Understanding EDS Foot Pain & How To Stop It
Why a Whole-Body Approach Matters to ehlers danlos feet
If you have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) or hypermobility spectrum disorders, you know the frustrating symptoms in your feet. These can include collapsing arches, foot pain, fatigue, and even changes in your toenails. These common symptom aren’t isolated issues. They reflect deeper challenges in the structure of your body’s connective tissue.
At Burleigh Biomechanics, we understand that EDS feet aren’t just about flat arches or rolling ankles. They’re a sign that your entire system lacks integrated tension and support — something Functional Patterns (FP) training directly addresses.
Why Do EDS Feet Hurt So Much?
Whether you have hypermobile feet, flat feet, or high arches, the issue often starts with connective tissues. These tissues support your muscle strength and help align your joints. People with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) often have very flexible or "double-jointed" joints. These joints do not have the stability needed for smooth movement.
This leads to:
Excessive pronation or supination
Painful load-bearing
Toe gripping and altered gait
Toenail deformities and changes in circulation
Compensations up the chain: knees, hips, back, neck
EDS-related foot health issues aren’t isolated. They signal a systemic imbalance in range of motion, neuromuscular coordination, and postural control.
Most Approaches Miss the Bigger Picture
Standard foot treatments — orthotics, footwear, targeted physiotherapy — might help in the short term, but they often don’t improve the underlying mechanics. That’s because they focus on local symptoms instead of global structure.
For patients with Ehlers-Danlos, that’s a risky strategy. Every footstep, every toe-off, depends on a balanced and stable system that starts with your gait and posture — not just your arch.
Spotlight on Orthotics for EDS: Why They’re Often Just a Band-Aid
Many people with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) use orthotics. They hope to find relief from foot pain and instability. This pain is caused by hypermobile feet and weak connective tissue. Orthotics are custom insoles or shoe inserts. Doctors often prescribe them to support flat feet, control movement, and improve foot health.
However, while orthotics might offer temporary relief, they are often just a band-aid solution that can make things worse over the long term for people with EDS.
Here’s why:
Masking the Problem: Orthotics only focus on the feet. They try to “fix” alignment in one area. However, they do not address the bigger issues of joint hypermobility and poor movement patterns. These problems often come from bad biomechanics in other parts of the body.
Reduced Muscle Engagement: By artificially supporting the foot structure, orthotics can decrease the activation and strength of the foot and lower leg muscles. Over time, this can lead to further muscle weakness, making the feet less stable when not supported by orthotics.
Altered Movement Patterns: Orthotics may change your natural gait mechanics, which can cause compensations in the knees, hips, and spine. This compensation can increase joint pain and fatigue in other areas, counteracting your overall quality of life.
Ignoring Tensegrity: The human body operates as a tensegrity system—where the integrity of one part depends on the whole. Orthotics isolate one small component without supporting the systemic connective tissue and muscle strength needed to maintain overall stability.
Functional Patterns: Addressing the Root, Not the Symptom
Functional Patterns is a movement therapy system based on tensegrity. This means your body spreads force through tension across its whole structure. When applied to EDS, it creates a new model for healing and movement: one that supports the feet by fixing the hips, spine, and ribcage above them.
Instead of just padding your arches or stretching your calves, we retrain how you:
Walk
Rotate
Breathe
Balance
This systemic approach:
Helps reduce pain in the feet and joints
Restores co-contraction around hypermobile structures
Builds real, sustainable muscle strength without wear and tear
Improves overall quality of life for people with EDS
We See Beyond the Beighton Score
Too many people with EDS are evaluated by a checklist — the Beighton Score, toe-touching, or how “bendy” you are. At Burleigh Biomechanics, we go deeper. We assess:
How your foot behaves through dynamic movement
What your posture reveals about your core integration
How joint angles and breathing impact your foot stability
The neurological sequencing behind your gait pattern
Because connective tissue disorders don’t just affect your feet — they impact your entire biomechanical system.
Real Support for Real Pain
Whether you have joint hypermobility, hypermobile foot instability, or just can’t figure out why your ehlers danlos toenails are aching after a walk, we’re here to help. Functional Patterns has shown promising results for people with hEDS and hypermobility type disorders by targeting the mechanical origin of symptoms — not just masking them.
Say goodbye to generic orthotics and symptom-based exercise. Say hello to:
Functional stability
Efficient, pain-free movement
Resilient gait patterns
Book Your EDS Foot Assessment Today
At Burleigh Biomechanics, we combine world-class FP training with a deep understanding of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome feet and hypermobile joints.
We offer:
Individualised assessments
Non-invasive movement therapy
A long-term alternative to chronic foot pain
Support for chronic pain, joint pain, and functional instability
Let us help you move better — from the ground up.
Important: We do not perform isolated foot assessments because, in EDS, your feet are rarely the root cause of pain. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome requires a systemic approach that addresses the entire body's connective tissue and movement patterns. By focusing on integrated biomechanics and tensegrity, addressing your gait and overall function, you may experience significant reduction in foot pain as a result.