View Full Version : Custom Insoles
rickybobby911
05-17-2006, 15:06
Hello All
I live in the Canadian Rockies and I hike every weekend. The weather here has been abnormally warm and the hiking season has commenced early. Over the winter, I have developed some mild foot pain. I have tried orthotics and was not a big fan as they hurt my feet more. I have done a fair amount of research on the net and I have found these custom heat moldable inserts (www.archmolds.com) that mold to the shape of your foot and come with an antibacterial nano silver to kill bacteria and odor. They seem very interesting and are not very expensive. I was wondering if anyone has ever tried them as I am thinking of trying a pair. If anyone has ever tried them, can you please let me know what you thought. Happy hiking....
Cheers,
Ricky
Hi,
I have worn my orthotics for 11 years. They took care of all my foot pain (deformed feet and legs when born). I just had my second pair made, by the same Podiatrist.
Did you build up to them? An hour the first day. two the next, etc. Wear them all the time. My 11 year old has them. On the weekends, she goes around bare-foot or flip-flops. By Sunday night, her feet hurt!
Check back with your doctor. He needs to listen to the issue, and come up with a solution. Or get a new doctor!
The molds are probably OK. But I'd get the doctor back into the orthotics.
Mother's Finest
05-17-2006, 16:17
Custom orthotics are the way to go. If they did not work for you before, they were not made correctly or the right adjustments were not made to them.
Off the shelf products may be better than nothing, but a custom orthotic is the best.
peace
mf
Custom orthotics are the best, as long as they're fit right in the first place. Also, like someone else said, it takes two or three days to work up to them and get used to them. After that though, they are a godsend.
I'd try out your customs a few more times, and if they still make your feet hurt, that means they weren't made properly for your feet.
Kerosene
05-18-2006, 09:39
Custom orthotics are necessary when you really have unusual feet or foot problems. However, off-the-shelf orthotics can help a lot of people. I wear custom orthotics that cost $500, but in retrospect I think I could have gotten by with Superfeet for $100 or less, since all I really have is a high arch that increases the likelihood of Achilles tendonitis and sprains.
Klezmorim
05-18-2006, 14:52
The problem with off-the-shelf solutions or products like Superfeet (tried 'em; got my $$ back!) is that if your feet are not structurally correct, they probably won't help. You'll need custom orthotics to correct your problem, not just pad it.
The problem with off-the-shelf solutions or products like Superfeet (tried 'em; got my $$ back!) is that if your feet are not structurally correct, they probably won't help. You'll need custom orthotics to correct your problem, not just pad it.
yep.
My doctor worked on one foot at a time. Put on the plaster stuff (think cast material....same stuff). He worked it until it just started setting. Then, he started moving my foot thru all ranges, while feeling the bones in my ankles. all of a sudder, he pinched in (when he felt the bone "right") and held my foot totally still while the plaster set hard. He then worked the second one. Only removing them until the totally set. He tossed the cast onto his counter with my old ones and pointed out how my feet were rolling along due to "issues" from birth.
Custom orthotics are the way to go. If they did not work for you before, they were not made correctly or the right adjustments were not made to them.
Off the shelf products may be better than nothing, but a custom orthotic is the best.
peace
mf
Not necessarily. Off-the-shelf orthotics cured my overpronation and forefoot varus problems. My podiatrist told me to try them before spending 4 times as much for customs.
There are several threads already on WB on this topic.
rickybobby911
06-07-2006, 14:28
Thanks for your reply. I wentahead and purchased Archmolds. I took them in to my POD and showed them to him. He said that the shape of the insole looked good and they would nit hurt my feet in any way if I tried them. He actually is considering bringing them in to his office for people who either can't afford orthotics or have had a bad experience with them already. They are working great. I guess it is nice to know that there are some cheaper over the counter insoles that can also work. Thanks again.
papa john
06-07-2006, 15:21
Let us know how they work.
Has anyone tried any of these:
http://www.footsmart.com/ProductList.aspx?productCategoryId=17
$99.95 and they claim to be custom molded to your feet. They send you a mold box, you do the mold and send them back. 3 weeks later you have custom orthotics.
