Chronic Muscle Imbalance

An asymptomatic muscle imbalance can eventually cause foot pain, injury, or other problems. This is a very common, perhaps the most common, reason for symptomatic foot problems. The pain often comes from a joint that doesn’t move properly due to poor muscle function.

Obvious symptomatic foot problems may develop suddenly and others more slowly over a period of time beginning with only the slightest clue. In either case, they may also disappear the same way as many symptomatic foot problems do. This happens because the body may correct them, or the imbalance may be compensated for by other muscles. In some of these cases, the compensation itself—specifically, the muscle involved in compensating—can cause other symptoms. This is part of the domino effect described earlier. It can occur with any group of muscles in the foot, ankle, leg, or above. Sometimes muscle compensation can even shift to the other side of the body. For example, a chronic muscle problem in the right foot may cause the body to shift weight bearing, putting excess weight through the left foot to avoid the stress, with an eventual problem created on the left side. In the end, it will be the left foot, opposite the side of the primary problem, that produces the symptoms.

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Chronic muscle imbalance is associated with some muscles being too tight. Tight calf muscles, tight plantar muscles (the bottom of the foot), or tightness in the front of the leg are common complaints often secondary to primary muscle inhibition (“weakness”)—symptoms often described as Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, or shin splints, respectively.