Most flat feet don’t need “fixing” in the traditional sense. Flexible flat feet, the most common type, are a normal anatomic variation that often causes no pain at all. But if your flat feet are causing discomfort in your feet, ankles, knees, or back, there are effective ways to strengthen your arches, support them externally, and in rare cases, correct them surgically. What works best depends on whether your flat feet are flexible or rigid, and whether they developed in childhood or appeared later in life.
Check Whether Your Flat Feet Are Flexible or Rigid
This distinction matters because it determines which interventions will actually help. Stand on your tiptoes and look at your feet (or have someone else look). If an arch appears when you rise onto your toes, you have flexible flat feet. If no arch forms and your ankle feels stiff, you may have rigid flat feet, which can involve structural issues like bones that have fused together abnormally.
Flexible flat feet are far more common and generally respond well to exercises, orthotics, and footwear changes. Rigid flat feet are more likely to cause pain and limited motion, and they sometimes require surgical correction. If you can’t form an arch on tiptoe, or if you have persistent pain along the inside of your ankle, it’s worth getting imaging to rule out a structural problem.
Strengthen Your Arch With Targeted Exercises
The muscles that support your arch run along the bottom of your foot and up the inside of your lower leg. When these muscles are weak, your arch drops further under your body weight. A consistent exercise routine can measurably improve foot alignment over time. A meta-analysis published by the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons found that one exercise in particular, the short foot exercise, significantly reduced navicular drop (the amount the arch bone sinks when you stand) and shifted foot posture toward a more neutral position.
Here’s how to do the short foot exercise: sit with your feet flat on the floor. Without curling your toes, try to shorten your foot by pulling the ball of your foot toward your heel. You should feel the arch lift and the muscles on the bottom of your foot engage. Hold for a few seconds and release. This targets the small intrinsic muscles that act like a natural arch support.
Several other exercises complement the short foot exercise well:
- Towel curls: Place a towel on the floor in front of you while seated. Grip it with your toes and drag it toward you. Repeat 10 to 15 times.
- Arch lifts: Stand with both feet planted. Raise your arches while keeping your toes and heels on the ground. Hold a few seconds, then lower. Repeat 10 to 15 times.
- Heel raises: Stand with feet hip-width apart. Rise onto your toes, hold briefly, then lower. Do 10 to 15 reps. This strengthens the calf and the posterior tibial tendon, the key tendon supporting your arch.
- Calf stretches: Face a wall with one foot forward, one back. Bend your front knee while keeping your back heel on the ground. Hold 20 to 30 seconds per side, 2 to 3 times each.
- Tennis ball roll: Sit and roll a tennis ball under your foot from heel to toe for 2 to 3 minutes per foot. This loosens the plantar fascia and improves mobility.
Aim to do these exercises daily or at least four to five times per week. Results take weeks to months, not days.
Choose the Right Shoes and Insoles
Footwear makes a meaningful difference for flat feet, and the features to prioritize are specific. Look for three things: built-in arch support, a stiff heel counter (the rigid cup around the back of the shoe that keeps your heel from rolling inward), and a firm midsole that resists twisting. If you can easily wring the shoe like a washcloth, it’s too flexible to provide the stability flat feet need.
As for insoles, you may be wondering whether you need expensive custom orthotics. A Harvard Health review of 20 randomized controlled trials involving roughly 1,800 people found no difference in short-term pain relief between custom-molded orthotics and store-bought versions. Over-the-counter arch support insoles with a firm medial post are a reasonable first step. If you’ve tried them for several months without improvement, custom orthotics molded to your foot may still be worth exploring for fit and comfort, but don’t assume they’ll be dramatically more effective at reducing pain.
Understand Adult-Acquired Flat Feet
If you had normal arches and they’ve gradually collapsed in adulthood, the most likely cause is dysfunction of the posterior tibial tendon. This tendon runs from your calf down behind the inside of your ankle and attaches under your foot. It’s the primary structure holding your arch up. When it degenerates over time, your arch flattens, your ankle rolls inward, and your toes may start pointing outward (clinicians call this the “too many toes” sign because extra toes become visible when looking at the foot from behind).
This condition progresses through stages. In stage 1, the tendon is inflamed but your foot structure is still normal. You can rise onto your toes, though it may hurt. In stage 2, your arch has visibly collapsed but remains flexible, and you can no longer do a single-leg heel raise. By stage 3, the collapsed arch has become rigid. Catching this early, ideally in stage 1 or 2, gives you the best chance of managing it without surgery through the exercises, orthotics, and footwear strategies described above. A brace or ankle-foot orthotic can also help offload the tendon in the early stages.
How Flat Feet Affect the Rest of Your Body
Your feet are the foundation of your body’s kinetic chain. When your arches collapse, it changes how you distribute weight and absorb shock with every step. Your ankles may roll inward, which rotates your shinbones, which shifts stress onto your knees. That altered alignment continues upward into your hips and lower back. Many people with flat feet develop knee pain, hip tightness, or chronic lower back discomfort without realizing the connection starts at their feet. This is one reason addressing flat feet matters even when the feet themselves aren’t painful.
When Surgery Becomes Necessary
Surgery is reserved for flat feet that cause significant pain or functional limitations and haven’t responded to months of conservative treatment. It’s also sometimes necessary for rigid flat feet caused by structural problems. There is no single “flat foot surgery.” Instead, surgeons combine several procedures tailored to the specific deformity.
Common components include a calcaneal osteotomy (cutting and shifting the heel bone back under the leg), lateral column lengthening (inserting a bone or metal wedge to lengthen the outside of the foot), and tendon transfer, where a nearby tendon is rerouted to take over for the failing posterior tibial tendon. Nearly every flat foot reconstruction also includes some form of Achilles tendon lengthening, because a tight Achilles pulls the foot into a position that worsens the deformity. In cases with arthritis, one or more midfoot joints may be fused.
Recovery is significant. You’ll typically spend several weeks non-weight-bearing, followed by a gradual return to walking in a boot. Full recovery takes up to a year. The results can be transformative for people with severe deformity, but the lengthy rehabilitation is why surgeons and patients exhaust conservative options first.
Flat Feet in Children
If you’re concerned about a child’s flat feet, know that most children don’t develop a visible standing arch until around age 6. Before that, a combination of baby fat in the foot and ligament laxity makes nearly every toddler look flat-footed. A diagnosis of persistent flat feet shouldn’t be considered before that age. If a child older than 6 has flexible flat feet with no pain, no treatment is typically needed. If the feet are rigid, painful, or causing difficulty with walking or sports, evaluation for an underlying structural issue is warranted.