An orthotic is just a device that is used to support,
prevent, align. or correct a moveable part of the body. In today's talk, we're discussing
specifically foot orthotics.
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The reason why a lot of people use orthotics is that their body or their feet are working in a certain way that's putting too
much stress on the structures and by us giving them a device that goes into the shoe,
we're going to reduce the amount of movement
and stress on those structures and that allows the body to heal and to continue to function.
Foot orthotics can treat a wide variety of issues whether it's heel pain, arch pain,
top of the foot pain, ankle pain, ball of the foot pain, big toe pain, lots of things.
But the truth is there's a lot of people that still don't really know how orthotics work.
There's been a lot of studies trying to decide what exactly
do orthotics do and here in my practice and what I've seen and through the help of my dad's
experience
we see that by
reducing the amount of stress that goes into the foot,
we get less stress on the tissue and now the body isn't being damaged through daily activity, the body can heal,
and return back to normal function. So no matter what your issue is,
let's just talk about the orthotic devices
available to you guys and you guys can be the judge of if you need them and which one might be the best for
you. The first device we're going to be looking at today is a Dr. Scholl's over-the-counter
gel insole. What we have here is a Dr. Scholl's massaging gel insole. It says it helps reduce muscle fatigue.
As we can see, this is very very flexible. To me, this isn't anything that's going to give you support;
there's nothing really holding up your body's weight. This is pure cushioning.
The cushion is able to absorb some of the stress, when we're pounding the ground, and that stress goes into this
instead of going into our foot and that's what can help reduce discomfort.
We can see it's very thin over here and much thicker underneath the heel.
So this is mostly made for heel pain or heel discomfort because it will cushion the heel.
This is something that I tell a lot of people to use if they're doing a lot of walking.
They're not really having foot discomfort, but want to make the shoes more comfortable. This to me is made for comfort.
This isn't going to support your foot. Based on the definition, there's nothing that's really going to align,
support, or
correct in this kind of insole; this is purely cushioning and comfort.
So if you're looking for something to give you your heels a little bit more cushioning then make things feel a little bit more
comfortable, this would be an option.
Very important,
nothing that's supporting your foot just a cushion. So what we have here is a Dr. Scholl's pain relief
orthotic, and actually says orthotic for plantar fasciitis,
prevents pain all-day, prevents pain from coming back,
reinforce the arch,
shock absorbing heel cushion. So let's see how this one compares to the gel one.
So this one we can tell it's much different than the other one here.
There's a lot more material and there's a lot more shape to this device.
From the side view, we can see it comes up over here. We can see there's more arch height over here.
There's more of a heel cup and in the middle, we can see that there's a firmer plastic. This right here is
acting as the foot or arch support.
It can still bend in the middle so it doesn't have a lot of hold but there is more material in your arch.
Because there's more material in your arch, this gel or this foam and this plastic material that reduces the amount of compression,
your arch is going to lower stress. In the foot,
lowering stress in the arch or when it rolls over, that is going to reduce
some of the movement you're experiencing and by removing some of that motion, we reduced the stress on the tissue.
So this one has a lot more hold or more support than this one. So we can see very
flexible nothing here versus this one has more material,
more padding in the arch,
and still has a soft heel. Actually looking at this one, this one seems pretty nice. It has a nice soft foam,
forefoot padding, so very comfortable.
The heel is still very soft and comfortable and we do have a little bit more arch support.
So this is definitely a step up from the last one.
Pretty comfortable. I like how this one feels and how it looks. If you're someone who's carrying a lot of weight,
this might not do the job for you and it might not give you enough support, but this is definitely better than having nothing.
What we have here is
Superfeet Green. I've seen this around in the market. A lot of hockey players use this in their skates. This is another type of over-the-counter
orthotic or insole. Step on a pair of Superfeet and find out how good your feet can feel. It reduces foot fatigue
satisfaction guaranteed.
They have a nice little thing on the back here. It says shape equals support.
Soft gel or flimsy foam can't hold their shape. Superfeet insoles support your weight while cushioning your feet
so you feel great all day.
