becomes jammed, the forward movement is momentarily blocked, forcing other joints to compensate.
The repetition of every step you take is enough to place strain and stress on the muscles and joints leading to inflammation and increased risk of injury.
If you experience back pain and/or pain and fatigue it is important that you have the alignment of your lower limbs and feet analysed to ensure there are no abnormalities that could be contributing to this pain.
How does the treatment work?
If your pelvis is misaligned or you have a difference in leg length, each step is going to place a little more pressure on one side than the other, forcing the joints and muscles to compensate, 4,000 times a day for each leg!
At Total Care Podiatry, we analyse these misalignments after you have seen your back health professional to make sure you are as straight as possible.
We then measure any misalignments with:
- Plantar Pressure analysis to measure the amount and timing of pressure underneath your feet in walking and standing. We use our pressure plate to note asymmetry between the pressure on one side to the pressure on the other
- A digital pelvic inclinometer (DPI). This equipment has only been available in Australia since early 2015 and the research has shown it to be very accurate. Using the DPI we can better understand why the difference is there and how much is from your pelvis, leg and foot and the compensations and adaptations that have occurred over time.
- Treadmill analysis. To see how your body functions with in-shoe corrections we have you comfortably walking on our state of the art treadmill, that has an inbuilt plantar pressure plate. This allows us to examine how your pelvis functions dynamically. We also note symmetry in your stride, and as your body moves up and down with each step, by assessing the differences using the plantar pressure data.
What are the benefits of this treatment
A hip and leg assessment provides objective information which can be compared to results after we implement a treatment plan. We also advise your back health professional on our treatment and ask them to monitor it at your next treatments. Working closely with them, we aim to give you the very best chance of having a long lasting solution to greater mobility.

ABOUT US
We work with you to achieve the best mobility you can have. So you can do the things you want to do, when you want to do them. That’s freedom!
CONTACT US
Ph: 03 5223 1531
Fax: 03 5222 6766
frontdesk@totalcarepodiatry.com.au