There are many causes for discomfort below the foot and that is often an issue for the experts to identify what it is. Among those problems that is not really so prevalent can be an atrophy with the fat pad which is intended to cushion as well as safeguard the feet. This fat pad protects the bones along with other tissues below the foot. This could particularly be true and also important in athletes that participate in sports activities which have a great deal of hard impacts with the ground including running. During running they actually do get the extra stability of the running shoe to support the foot and lesson those impacts. The leading signs and symptoms of this condition are usually relatively unclear and non-specific, so often the expert health professional needs to rule out other problems and eliminate them as being the source of the signs and symptoms leaving only the atrophy of the fat pad as the reason for the symptoms. One of the more obvious manifestation is just a unexplained ache under the ball or heel of the foot, that's worse if standing up and in many cases even worse if undertaking high-impact exercises. It is not only painful beneath the foot, this reduced padding may have affects further in the body.
The reason for this atrophy or wasting away of the fat pad is not really clear. It does become a bit atrophied as individuals become older, therefore it is a natural process. In the majority of people it is not necessarily a problem unless of course the atrophy will be substantial or activity levels tend to be higher. It simply seems that as we age some waste quicker than others and the source of this is not really clear.
Once the wasting in the fat pad is made as the reason behind the condition the perfect treatment solution is to put some shock absorbing insert under the foot within the shoe. The firmness with this pad has to be similar to the hardness of what the fat pad would be so that it can do its job adequately. Should it be far too soft, then it will undoubtedly flatten beneath the feet and do nothing. Should it be way too hard, then it is likely to make zero difference to the problem. Often times the cushioned heel pads are far too soft. A soft pad might feel good when you poke it with your fingers, but when your fingers could compress the pad, then body weight will also going to compress it and do nothing at all. A lot of these cushioned heel pads can be extremely useful if you get the right one.
An alternative choice is by using body fat grafting. This is the surgical operation that involves getting body fat cells and tissue out of another part of the body and placing them under the heel and front foot. Although this grafting is mostly very helpful it's not necessarily something which is carried out routinely because there is a operative risk using any surgery and the use of the cushioned heel pads is generally more than beneficial, and so the using surgical grafting of body fat will simply be carried out in probably the most significant situations.