Therapeutic Insoles That Helped a Lot

After being diagnosed with plantar fasciitis many years ago, I wanted to be able to wear the casual, dress and athletic shoes I already owned that didn't have enough arch support.  So I looked into getting shoe inserts.  The doctor said I could see a podiatrist to be custom fitted with orthotics or get something over the counter.  I chose the cheaper option, naturally.  But the task of finding ready-made therapeutic insoles that worked for me proved harder than I expected.

Anatomical Insoles

I considered getting therapeutic orthotics prescribed for me by a podiatrist, but didn't really want the expense of orthopedic inserts, and I had read that they could be hard and uncomfortable.  First, I bought various brands of cheap gel insoles from the drugstore.  They proved to be useless, perhaps because at 180-ish pounds, I was not exactly a lightweight.  

I decided I wanted footbeds that were shaped like the bottom of the foot - anatomically molded to mimic the curves of the heel, arch and toes.  Since I had already fallen in love with Birkenstocks at that point, I tried on, but ultimately didn't buy, the Birkenstock blue footbed that fits into regular shoes that have removable insoles to provide additional arch support.  I didn't like that the inserts only covered 3/4 of the shoe and were not full-length.  I also just didn't find them comfortable.

And then I was pleased to discover Sole orthotics, as they were called years ago (now they're called Sole Custom Footbeds).  They were about $40 at the time I bought my first pair - not cheap, but less expensive than professional orthotics.  These insoles are anatomically shaped heat moldable inserts with a semi-rigid base.  They provide real support, but they flex, too.  They come in different models with varying degrees of cushioning and different fabrics.  When you get them, you put them in the oven at a low temperature, then place them while warm in the shoes you're going to wear, then you stand in them so the arch support molds more closely to the shape of your foot.  The instructions were easy to understand and follow and I liked that they came with a guarantee.

(You can see the Ultra cushiony model I tried on Amazon.com here: Sole Custom Footbeds.)

The insoles were a real success.  I'd always had pain from standing for long periods of time - I don't mean  heel pain, I just mean general foot pain.  Using the insoles, pain from standing diminished a lot, whether or not I was dealing with a bout of plantar fasciitis at the time.  After trying the Sole footbeds, I never wore running shoes without replacing that useless flap of cardboard that they come with, with a pair of Sole insoles.  

At first I moved my insoles around from one pair of shoes to another; eventually I bought enough so I could leave them in each pair of shoes.  I used different kinds, depending on the shoe:  one model for running shoes and hiking boots (the Ultra, with maximum cushioning) and one for dressier shoes (those had a narrower profile with no extra cushioning). 

Although inserts worked terrifically in my running shoes, I never was able to make my work dress shoes (shoes with a low heel and a flat, non-cushioned sole) feel really comfortable.  But at least the inserts made the difference between being able to wear the shoes for only twenty minutes and being able to wear them for a few hours without pain.

The Research Is Still Out

According to a recent article on plantar fasciitis by the New York University Langone Medical Center, "prefabricated inserts may work just as well as customized ones."  So I feel vindicated in snubbing the costly custom made footbeds and going with an over-the-counter option.

Though my thrifty sole balked when I learned that perhaps I could have found even less pricey insoles that worked for me - though I don't really think that I paid a lot for my Soles.  According to a February 2011 research evaluation done by Andrew S. Gottschalk, MD (see the .pdf file at the University of Missouri called Shoe Inserts for Plantar Fasciitis Pain), meta-analysis of existing data from several studies revealed that over-the-counter insoles seemed to reduce the pressure of walking on the heel in patients with plantar fasciitis, irrespective of price.  The article also points out that expensive custom-made orthotics may not be advisable over cheaper OTC insoles, but that there's a lack of good research on the therapeutic use of any kind of insoles, as most studies done have no controls.