Digital Editor Sonia Kapur had suffered from back and leg pain for years. Could a special insole in her shoe make a difference?

I first noticed that I had a problem with my legs and feet about five years ago, writes Sonia Kapur. I used to suffer from a sharp pain which started from my lower back, through to my inner thighs and down to my knees. This pain was experienced after driving, long hours of walking as well as sitting at a computer desk in the same position for hours.

It felt as if the lower parts of my body were failing me and the only way that I could sleep pain-free was to take painkillers. I began to feel restricted and angry with the problem. Why was I experiencing this pain sitting still, as well as being active? I avoided addressing the problem for years, wearing high-heeled stilettos in nightclubs, in my university life in Portsmouth.

One day it finally hit me that the pain I was experiencing was not normal. It was after a few glasses of wine that my friend and I began to compare the shape of our legs. This is when I made the shocking discovery that my legs did not meet in the middle, but hers did. There’s nothing I can do to change the fact that I had bow legs but at least I now knew why I was experiencing the pain. The upper part of my body was putting pressure on the lower, particularly the outer muscles of my legs. I thought that there must be something I could do and sought advice from podiatrist Jalmeen Sandhu, known as Jay. She opened up my eyes. It was interesting to hear the effect your feet can have on your whole body.

The 33-year-old who is based in Langley Wellbeing Clinic, in Langley’s High Street, but can also provide home visits, performed a biomechanical assessment and a gait analysis, observing the way I walk. he said: “I assessed all the ranges of motions on the hips, knees and joints and a custom-made orthotic was made to help control the range of motion to put Sonia’s body into the neutral position.”

She made a cast and prescribed me orthotics (custom-made insoles). They were made slim to fit nicely into all types of shoes. I first started wearing my orthotics about seven months ago and my condition has improved. I rarely suffer the sharp pain that I used to. Jay says a number of people do not know the significance of orthotics.

She said: “Every treatment is different. I have different clinics such as chiropody, biomechanics, gait analysis, wound care, verrucas, podiatric medical acupuncture and reflexology.” Speaking about her work she said: “It is a very satisfying and rewarding job as you are constantly helping people and seeing improvements and results.”

Other services Jay offers includes for heel, arch, metatarsalgia and bunion pain, and problematic toe nails as well as nail surgery under local anaesthesia. Jay is also trained in Marigold Therapy which is a complementary, natural therapy for foot problems.

Contact her on 07760 200930 or visit www.finerfeet.co.uk or email info@finerfeet.co.uk

The Facts:

* In your lifetime, you will walk over 100,000 miles (that’s nearly four times round the world).

* Each foot contains 126 muscles and ligaments, 33 joints and 26 bones (between them, that’s over a quarter of all the bones in your body).

* For every mile walked, your feet shift roughly 100 tonnes (the weight of a blue whale) just to move your body forward.