Adolescent-Acquired Flatfeet: The Tip of the Iceberg

There has been a substantive change in our lifestyle over the last two decades. The widespread availability of entertaining digital devices created an unhealthy culture of a sedentary lifestyle, with our children hooked to their digital devices for countless hours. The mental and social consequences have been well explored in several studies. Leading a sedentary lifestyle has been shown to be associated with obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and even early death. The adolescent-acquired flatfeet is another addition to the ever-growing list. The lack of physical activities among children nowadays has led to a pandemic of long muscles tightness in children, particularly during the growth spurt. The mismatch between the long bones and adjacent muscles growth caused relative muscles shortening, particularly the muscles that cross more than one growth center, such as the hamstring muscles and gastrocnemius muscles. As a result, it has become common to see children who cannot touch the floor on forward bending because of hamstring muscles tightness or inability to walk on their heels because of gastrocnemius muscles tightness. While muscles tightness is relatively benign, its consequences, such as adolescent-acquired flatfeet, are not. In this review, we have explored the condition, its prevention, and treatment to raise awareness among the public and professionals.