Klezmorim
06-07-2006, 15:52
Let us know how they work.
Has anyone tried any of these:
http://www.footsmart.com/ProductList.aspx?productCategoryId=17
$99.95 and they claim to be custom molded to your feet. They send you a mold box, you do the mold and send them back. 3 weeks later you have custom orthotics.
They look to be very similar to Foot Levelers, (http://www.footlevelers.com/products/orthotics_original.php) which I got through my chriropractor. They're based on the same principle: you step in a shallow box of squishy material that molds to the bottom of your feet; the molds are sent out and 2-3 weeks later your insoles come back.
I wore them for several years and *thought* they did a pretty good job until I started section-hiking. That's when I suffered pain so severe that I thought I had a broken bone in my foot. It was then that I went to a podiatrist and was fitted with custom orthotics. BIG difference!
papa john
06-07-2006, 15:59
BIG difference!
That's what I was afraid of...thanks!
overmywaders
06-07-2006, 18:14
rhjanes,
I think our feet "adapt" to whatever support they are given. If I wear a particular boot (no special insoles) for several weeks, eight hours a day, and then abruptly switch to a different boot with different support (Superfeet), I will experience foot pain by the second day. This seems to be true for your daughter as well.
Perhaps we can "support" our feet too well. Truly, there are foot abnormalities, but I would assume that most people have serviceable feet straight from the factory. Are we expecting too much of our feet (some soreness is normal) or are we actually hurting our undergear through over-attentiveness (not including ritual foot-binding)?
papa john
06-07-2006, 18:45
My feet hurt constantly. POD says I have the highest arches he has ever seen! No matter which shoe I wear, it always feels like my socks are all wadded up under the balls of my feet. POD says I have very little padding left due to the weight being distributed to the balls and heels and evenly along the entire foot.
I have tried all kinds of store bought inserts but have not tried the customs. Perhaps later this summer I will get a pair in preparation for my fall hike.
rhjanes,
I think our feet "adapt" to whatever support they are given. If I wear a particular boot (no special insoles) for several weeks, eight hours a day, and then abruptly switch to a different boot with different support (Superfeet), I will experience foot pain by the second day. This seems to be true for your daughter as well.
Perhaps we can "support" our feet too well. Truly, there are foot abnormalities, but I would assume that most people have serviceable feet straight from the factory. Are we expecting too much of our feet (some soreness is normal) or are we actually hurting our undergear through over-attentiveness (not including ritual foot-binding)?
Your assumtion of servicable feet from the factory is wrong, in my case. Not sure why the daughter has such foot and leg pain. In my case, I was bow legged and BADLY toed in when born. I wore corrective shoes for 10 years. My POD looked at my age, and asked me if I wore corrective shoes as a child. Yes, I said. The light went on over his head. In the late 1950's and 1960's, doctor's did NOT understand the human leg growth correctly. SO....they actually OVER corrected most of us. Now, I still have some leg bow, and walk on the outside edge of my feet. My shoes will have the outer edge worn off, while the inner heal isn't even scuffed. Orthotics is TODAY's doctors solution.
I was 35 years old (47 now), and got so after being OFF my feet (in bed) for more than three hours, meant such pain, I could not even walk to the b-room! My wife got sick of me crawling!
So...in my case, 100 percent better and corrected (as best they can now).
PS, my doctor also suggested NO surgury! He said that even with them screwed up now, it would be better for about 10 years post surgury, then, fail even worse than now! $500 every 10 years for custome orthotics, versus $10,000 a foot, and good for 10 years....
Like I said, we have no idea why the 11 year old has issues!
Ray
overmywaders
06-08-2006, 14:17
Ray,
Well, of course all feet are different, even within a pair. I should have italicized "most" as being serviceable straight from the factory. When my daughter was born in 1979 her legs were bowed and her toes were spread quite apart. The first doctor she saw told us that, "while she may never be a ballet dancer, she'll be great at climbing trees". (I appreciated his candour and he was right about the dancing.) The second doctor was a specialist who immediately put her, aged 9 months, in a half-body cast with a bar stretched across at the knees. She was in this for, IIRC, six months. When she was finally released from it, there was no improvement. Enough for doctors -- without further medical help her legs straightened within a year and she grew into a tall graceful young woman. Just an interesting anecdote.