So that's a really important part. This insole is saying that it can support your body's weight and by us supporting the weight and
reducing the amount of motion or collapse, that's where we're going to get relief. It's a really slick design;
it looks a lot cooler. Seeing right away the cushioning on this one is much firmer, higher density foam,
doesn't have as much compression. Comparing to the last one,
this one's really soft and comfy; much firmer.
But the difference is what we have on the bottom of this insole.
So we can see there's this hard plastic shell here and from the side it goes up into the arch.
We have a much deeper heel cup and still have that nice high arch shape over here.
So this has a much firmer sole or arch support than the last one we looked at.
This definitely is going to give you more support or more hold. What I find about insoles
is that sometimes the firmer they are the more problems we can have because again
it might hold the foot too much. The foot still needs to move,
it can't be rigid, and if we have too much support, it can be no good. But this again
it is flexible. You can see I can still bend it quite easily, but this is what's gonna be supporting your foot.
So when we look at this one
compared to this one
it's very easy to bend, This one is
much firmer, and this is going to give us more support.
This one is a lot softer, well has a lot more padding. This one's much firmer.
So even though we get support, we lose some of that cushioning factor. So it really depends on what you really need. To me,
I like the comfort aspect something that's really soft but also has the support. So what I've saved for last is
This Powerstep. So this is another over-the-counter insole.
Here it says the original orthotic support for enhanced comfort and support in most shoes. Another full-length orthotic.
Looking at the picture at the back, it really breaks down what's inside this one.
We see an
actual shell that's inside two layers of cushioning and another arch support layer down here.
It looks a lot more heavy-duty to me and I'm really curious to see how this one looks. So here we go with another
over-the-counter insole and to me, this one looks the most like a custom-made insole. We can see from the side
it has more of this defined arch. There's no fill. If we look at the other insoles, we can see this one,
this one is completely filled inside here. The arch all filled up with foam.
This one was completely filled with again that foam in the hard plastic and
this style here we have more of a space so when it's in your shoe, there is a space
between the shell and the bottom of the shoe. To me,
I like this style of insoles the most. It acts more like a suspension to a car. It has again a heel cup and that arch.
We can see the curve here. It's flexible, it has a lot more bounce than the other ones.
I like having a little bit of more flexibility to my insoles that way that's not too stiff and too hard.
Some people do require a stiffer
more rigid orthotic, some need a more flexible one.
But to me, starting with a basic one like this that has some flex is gonna be a good thing. When it's in your
shoe,
this space is going to act more like a suspension and hold the bridge up, so we get a better bounce.
It's not as soft as the other ones.
The Dr. Scholl's one is the softest insole for sure. It has a lot more padding here, the heel is a little bit firm as well.
But this is your closest thing that I think to a custom-made
orthotic, and it looks pretty good
and I like the way it feels. It's a very basic, simple
insole and sometimes simple is all you need to get the relief. Out of all the insoles
I showed you today, the ones that I personally like is this
Dr. Scholl's one because of the amount of padding and softness at the heel and we still have this little bit of arch support.
It's still really flexible but because we have the build up into the arch we can get the support.
The other one that I really liked
was this one, more like a custom-made insole with that space in the middle to allow the orthotic to bounce up and down in suspension.
Not too aggressive, not too firm, not too hard, and a very simple design; sometimes simple works best.
Another option that I use here at
my clinic is a custom made insole. As you can see, this custom insole is not anything crazy;
it's very similar to the last over-the-counter insole
I showed you. So if I show you this one and this one, they look pretty much the same.
Here, I like to put a hole in the shell for the heel to sit in. I call it a heel hole and it
gives us a lot of cushioning, nothing firm underneath the heel.
This is the shell made to the arch of the patient. It has flex, is not rock-hard,
but it's gonna give us a bounce.
