If you are suffering from arthritis in your feet, knees or hips you should try wearing shock absorbing insoles- or so say NICE the nhs guideline body. Apparently insoles, footbeds or orthotics as they are often called help by aligning the foot and ankle properly and reducing the loads placed on sore joints. Even low back pain can improve but the research is less clear on this effect.
Often orthotics are used to correct over-pronation or flattening of the arches in the feet. If the arch flattens the foot rolls inwards and takes the shin bone or tibia with it. This puts more strain on the knee and hip and may be one reason footbeds work so well at relieving pain in these joints.
How to choose an insole
As with so many things the cheapest is not necessarily the best. There are simple foam inserts that are available from pharmacists and walking shops but these generally are not up the job. When our heel hits the ground in a normal stride the large forces overcome the foam support and it is rendered useless.
A much more expensive option is to have an orthotic custom-made by a podiatrist. Interestingly this may not be any better than an off-the-peg footbed. Some research says that a bespoke orthotic, costing upwards of £200 does not perform any better than the best £30 ready-to-wear option.
I have been using the ready-made Superfeet footbeds for years, both personally and for my patients. I find that they are best for most people with straight foward normal feet. Good fitting of Superfeet is the key to getting the best from them. So make sure that a good walking or skiing shop fits them or come in and ask us to do it.
Sundial Chiropractic 