Custom orthotics, as well as non-fitted varieties, can provide a variety of benefits to people with feet problems and to just about anyone.
Even if your feet are perfect, your shoes may not be. Shoes that don’t provide good arch support or create imbalances in the way that we walk can eventually cause wide-ranging deformities. No one wants that.
One of the worst designs that manufacturers ever come up with is the high heel. Any heel that is higher than 3.5 inches, the mid heel, according to high fashion experts, puts too much pressure on the ball of the foot. Constantly wearing a style like that will eventually cause a variety of health problems.
Luckily, podiatrists and orthopedic specialists have put their heads together, hoping to allow women to wear the styles of their choice, without damaging the health of their feet, knees and back. Customised insoles have been designed that effectively cut the height of the heel in half, buy shifting the weight from the ball of the foot to the back of the heel.
Custom orthotics may be designed to shift the weight from one part of the foot to the other or to stabilize the weight across the entire foot. They may be designed to provide extra arch support or stabilize the heel and ankle.
For people that regularly participate in sports, most doctors recommend specific strength-building exercises, in addition to insoles and well-designed shoes to prevent injury and improve performance. Runners, tennis players and other aerobic enthusiasts rarely spend enough time working on lower body strength.
If they work out in the gym, they often focus on the upper body, thinking that their regular workout provides the muscle-building activity that they need. But, that might not be the case.
Of course, custom orthotics won’t take the place of building the strength of the calves and tendons, but they can help with differences in your feet that have been present since birth or those that have been complicated by life. For example, many people have a natural pronation or suppination of the foot.
In pronation, the pressure is towards the inside of the foot. There is extra pressure on the area of the arches. When he or she is standing, a person with pronation usually appears knock-kneed, to some degree. The condition varies greatly in severity, with some people never noticing the problem and others suffering with a great deal of pain, before the problem is diagnosed.
Custom orthotics can help correct pronation, as well as suppination, which is just the opposite condition. When suppination occurs, increased pressure is put on the outside edge of the feet. A person with this problem appears bow-legged. Again, the severity varies and it may be worse in one foot than the other.