The shell is determined based on the patient's weight
or their needs for the orthotic. If they need a very stiff or firm orthotic,
we would create a shell that's much firmer in material. If someone just needs standard support, nothing too crazy,
I give them a semi flexible shell that can move like suspension with their feet. To me,
I like to think of orthotics as suspension to a car and the more bounce we have, the better
it's gonna absorb the shock when we're standing or walking. I use an athletic top cover a fabric top cover
that doesn't hold too much sweat, that's able to take wear and tear, very similar to the Dr. Scholl's foam, something
that's nice and soft. So soft here, nothing hard under the heel and we have the support made for you.
This custom-made orthotic in my office cost
$500.
All these insoles here can be purchased for under fifty sixty dollars.
What's the difference? An over-the-counter insole is not made for YOUR foot.
This is a generic shell shape or arch shape
used to make this insole. If you have a very flat foot, this might be too high. If you have a very high arch,
this might be too low.
It doesn't fit that arch perfectly like a custom insole would; it's a little bit different so it's not made for your foot.
Dr. Scholl's offers you an insole where you step on a pad or a sensor (in the store).
It determines where your pressure is and then it gives you the right number for your insole.
That is not a true 3D scan either. That is a pressure mat telling you where your pressure is.
So the goal of that
insole is to put the padding where you're putting most of the pressure and it can kind of decide whether you have a low arch
or a high arch, depending where the pressure is on your foot.
If you have a flat foot, a pressure map would show the whole thickness of your footprint. If you have a very high arch,
More pressure on the ball of the foot and the heel and maybe that little bit of a typical foot pattern.
Based on that pressure scan, they can decide what kind of insole you need
but it's still not a custom-made insole.
A lot of the times a good over-the-counter insole that has a little bit more support and cushioning
can give you relief. If we can reduce the strain on your foot, on the structures, the muscles, the ligaments, the tendons,
you're going to get relief. It's just about finding something that works for you.
This has a little bit more flexibility but has a lot of comfort and padding but it does have arch support.
This one doesn't have as much padding
but it does have more of a curve and might fit your foot better and give you more support than you need.
The difference with a custom-made insole in a foot specialist office is they take some sort of scan
to create a mould of your foot. here
I actually use a 3D scanner that captures all around your foot creating an awesome image
of that arch and the side of the foot. This allows us to create a shell that perfectly fits into your arch.
By having something that's more tailored to your foot,
it just means that it's gonna be a tighter fit and that person who's prescribing orthotics
can kind of make it in a certain way that best fits your needs. When you buy something over the counter,
it's a generic thing
so it has some features that might be good for you, but not others. An overall rule for over-the-counter insoles,
they're relatively conservative,
they don't want to give you something that's too firm, too hard, too controlling,
because they don't know who is buying it
versus a custom-made insole that the professional is actually looking at your foot, they've assessed your foot,
they know what your foot needs, how much motion that they can give you, how much they need to correct,
how much padding, what kind of shoes you're wearing, and that's really the true difference with a custom-made insole.
It's the prescription and the
fabrication of the insole based on the mold of your foot and them seeing your foot that's going to get possibly a better result.
That doesn't mean that a custom-made insole is
so much more superior than an over-the-counter because the truth is as long as we have something that's supporting a foot or we're reducing the
unwanted motion, we can get relief.
If you've been trying these over-the-counter devices and it's still not working for you, that's the sign that you definitely need to go see someone.
One last thing we didn't really get into the orthotic itself whether they're good or bad.
I'm just gonna say one thing about orthotics- orthotics just support your foot.
They're an external device that we put in our shoes to hold the foot up. We could use this as a tool or
solution but I'm starting to get into the mindset and seeing the truth that if we
strengthen the muscles within our foot, if we strengthen the things that hold our foot naturally, we can get a really good result.
so this is something I'm building up in the future and discussing with you guys how not only using orthotics but
strengthening your foot is really a good good way to give you long-term
success in realyl eliminating your foot pain or foot discomfort without the use of an external device. Hope you guys like this video!
We're still going for Foot Health Month.
Hope that was something different for you guys. I really went through all the different products that are out there for you.
You find out what's best for you. We'll see you tomorrow. Toe Bro, out.