Twenty-five years ago I developed, from bad shoes, a case of plantar facscitis in one foot. Verrry painful. Custom cork and leather insoles were the solution and I used them until the foot was healed. As soon as possible I went back to using just the best quality boots and shoes and have since experienced problems only when, as I noted, switching too quickly between types of support. All of our mileage inevitably varies.
Best regards,
Reed
gravityman
06-08-2006, 15:16
My feet hurt constantly. POD says I have the highest arches he has ever seen! No matter which shoe I wear, it always feels like my socks are all wadded up under the balls of my feet. POD says I have very little padding left due to the weight being distributed to the balls and heels and evenly along the entire foot.
I have tried all kinds of store bought inserts but have not tried the customs. Perhaps later this summer I will get a pair in preparation for my fall hike.
Papa John,
HI THERE!:D
Danger has the EXACT same complaint and problem as you. High arches and complains about the sock feeling crunched up under the ball. We believe this lead to the Neuroma that kicked her off the trail in '01.
The trick is FULL LENGTH custom orthotics WITH a metatarsle pad. The met pad sits right beside the ball in a little indent. She got them from Boulder Center for Sports Medicine here in colorado. It is also a "step in the box" but the key is that the doctor holds your foot in a "neutral" position. It was explained to us by the doc that you should NOT stand up during this process.
It also took several adjustments to make the orthotic just right. We each have a pair. Totally worth the money in the end. I doctored a pair of superfeet and that worked fairly well, but nothing feels like my orthotics!
Gravity (and Danger) GA-ME '05 (with the help of Papa John's transcribing!!)
papa john
06-08-2006, 15:43
Hi Gravity!
Thanks for the tip. I remember well how much trouble she was having in the beginning of your trip while she was waiting for the orthotics to arrive. Can't remember that she had any problems after she started wearing them again.
Good to hear from you again, what have you all been up to?
PJ
Hi Reed,
Yes, every foot and even the "same" pair of shoes, will be different. I mean, you might get a great pair, buy the same thing in 6 months, and they wear different, hurt etc. Thing about a well-made orthotic, then it negates bad shoes!
I had a great, old-fashion, shoe sales lady once, at a hugh men's-only shoe store here in Dallas. She KNEW how to fit shoes. She would also tell you when she ran out of options (IE, head someplace else.....what I have in the back, isn't working). She sold me some dress shoes, only ones I can wear for a day with out the orthotics and not feel pain later.
The full length one's sounds intreging..... I don't think I'm at that point, but something to discuss in the future with the doctor.
My doctor made it a point on the fitting. You lay reclining, he positions the foot and ankle to "neutral" or what ever, and holds until the cast firms up.
Ray
Beware off the shelf orthotics or those prescribed by podiatrists (they are not medical docs). Safest bet is to see a sports medicine MD. And get a good boot repair man to look at your boots. Your foot pain could be due to several causes including breakdown of the shank in your boots. If your feet depend on your boots for support (such as arch support) the performance of the boots and any aftermarket orthotic is critical. A sports medicine doc can tell if you can solve the problem through strengthening your feet or if you need artificial support. The boot man can tell if you need a repair. New shanks could be the solution - but you won't know until you check it out.
Mother's Finest
06-08-2006, 19:21
ccoyle,
there is not an off the shelf product made to correct the problems of someone with forefoot varus. At the bare minimum, a modification would need to be made to the off the shelf product that would carry a wedge to the forefoot that would "bring the ground up" to the foot. Please do not tell me that I am wrong. this is what I do for a profession.
as for the products that are created by stepping into a foam box, again, better than nothing, but will not capture the foot in a neutral position. That is why the foot should be cast in a non-weight or semi-weight bearing position. Full weight bearing will always result in an inferior product.
best of luck to all with foot problems.
peace
mf